# Don't know why my desktop won't fire up now

## ClientAlive

I have this old desktop - an HP Pavilion a1253w that I've tried to upgrade a little and now it will not fire up. It's getting power but what it does seems odd. When I plug the power cord in the back both fans start going like hell and when I try to shut it off using the power button there is no response. I have to unplug the power cord. When I do that I hear that both disks were in fact spinning so they are getting power too. The disc drive (I only tried one of the two does open and close so I know it is getting power.

 This same thing happened the other day (I think 2 days ago). By inserting and removing the power cord I gave it juice and then removed and did that a few times with no response from bios. Then it sat for probably 10 min while I typed a post/ thread here (a different on than this one). When I went back to it again I plugged the cord in; and, once again, just that act had it going like hell, but this time the bois did come up and I was able to get into set up.

 I don't know why I didn't deal with setting up the bois right then when I had it. (I had cleared the cmos and password by moving each of the tiny jumper over and then back earlier that day - so cmos, I think, needs date and time set in it).

 Everything that should be plugged in is plugged in and to the correct place on the mobo - I've been over and over and over it. I did hit the F1 key at startup (like it says in the documentation at HPs site) and I know to do so now as well. Just for the hell of it I've also tried the esc key as it is what gets me into the boot menu. Nothing is making any difference.

 I just put another 2 gig of RAM in the thing and it has 3 new expansion cards in place of the one (NIC) it had stock. The mobo has sound and video on board. Now there is a sound card too though. There is also a modem card and a wireless NIC.

 I guess I can try taking those cards out one by one and trying to see if one of them is causing the problem. I don't like just guessing at things though and I wish I had some idea, based on the symptoms, what the problem might be. I don't understand how an expansion card could cause a problem like that but ok, what else can I try?

 Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone experienced anything like this before?

 Thanks in advance for any help.

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 Before I pushed the button to submit this I wanted to try one more time. After all, that's the way it happened the other day that I did get the bios setup screen. No dice though. And every time I do this I can hear the dang write head smack the inside of the drive when I pull that plug on the thing. Not really trying to damage anything.

 

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## dwbowyer

First, I don't know HP Pavilion systems specifically, even to know what year that model was released, so this is general trouble-shooting advice.

Yes, you can try removing the expeansion cards (and memory, don't forget that), one by one and try to find if one of these in particular is causing the problem. I suggest removing ALL your additions first and seeing if the system will boot, or at least POST properly from a default/stock state, then add things back one at a time, starting with the memory.

Misconfigured memory modules -- timings, Bus speeds, modules too large for Motherboard/BIOS limitations could easily lead to failure to POST.

Further, clearing CMOS would set BIOS back to default state, which could mean not have options set properly for some of the add-ons. Some older BIOSes for instance had support for USB/PCI/etc devices, but not enabled by default. Being able to get system past POST and being able to access the BIOS should be first goal.

EDIT: Please avoid pulling/plugging main power cable to start/shutdown the system. Do that enough times you won't just damage the hard drive.. you could fry the power supply (if you are lucky) or the motherboard itself.

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## s_bernstein

If your system is powering up immediatly after plugging in the power cord, you might already have a defective poswer supply or main board. In general the system should stay off wenn power is supplied, but there are exceptions. For example, I know that IBM / Lenovo Dekstops will powerup for a short period of time if power is connected. I don't know why, but they will turn of after a few seconds.

So, as dwbowyer said, remove all unneeded hardware, like extension card except for graphics if not onbard. Remove also all drives because especially ill connected IDE drives causes the bios to hang. Remove all additional memory, leave at least on stick because you will need some memory to complete bios. Also, you might comsider using a switchable extension cord instead of plugging in the power cord.

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## ClientAlive

@dwbowyer

Right on. From what I've been hearing around I should do just like you say. One guy on another forum told me to put it back exactly as it was when I got it. I wanted to inspect the mobo and CPU thoroughly; so, while I had all the drives unplugged and the cards out of it I just went ahead and tore it down completely. The only thing left in the case is the PSU, card reader, audo dock, and power switch. The mobo appears fine, no odd smells, no scorched marks or white melted stuff. I want to let everything sit out, apart for a while so I can be sure it's totally dry of any moisture when I do re-assemble it.

Taking everything people have been telling me, it seems to me that the thing to do is start out with just the mobo, CPU and one 256 MB stick of RAM. If I can get into bios I can make sure everything is set up correctly and I might even see where the problem lay (if it's a setting/ settings).

Here's some pics I took while I have it apart. You know, for posterity.    :Very Happy: 

Pictures: http://clientalive.shutterfly.com/

Thanks for all your help guys. I think this is gonna work. I'm praying.

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## ClientAlive

I don't remember if I mentioned it before but this is the first time in my life I've done something like this - try to assemble hardware and get a working system.

So far I'm making quite a bit of progress. I started out unplugging drives one at a time (with a power cycle in between each) but got no further ahead. Ultimately I tore the whole thing apart again (including removing and inspecting the CPU). Built it back up starting with just the CPU, 512 of RAM, and fans and got bios setup. Made sure the settings in it were right, added more ram then added one drive at a time. Right now I'm fussing with optical drives (it's a long story). But she fires up and will boot, so I guess that's progress.

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it.

Jake

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