BleepingComputer.com: Power Problem

I've used the bleeping computer uninstall list, but am new to the Forum. I have a Compaq Presario S4100NX, XP, 80 GB, 256 SDRAM, 2.5 GHz. Had been freezing up after being left on one night. I plugged up a need monitor too replace old one and had no signal (yellow light still asleep). I unplugged it and then plugged it back up and no power at all. I replaced the power supply and now I have power again but still no signal to monitor, no fans running, yellow processing light in front is lit solid. The cd/dvd drive is light green but will not open when the eject button is hit. Fans do move slightly( like they want to spin) when I hit the power button to cut off. I have tried to make sure nothing is lose. I really need some help. Thanks in advance Can post pics if necessary.

This post has been edited by smgree: 11 April 2010 - 07:41 PM

well either your CPU is fried or your Graphics card is done, what exactly happened when the power supply went bad and you replaced it.

Hmmm? No fans spining at all is a power problem.

You say you replaced the PSU, so we know it is not the power supply at this point.

You also say that none of the fans spin.

Besides the processor fan and power supply cooling fan, how many other fans are in this computer?

My guess is there might be a problem with the power switch on the front of the computers case.

I have seen dead motherboards where the fans with-in the tower still power on and spin.

computerxpds, on Apr 11 2010, 11:00 AM, said:

I went to turn on the computer and nothing, no power. Not even the light on at the back on the power supply was lit. So I had replaced the power supply and now i have power but nothing is responding.

MrBruce1959, on Apr 11 2010, 12:44 PM, said:

There are three fans in total a "Cooler Master" fan on motherboard, a fan on the back to push out hot air, and the fan in the power supply. Only the fan on the new power supply is working. Processing light on the front is lit solid and the green cd-rom light is lit but no response when I hit the eject button(won't open), no fans working, and no signal to monitor.

I am beginning to think your motherboard is at fault here now, perhaps a brown out did some damage, but it appears what ever happened to your power supply most likely did some damage to the motherboard as well.

Sadly, what I think we are looking at here is replacing the motherboard.

MrBruce1959, on Apr 11 2010, 09:28 PM, said:

Thanks. Thats just what I was afraid of. Is the a way to save the info on my harddrive?

smgree, on Apr 12 2010, 05:37 PM, said:

Yes, just install it on another computer as a secondary drive and it will show up in My Computer or Computer if you're running Windows vista or Windows 7 on the new computer.

You will have acces to all the contents and be able to move it to your primary drive.

I do not suggest using this drive as the boot drive on another computer though as you will experience problems with it booting and running correctly, only install the drive as a secondary one.

Good luck!

it is already saved on the disk the motherboard has nothing to do with the workings of the hard drive except for booting the os and reading and writing to it so everything should be fine.

MrBruce1959, on Apr 12 2010, 06:12 PM, said:

The other destop I have to install the hardrive in is running XP not Vista or 7. Can I still just plug it up and it be recognized as new drive. I installed a hard drive before but it was new and I remember having to format it. I really can't lose the info on this hard drive. Can I get instruction on how to install this hardrive on XP computer without losing the data on it. Thanks

Yes, you should be able to access the data on that failed drive regardless of what operating system you are initially booting from.

The drive won't be bootable because if even if it does work, the master boot record wont be set up to work properly with a different computer, but as a secondary drive, it will act like it was a cdrom device, just do not put it as the primary master and you should be fine.

Edit: I added this info in for you.

You did not say if your hard drive is E-IDE/PATA or a SATA drive.

The primary drive will be set up as a MASTER drive on E-IDE/ PATA interfaces, by setting a jumper on the drive near the power wire, most drives have a map on the drive showing the jumper and the proper settings.

The drive you are taking the data from should be connected to the same cable, but the jumper on that drive should be set up as a SLAVE drive.

For SATA all you have to do is connect the SATA drive to a cable and to an empty SATA socket located on the motherboard.

Usually most BIOSes automatically detect new drives, however make sure you enter your BIOS setup utility by looking for the prompt at startup to enter the BIOS setup utility, it is either F2 or the DELETE key.

Make sure the drive in question is listed in the BIOS, or select AUTO for the secondary drive.

Once it is showing in the BIOS, exit to the main screen and hit the F10 key on keyboard, this is exit and save, type Y for confirming and the computer will reboot.

Hopefully it boots to the good drive with an operating system on it.

Access the drive through My Computer or Computer icon on your desktop, double click the icon for that drive to access it like a folder, find the files you want and drag the files to your Primary Master drive to a folder you previously set up to save them too.

If this fails to happen, then your drives failure is related to the controller chip or drive mechanism, where there is a lot more involved in retrieving the data.

Hope this helps.

Good luck and I wish you the best of luck.

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 19 April 2010 - 10:30 PM

MrBruce1959, on Apr 19 2010, 11:10 PM, said:

Thanks MrBruce couldn't have asked for better directions, worked perfectly. I have harddrive installed. The problem I have now is that I'm trying to copy the info off the harddrive. I go to My Computer>F: Drive >Documents and Settings...but when I try to click on <owner> it says F:\Documents and Settings\Owner not accesssible. Access is denied. It will let me go into <All Users> but not <Owner> . I can't find my pictures they have to be in the owner folder. Thanks

Ok what is the primary operating system you are using on the boot drive?
XP, Vista, or Win 7?

What we need to do here is change the permissions allowed on that folder, it is blocking you because the folder was originally locked to all users excluding you.

Being that you are accessing the folder on another system, the ownership of the folder is not recognizing you as the owner and is denying you access to it.

Before I can give you directions, I first need to know what operating system you are using now to access this folder.

Then I will explain to you how to change the permissions, which will help you gain ownership of the folder again, by which it will allow you access.

Woah woah woah....before you even consider this being a motherboard problem there are a number of things to try.

• plug in only the basics to make your pc boot (i.e. power connectors for your mobo, hard drive, and video card if it needs it)
  
• remove and reseat the ram (with the power off of course)
  
• remove and reseat the video card
  
• remove and reseat cpu

These are a few steps to ensure that all your components are properly grounded. If nothing works after that, then I would suspect faulty hardware.

-Sully

powder_sullivan, on Apr 27 2010, 11:35 AM, said:

Good advice Sully, thanks for dropping in with your most welcomed suggestion!

I am not sure if this procedure was already performed by smgree, but it is something I would consider trying.

MrBruce1959, on Apr 26 2010, 11:04 PM, said:

I'm running XP