PC dead...

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 9:48 am

Hey guys,
just plugged my old PC (now I got a new one) back to mains, attached everything i would need. [It's an Pentium 4 1.8 GHz] I did this because I had to transfer files through LPT cable to an very old laptop without network card, and my main dev machine has no LPT port (but Windows sees one, even by uninstalling from device manager, it reinstalls back, so it must be hidden or some sort). Now I turn that pentium 4 on and eh? The monitor hadn't got any video signal coming to it, the PC does not make the POST beep, respond to keyboard, etc.

Only the DVD-ROM and the HDD spins up. After that, the hard disk activity LED starts to blink 2 times in a second infinitely. No hard disk noise, nothing at the screen, keyboard doesn't respond, no beeps. Before xmas, that PC was alright. All I did was remove of the DVD-RW and floppy drive from it. It has still got a harddisk and a dvd-rom drive.

What may be the problem?

ucosty · Post by **ucosty** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:25 am

Remove everything except the minimum to POST (mobo, cpu, ram, video card and PSU) and see if it turns on then. Add devices one at a time until you find the one that is broken.

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 11:07 am

ucosty wrote:Remove everything except the minimum to POST (mobo, cpu, ram, video card and PSU) and see if it turns on then. Add devices one at a time until you find the one that is broken.

I never trust this method if the PC doesn't even initialize the VGA... and I did save time by opening the manual and finding the four-LED D-Bracket thing. Its LEDs are blinking in the "rhytm" of the HDD activity LED. From the manual, the 3 and 4 LEDs are always red, the left one is green and the right green for 1/4 a second. It's an endless loop of: all diodes red (1/100th of a second) - if they would hang that way, CPU is damaged or installed improperly, then its the upper left diode green & all diodes red - that means "early chipset initialization", followed by two LEDs green, two LEDs red. And from that it will loop again: all diodes red etc...

...The first thing on my mind before reading the manual was correct. That third combination of LEDs was memory testing - RAM is damaged or installed improperly. Hey great.

Tomorrow I will try to push the modules into the sockets again, but I think something is chipped off from them. But I've didn't even touched them, so... :/

And if I would take off the PCI modem off, reassemble the screws, turn on, turn off, disassemble the case, then take off the DVD-R, turn on, turn off, ...

But that would be my only hope if i wouldn't have the LEDs on the mobo.

Regards
inflater

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:51 am

I've vacuum cleaned the PC from dust, cleared the CMOS RAM and pushed the RAM module to the second slot with more pressure. Turned on and it works.

But the direct cable connection between WinXP and Win95 doesn't work, the main thing why I "repaired" that PC... But I try to search help elsewhere first.

Regards
inflater

ManOfSteel · Post by **ManOfSteel** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:59 am

This problem is almost always caused by dust. It would've been just enough to vacuum clean it.
I've had this problem a dozen times with an old PII (but never with a PIV). Sometimes the computer is able to boot but there are some serious hardware problems, for example the LAN stops working because the NICs can't be found. Sometime it's the sound card, but most of the time it's the VGA and I get the same problem as yours.
Old computers can also have "bad connection" problems; simply removing and reinstaling the card can usually solve the problem.

frank · Post by **frank** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:51 pm

I think there is a special type of parallel cable for hooking two computers together. I may be wrong but as I remember it had several of the pins reversed. I have never actually got a parallel port to parallel port transfer to work using a multitude of OSs even back in the DOS days.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:27 pm

frank wrote:I think there is a special type of parallel cable for hooking two computers together. I may be wrong but as I remember it had several of the pins reversed. I have never actually got a parallel port to parallel port transfer to work using a multitude of OSs even back in the DOS days.

You can actually make such a cable by, as you said, crossing some of the wires on a standard parallel cable. I've seen such a setup before using DOS on an ol' Packard Bell. It apparently worked for the office work (It was a church office.) that it what used for. (ie. Transferring files between the pastor's computer and the secretary's.)

Brynet-Inc · Post by **Brynet-Inc** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:36 pm

frank wrote:I think there is a special type of parallel cable for hooking two computers together. I may be wrong but as I remember it had several of the pins reversed. I have never actually got a parallel port to parallel port transfer to work using a multitude of OSs even back in the DOS days.

They're called "LapLink" cables, named after an old "DOS" application it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LapLink_cable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_L ... t_Protocol (Pretty neat.).

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:39 pm

try a different vga cable if you havent already.
try a different video card if it's not using onboard vid.
dust out the computer, use canned air.
are there any beeps on bootup? if so, check the memory and take out anything non-critical in PCI slots or any other slots for that matter.

and yes, laplink or crossover parrallel is what you will need for transferring files through LPT to the laptop. you also need special software i believe.

inflater · Post by **inflater** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:17 am

01000101 wrote:try a different vga cable if you havent already.
try a different video card if it's not using onboard vid.
dust out the computer, use canned air.
are there any beeps on bootup? if so, check the memory and take out anything non-critical in PCI slots or any other slots for that matter.

It works already

01000101 wrote:and yes, laplink or crossover parrallel is what you will need for transferring files through LPT to the laptop. you also need special software i believe.

I used "ordinary" 25pin male->25pin male parallel cable (dunno if its laplink or not) and DCC in Win95. Thanks for the specifications, I'll try to make one...

//EDIT: Anybody knows the parallel port color wiring? I need to know which color is which pin...