Monitor / Keyboard etc not turning on

[Fr34k]

Ok so to start I had an old Dell Dimension 8300 sitting in my closet collecting dust for months. A friend asked me to borrow it since I wasn't using it so I said sure w/e. As far as I remember I only added 1GB of extra ram and an upgraded video card. Computer was in working condition when put into stoarge.

He called me the other day saying the monitor wouldn't turn on. It was working fine for a few days, then one morning it just stopped. Tower turns on and off fine using the power button, couldn't hear any beeping sounds or anything like that. Light indicator on monitor was on but orange not green. Keyboard lights weren't turning on.

I turned off the computer, started unplugging everything to check if everything was seated on the mobo properly. After I disconnected the monitor from the tower the light goes green and monitor turns on with a basic no signal message. Opened up the tower and made sure all connections were secure. Fired it back up and nothing.

What's wrong with my computer? ; ; trying to sell it on craigslist and really don't want to pay to fix it.

[Olo401]

hmm.. no beeps or anything.. Do any of the front panel lights come on and stay on, like the HD power or activity light?

[Shuemue]

$1 says it's the PSU

[Gippo]

solid amber light on the monitor means that the monitor detects an input source, but nothing is being sent to it.

do the fans come on when the psu is plugged in? are they constantly running? if both of the above is true, its your mobo.

if the fans dont come on at all, change out the psu.
dont trust the light on the motherboard to tell you if your psu is providing ample power to power on the pc.

[Fr34k]

Sorry for late reply, I'll head over tomorrow and check the status of the fans. What would make either component fail all of the sudden? Any chance my friend fucked up or just old parts are old?

[Gippo]

olde parts are old. Sometimes parts fail for no other reason other than God hates you.

[Olo401]

Well yeah it could be old parts, most likely the PSU.

[Fr34k]

Sorry for the necro bump. Friend just called me up the other day saying he ordered a PSU from newegg, connected everything and it still didn't work. Came back to this thread and told him the next thing to try was the Mobo.

So my next questions are, what are some signs I can check for to make sure that it's the mobo? Is there a chance the mobo going down took down anything else with it?

It's a P4 processor, but since the computer is old should I recommend he go with a cheaper 775 like Biostar or tell him to opt for an Intel or Asus? Thanks again

[sruon]

It's a common problem I get with my computer -- especially when changing RAM, try with other RAM if possible, and if it loads, set it to minimal RAM frequency in bios, usually works for my PC.

A Clear CMOS might work as well.

[Fr34k]

The RAM was changed a LONG time ago and worked fine for about 6 months before I built my current desktop. If I had any spare sticks I'd try it out but I don't =/. I'll try the CMOS probably tomorrow

[sruon]

The RAM was changed a LONG time ago and worked fine for about 6 months before I built my current desktop. If I had any spare sticks I'd try it out but I don't =/. I'll try the CMOS probably tomorrow

I'm not saying they're defective, but my motherboard often glitches when I change them... Can always try with only 1 stick, try another slot, then try the other stick, on all slots again.

As I said, it might be motherboard trying to boot with a RAM frequency higher than your RAM can handle.

Hope it works!

[fishstix]

Usually it'll be the ram if it beeps or does other weird funky stuff like restart or crash. If it just plain doesn't start like doesn't output anything to the monitor, no bios etc, it can be the motherboard or cpu.

[Bikpik]

Got another monitor to test it with?

[Fr34k]

Yea I have extra monitors I can test with. It just straight up wont start. Going on memory but when I turned on PC the power light was orange not green, wasnt sending anything to the monitor. When I unplugged monitor from PC and only had it hooked up to the outlet it said no signal. I'll try messing with the ram and trying the other monitor when my friend gets off work.

[Bikpik]

onboard video? or a card? either way try another card