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My desktop PC (dell) has decided to not boot up.

All I get when I hit the power button is a series of sharp buzzes then the hard drive spins like crazy but does nothing else. The monitor does not come on so there is nothing displayed.

Any ideas????

Is it the HD or the fan that you can hear spinning?

How many beeps does it emit when switched on, because that can give some indication of the fault.

Has your monitor beenswitched off?

Have you tried booting into Safe mode . . . keep tapping the F8 key as soon as you switch it on.

I must say that if it is not something simple like the monitor being switched off, expect the worst.
Did you do regular backups?
Do you have a bootable CD, if so, try getting into the BIOS by tapping the F2 key when switching on, and try to change the Boot Order to CD Rom then insert the CD and reboot.

dave

Beachcomber wrote:My desktop PC (dell) has decided to not boot up.

All I get when I hit the power button is a series of sharp buzzes then the hard drive spins like crazy but does nothing else. The monitor does not come on so there is nothing displayed.

Any ideas????

Is it a series of beeps .... if so count them. Then refer to the motherboard mannual (or internet) as it will tell you where the problem lies.
Could be anything from motherboard/graphics card ..or even memory failure + others

Hope that helps

Depending on what your motherboard mrf is and the bios chip thay have fitted it will effect what your beeps mean let us know your motherboard mfr and model togerther with the number of beeps it makes.

If your montitor is not showing any signs of life i suspect its your graphics card that is either faulty or has become unseated, and the beeps will be the bios indicating the fault.

Unplug the keyboard and mouse and any other perhiperals that are plugged into the pc and then try and switch it on.

I have done a fair bit of pc repair for friends etc. and one time I was called to a mates house and he had continual beeping during the boot up sequence and it was nothing more than a knackered keyboard. A stuck down key can also cause this.

It's worth a try and it won't cost you anything, although it may be something mre serious.

If you have a monitor, plug that into the laptop and try it.

Does your bios give 1 beep and then 2 followed by a pause before it repeats ?

Just had the cover off - given it a good blast with canned air, re-seated all connections and put back together - boots up perfectly!

Thanks everyone for your help - very much appreciated.

Pleased to hear it!

Bet it was either the graphics card not seated or covered in dust, or the monitor cable plug coming lose, the blue one with the two screws.

dave

Yup i would put money on the graphics card becomming unseated good to know its working all ok now ;-)

could also be the overheat warning, some CPUS gain heat rather rapidly anyway (AMD Athlons were a bad culprit for that)
So a thick coating of dust makes a wonderful insulator and tends to make a lot of stuff overheat.