[clug] Any ideas on what to look for to get an old PC running?

[Duncan Bolt]

Hi,

If it is that dead then I would open the case and have a quick look at 
the motherboard.

Most of the old Pentium 4s I worked with died for one of two reasons.

Cheap Motherboard capacitors that had leaked, and boiled over. There 
seemed to be a batch with a dodgy electrolyte fluid. Check the top of 
the capacitors normally they have flat tops but when they died they 
bulged upwards.

If it is not that then my next guess would be the power supply. Of 
course it is also possible that a cable or something has worked loose. 
eg RAM

Duncan

jhock wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> Thanks for your prompt reply.  When I say "nothing" happened.  This is
> what happened:
>
>      1. No lights,
>      2. No fan,
>      3. no noise,
>      4. No response at all from the computer even when I repeatedly
>         pressed the power switch (it "clicked" on each press),
>      5. The monitor came on with a "No signal" message,
>      6. I swapped the computer power cable with the monitor power cable
>         and 1-5 above repeated.
>
> I hope that explains what I mean by "nothing".  ;--) ( Sorry for the
> frivolous mood, I just started my holidays.) 
>
> John
>
> On Mon, 2008-12-22 at 10:08 +1100, Chris Henman wrote:
>   
>> John,
>>
>> When you say "nothing happened" what exactly did NOT happen ?  Any 
>> lights? Any exhaust fan starting ?  Any "beeps"; they are usually a 
>> message, like Morse code.
>> Have you tried another power cord ?  Monitor OK ?
>> How long has it been out of service?  Have you checked the CMOS battery 
>> if it still uses battery CMOS backup?  Usually a CR 20xx or something.
>>
>> Just a few thoughts I would try.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Chris Henman
>>
>> jhock wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> Thanks to Ian (I love this list. It's so helpful) I have a power cord
>>> for my old PC (MISI Pentium 4).  I have now unpacked it all from storage
>>> however, when I switched it on nothing happened.  I don't want to spend
>>> too much effort on it because I hope to soon get an Eee PC 10 with LINUX
>>> (Once they are available in Australia) but I thought that I could use
>>> this one as a proxy, print server, game machine for my five year old,
>>> wireless modem firewall or something.  (I prefer to reuse than recycle.
>>> Its more energy saving.)
>>>
>>> I was wondering if anybody has any advice on how to get it to work. EG.
>>> is there likely to be a fuse inside, is there an area which I should
>>> "jiggle" when I open it, is there a good spot to bang it like they do on
>>> TV (Fonze type thoughts here)?  ;--)
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for any help.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>   
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
>>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>>> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com 
>>> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1859 - Release Date: 12/20/2008 2:34 PM
>>>
>>>   
>>>       
>
>