I  just tried to fix an old, non-booting PC for someone, too.  Turned out it was just a bad hard drive.  I replaced it with an old one I had lying around and XP formatted/partitioned the HDD and installed the OS just fine.   --AnnaSummers

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Don Penlington 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2008 12:06 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Old computer won't boot


I'm working on a 6-year old Pentium 3 running XP for a friend. She can't 
afford a new computer or a full upgrade right now.

This computer completes POST with the usual "OK" one-beep, then stops at 
"press delete to enter setup" screen with the usual POST info. Memory-check 
appears OK.

Pressing delete or anything else has no effect. It seems to be frozen 
there. There's no further hard drive activity. XP doesn't seem to be 
starting to load.

Holding down Delete or F8/F10 at power-on gives the same result, so I can't 
even get into Safe Mode.

Powering on and off via the power button seems fine.

I suspect a failed video card (I've tried reseating it).

What are the other possibilities? Would a failed hard drive still show the 
POST screen?

On removing the cover, the power supply vents are completely gunked 
up--looks like it's never had an internal clean in 6 years.

Could a fried power supply still give an OK POST?

If the CPU were cooked, could it still POST? It doesn't feel hot.

I don't want to spend much money repairing such an old computer, but $5 for 
a used video card on Ebay should be OK if I could be reasonably sure that's 
the problem.

But I'm wondering---if the video card is bad, would I see the POST screen 
at all?

What would the experts do (with no spares to substitute)?

In summary---would I see the POST screen in the event of:
1. Failed hard drive
2. Failed video card
3. Failed CPU
4. Failed mobo.
5. Failed RAM.
Or failed anything else?


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