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I have an AMD Athlon XP machine. The computer was not maintaining time nowadays, but I never bothered to look into it. I switched off my comp day be fore yesterday and when I tried to boot it yesterday, the red light on the CPU turned on , but the green light on the monitor just kept flashing but did not turn on. I tried my CPU with another monitor, but the same problem persisted. I thought it could be a CMOS battery failure since my computer had constantly been loosing time. So, I replaced the CMOS battery. After this, I got a message saying the BIOS settings have been set to default. After this, I logged into windows and left the system on thinking that it could help the CMOS battery to charge up since it was a new one. I went out for 5 mins and by the time I came back the monitor was again blank and the green LED was blinking periodically. I replaced the RAM but to no use...What could be the problem???

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A compact troubleshooting checklist and rationale that follows the thread from and .

A few quick verifications first: confirm the system shows clear signs of power (fans spinning, HDD LED activity) and that a chassis speaker is actually connected to the motherboard header — many boards are silent without one, so "no beeps" can simply mean no speaker. A monitor LED that blinks usually means the monitor is not receiving a valid video sync, not necessarily that the monitor itself is bad.

Try a true minimal boot to isolate the fault:

  • Disconnect everything nonessential (HDD, optical, PCI cards, USB devices). Leave only PSU, motherboard, CPU, one RAM stick, and video (onboard or a known-good card).
  • Swap RAM sticks and try other RAM slots one at a time.
  • If available, try a known-good PSU or test the PSU voltages with a multimeter.
  • If the board has a clear-CMOS jumper, use it (power off, short per manual) rather than only swapping the battery.

Visual and hardware checks that commonly find failures: inspect capacitors on the motherboard for bulging/leakage; ensure the CPU cooler is seated and the fan spins (an improperly seated cooler can cause rapid shutdown). If removing the heatsink or reseating the CPU is necessary, take care with socket-A CPUs — pins are fragile and static precautions are required.

About flashing the BIOS (as suggested): only consider this if the board can POST reliably in the minimal configuration and you have the exact BIOS file and documented recovery method for that board. Flashing on an unstable system can brick a board.

If the minimal-build test still gives no POST/beeps and you have checked speaker/PSU/fans, the likely culprits are the motherboard or CPU. Next steps are swapping the board or CPU into a known-good system or seeking a shop that can bench-test the components.

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Member Avatar for LennyG

Does the computer make any of the regular beeps when you try to boot it?

Member Avatar for itsmeyourenemy

No..ne beeps absolutely...

Member Avatar for LennyG

So you were able to totally get the computer booted and every thing looked fine after you replaced teh battery? Have you tried flashing your BIOS?

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