computer will not boot up

[davidtx85]

Im running windows 98. When I start the computer i hear the fan running and a couple of clicks, a red light on the front of the comp case but nothing alse. The monitor stays black and nothing comes up. The motherboard looks ok and everything was working fine until I turned it on and nothing.

[Bovon]

Power supply bit the dust?... video card worked its way partially out of the slot? RAM module shorted?

How about POST beeps...any heard?

What is that red LED on the case front for?..power on...or HDD indicator?

Try to be a bit more specific when asking for help...we have to see what you see..but we need to "use your eyes"..

[nukes]

Disconnect everything from the mobo and see if it works then.

[davidtx85]

will it still boot up if I do that?

[Bovon]

All that is needed to "test" a motherboard (and the extra) is a CPU, a PSU, a stick of RAM and a video card/monitor..thats all. No keyboard, mouse or any other drives or cards are necessary. Take the motherboard out of the case (if it is mounted) place it on some soft surface (like a phone book maybe) plug in the 1 stick of RAM in DIMM socket 0 (or DIMM 1, if thats the way the board has it) install the CPU, heatsink and fan..(be sure the CPU fan is connected to the correct headers on the motherboard if your board is designed that way) plug in a video card, connect a monitor, connect the power supply, short the two pins where the case switch wires connect to, and that should turn on the system, and you should get video. Now, if you still do not have video, and you have performed the above correctly...you have a 1) bad CPU, 2) a bad motherboard or 3) a bad powersupply (not to mention a possible defective video card/monitor) but at least now you will be down to the bare essentials where we can analyze the system better.

[davidtx85]

Ok, I have a slot on the mobo for the floppy, the primary IDE and secondary IDE. I know the floppy goes to the floppy slot but do I set the hard drive as the master on the primary IDE and the cd rom as the slave? Im getting power to the comp. but im not familiar enough with it to take the mobo out and jack with it. If it was the video card I would still hear the hard drive and floppy wouldnt I?

[Bovon]

If you don't kinda do as I said above that will prove one way or another if you have a dead motherboard, powersupply, ram, cpu etc. you will be fighting this problem well after Christmas.

When a system stops working..or never works from new..its time to start with the basics.

If you are reluctant to prove your problem..and follow somebody's directions...we are all spinning our wheels..and perhaps your best bet would be to take your machine to a computer shop.

[nukes]

Right. If you don't know enough (or aren't confident enough) to start messing around inside it then you may be best taking it to a shop.
I normally don't bother pulling the board out of the case, but I do disconnect all the wires from it (IDE/floppy/case/any extras) and remove all the cards.
If you won't do this, we can't help, simple as that. you won't have a clue whats causing the problem or anything. Take it to a repair shop and let them rip you off.

[davidtx85]

ok i disconnected everything and still no screen

[Bovon]

Please!!..tell us exactly what you do...each time!!.

"ok i disconnected everything and still no screen" tells us absolutely nothing..what in the %$%#! did you do?..take it out and lay it on the coffee table..and it did nothing by itself?