Help Please! My 'Time' machine is no more ;(

[mikethehat]

Hello guys & girls......... My first time here -- Ive spent a lot of time looking round and whilst there is a lot of faults the same as mine - ie, non starting pc's... I cant find one that fits exactly -- so,
Mine is as I say, a TIME machine, yes its old... but I did rebuild it - twice in its rotten little life - so really, whilst its original designation was TIME, thats not really true anymore. I dont know what it is !!! I did fit an atx baby motherboard to it some years ago - its since had a new PSU - in '93 (!) its about a 256 ram and I cant remember much else....... it has a cd and a dvd drive I fitted - a floppy drive -- I think thats about it..... Oh , and Yes, its running windows 98 !! ( You can stop laughing --now !)
Its been a relativly good machine - a plodder - and I generally use it for car programs ( Im a car technician ) = there's lots of stuff on there I need...... but, and here we are at last -- it just will not switch on! Well, thats a bit misleading actually -- it will switch on - but thats about it! It wont boot up. There are no beeps of any kind, so no beep codes. What I do notice is that the 3 keyboard lights come on - and stay on bright - ( you know caps lock , num lock, and the 'other one' ) and thats as much as it will do. I do notice the reset button wont do anything -- You have to literally switch the power off to stop it.-- and thats all. No screen, blue or otherwise... just nothing. The CPU and PSU fans are running - I cant hear any of the drives doing anything - the floppy drive light dont flash - ( I have tried sticking in a win 98 boot up disc but thats not doing anything )---- Thats about all I can tell you Im afraid.
I did have a POST card somewhere....... but can I find it!!!!!!
Im thinking , in my own little way, that its HD failure...... but on reading around these forums it looks like it could be anything -- Im just hoping for some directions if someone will --- I'd really appreciate it....... Thank You -- and Thank you for reading......

Rgds.,,,, Mike
ps, I know it sounds like grovelling - but I just really did say - from what Ive seen , I have high hopes......... this looks to be a cracking site !

[jbennet]

Maybe the BIOS battery has died.

It only lasts ~5 years

There fairly cheap, if that is the problem, it silver and looks like the back of a wristwatch (if you know what i mean) and is located on the motherboard.

Alternatively it could be,

disk
ram
psu
motherboard in general
pci error

[mikethehat]

Maybe the BIOS battery has died.

It only lasts ~5 years

There fairly cheap, if that is the problem, it silver and looks like the back of a wristwatch (if you know what i mean) and is located on the motherboard.

Alternatively it could be,

disk
ram
psu
motherboard in general
pci error

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Hi there & thank you for replying.....

I must admit I never thought of that -- Would that cell battery ( I know , the BIOS battery ) actually cause this????

Mike

[jbennet]

maybe yes

Generally if the BIOS battery dies you end up stuck at the initial boot screen (usually system/manufacturer logo screen).

I think the PSU is quite likely too though, those symptoms are generally what occurs with dead PSU.

Yeah, PSU or Battery are my guesses, i just said battery first due to the age of the system, and that its cheaper/easier to replace than a PSU.

[mikethehat]

Ok... well the battery is no problem to check & or replace... so thats the first thing..
The PSU is no problem either -- thoughj as I say, it is powering - but I have wondered if perhaps it could be not putting out 'enough' power - I can check that too...... 5V - is that correct for the HD? Long shot but could be...... and Im sure Ive got a spare DELL one kicking about the place.

The other thing is - I dont know if I said, but its not putting anything at all on the scren -- not even the blue death screen....... its just as if the monitor is switched off. - well, apart from the PWR light that is.....

I'll let you know how I get on --- but Thank You thus far.......

Mike

[jbennet]

dont use the dell one

dell ones are custom, they tend to fty other pcs