dead machine - just stopped working

[fvdave30]

I have a computer here that just will not start.
When I received the machine it would start once in about ten tries to start it up. Then over time it just got worse until it just will not start at all.
I have checked the power supply and it checks out ok with my power tester. The fan on the power supply starts up and goes. The fan on the cpu is working. I have changed the parallel cable with no change in the starting. I have even changed the hard drive with one that I know works but no change in the status of starting.

I have not changed the ram but could that do it? The motherboard looks good. There is no sign of any capacitors that have popped that I can see.

The drive light on the computer does not even blink once or even attempt to come on.

Any suggestions with what I should look for or do next? Thank you for your help

[fvdave30]

One more thing. I can view the contents of the hard drive from another computer with no problem. I have also scanned this hard drive for spyware and found 63 items from my other computer. Everything seems fine. It just will not boot up anymore. The jumper on this drive is set to the CS position. I have also tried the master position but nothing different in the drive response.

[sillyboy]

The drive light on the computer does not even blink once or even attempt to come on.

Sounds like a power supply to me. You are not getting anything at all on the monitor are you?

[Suspishio]

The classic checks when you switch on are:

1 The keyboard lights should flash
2 The fans should be audible
3 The disk light should flash and you should hear the disk whirr

If nothing more happens (i.e. the disk doesn't click and there is no display), then there are usually one (or all) of four possibilities:

A There is a power problem for the CPU
B There is RAM corruption
C There is a CPU malfunction
D The BIOS has become corrupted (but that usually causes a displayed error)

If the disk whirrs but the drive light doesn't come on, that means that the disk has received no instruction to do anything which is consistent with any of the above mentioned fault scenarios.

Other brainios can no doubt expand my list, but that's the basics of it.

[fvdave30]

As to sillyboy's response, I get a power light on the computer itself. The fans in the power supply and on the CPU are going but there does not seem to be any attempt by the hard drive at all anymore to start up.

[fvdave30]

As to Suspishio's response, First how would I go about to get pasty the BIOS if it is corrupt? Second, How can I test if at all to see if it is the CPU without replacing the CPU with another CPU? Is there anyway to test for a power problem to the CPU other that the power supply test?

I want to thank all who have helped so for as well.

[sillyboy]

How far into the boot sequence do you get?

[fvdave30]

I do not know how far into the boot sequence the computer gets as I do not see anything on the monitor and there is no hard drive light coming on at all.

[Suspishio]

... and if your keyboard lights don't flash then you have a motherboard problem IMHO. If it was just a bad RAM problem, you'd get beeps because at first the Boot ROM is active.

If the mobo is damaged, the Boot ROM can't execute anything.

So if you go back to my list in my earlier post, I plump for failure - the CPU/Mobo.