some advice already posted makes sense... some does not...
if you can hear stuff going on... that suggest its not battery or power...
especially if the same thing happens when you are plugged into wall power.
I think you said you can hear stuff in the computer but the harddrive led does
not light.
that suggest to me that the harddrve is very sick.
but you can try.. pressing the 'f' key just after you power up... depending
on brand.. its f1 or f3 or f8... to get into the factory restore routine.
what normally happens at power up..
the CMOS looks for the boot record. which is normally on the harddrive.
but will check the floppy drive first if there is a diskette in it.
this boot record then loads the basic test functions. and beeps if it
founds something wrong. different length beeps and number of beeps tell what
component is sick.
if you do not get any beeps.. and the harddrive just does not make any
sound... I suspect its the harddrive that is sick....
if it were components or drivers on the mother board, you would get some
beeps at power up test.
on the repair side... if you open the case you need to be very very careful
with ESD. just touching any components can cause un-recoverable damage. ESD
is electrostatic discharge.... you can burn chips, and boards and cards,
simply by touch them... (unless you are properly grounded).
r no - an old computer test lab person
----- Original Message -----
From: Victor Gouveia
To: Blind Handyman Listserv
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 6:18 PM
Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Question for the Engineers
Hi All,
I recently came across a problem that is forcing me to go to a professional
for help...Yeah, I know, I've used the dirty word...
Anyway, my problem is this...
I think my motherboard is fried on my laptop, but I have no way of making
sure that it is or not. I mean, let's face it, there must be a hundred reasons
why a computer won't boot up. Suffice it to say, that the computer does get
power to it, I can here things running in the background, but the hard drive
stays put, and I don't here any sounds from it. My brother says he does not see
any lights emitting from the hard drive light, and at some point, the laptop
just sits there looking at me, like it's waiting for me to make the next move.
My brother thinks it might be the motherboard, or a controller on the
motherboard.
My question is, whether a person can check if the motherboard is working
properly or not, without actually having to rip it out of it's current location
and putting it into another computer, or laptop, as the case may be.
Can one check this sort of thing with a continuity tester to make sure all of
the connections are alright, or if it's fried, to check if there's a break in
the circuitry. This does not have to be done through a blind person, at this
point, I would accept help from a sighted stand point, if anything, just to
save me the expense of paying someone 50 to 60 bucks an hour to look at an
overgrown paper weight.
Anyway, your help would be much appreciated.
Victor Gouveia
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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