I think it has gone to computer heaven

[lavine43]

I originally posted this as a Windows XP thread, but I think it belongs here. When my computer starts, it runs through the memory checks, and then stops at "Detecting IDE drives." Nothing else happens. No error messages, nothing. I can't use delete to get to the BIOS. I even tried clearing the CMOS, didn't help. Changed the motherboard battery, no help. I can't even get to the floppy drive to run diagnostics. By the way, I built this machine about 5 years ago and it has worked great until today. Here are the specs:
ECS 648FX-A motherboard
Pentium 4
1GB RAM
1-80GB HD
1-200GB HD
Invidia Gforce media card
Creative sound card

If anybody has any ideas, they would really be appreciated.

thanks

[bigozone]

first step,,, turn off machine,,
pull all cards out of machine (except video),,
unhook all floppy/hdd cables...

now reboot machine and see if you can get into BIOS settings

i've seen faluty modems and sound cards cause PCs to hang on boot and refuse to accept any keyboard input...

just a thought..
bigO

[lavine43]

bigO,

Thanks for your response. It was a bad harddrive. Dead as a doornail. Of course, I've never seen a doornail, but I guess it has no pulse.

Jeff

[bigozone]

no problem,,
glad to help

like i said i've seen some strange things

atleast you now have an idea of what to do to fix it.

later,
bigO

BTW mark this thread as solved.. not sure how,, i haven't posted here in MONTHS....
but others can tell you how..