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I have a Compaq presario 3555 that i bought for $5 at a yard sale. When i first hooked it up turn on the power the fans would spin for a second then nothing so i opened it and didnt really do anything to it and when i pluged it back in it turned on. It turn on in off fine when i get it started but every time i leave it set off for the night and try to start it the fans spin for a sec then nothing and it getting very annoying trying to get this thing to turn on any ideas of why it wont start? OH and it says disk controller error when it boots up and i have to hit F1 to boot every time.
That's what usually happens with $5 computers. Not too many out there.
Do you mean the hard drive is spinning rather than the fan? Your hard drive may be going or gone.
Try running sfc /scannow (space before slash) in Start, Run.
You also void the warranty when you open the case. LOL
If nothing works, use it as a paperweight.
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A bad power supply or a fried cpu are the first things to pop into my head. I would try replacing the power supply first. There is an easy way to test if a power supply is dead, see this page for details.
http://www.dvhardware.net/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=printpage&artid=5
If the psu fans don't spin or don't stay spinning the psu is bad. If you have a volt-meter you should also check the voltages. You can find a pinout here to do so.
http://xtronics.com/reference/atx_pinout.htm
One question, are you getting any post beep codes when you try to boot the pc?
Sandman
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i am not getting any beeping but if your cpu is fried or if your psu is bad would the computer still work becuase i can get it to turn on it just takes alot of turning on and off and both fans spin the one on the board and the one in the psu
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If the psu or the cpu are bad the system may still light up but thats about it. A psu doesn't have to be completely dead for a system not to boot. I suggest trying the paperclip trick on the first link I posted. It's simple and it rules something out. If the psu fan keeps spinning the powersupply is probably fine.
I just noticed the disk controller error, try removing the harddrive and see if you can get any futher. If you can get to "Operating system not found" the drive is likely your problem.
"how do u reseat the mother boards power connector"
Push the little lever on the side of the plug and pull the connector from the motherboard. Tug each wire to make sure they do not come out the the connector. Then push it back on until it clicks.
Hope this helps,
Sandman
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my plug dosent look exactly like his with the two rows of wires and theres no green wire on mine and i can past the disk error and to the destop fine once i get it on and the harddrive works fine and i looked were all the wires go coming out of the psu and 3 go in the mother board little 3 wire one a medium 6 one and a big one with 8 wires the colors r blk blk blk blu yellow red rred orange but no green is the wire a differnt color on mine
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I am sorry about the delay getting back with you Justin. I started to have problems booting my pc not long after my first post. In my case it was a bad IDE cable and a problem with my ram. Nothing like a good ole double whammy to tick you off for a week LOL. I'm not to familar with the psu connectors your pc has but I will do some searching. If you would like you can email me and I will help out the best I can.
Sandman
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