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Hardware Forum / Brand Name Systems / Compaq / December 2007help:compaq presario s4020wm
my daughter has a compaq presario s4020wm system.it boots up to a black screen,the green light comes on,the dvd rom tries to boot,the floppy also tries to boot,we know the monitor works because we tried it on another system, how can we tell if the onboard video adapter is bad?and what else can i do to get it to boot to the operating system,also there are no beeps to confirm what is wrong.help.... The possibilities for cause of failure appear to be failed video adapter, failed motherboard in general, failed CPU (unlikely), failed power supply (maybe unlikely) and failure of some other device. There are several approaches here. One is to install an old PCI video card and see what happens. Another is to use a POST card, a special PCI used to diagnose problems with a system booting up. Or you can try another known good power supply because part of the existing power supply could have failed. You can use any ATX12v power supply. To isolate failure of another device, unplug floppy, hard drive, CD/DVD drives, and see if the system will at least boot up to the BIOS screen. If it does, plug one device at a time. Make sure you unplug the wall power every time you put your hands inside the chassis. If the floppy diskette makes its grinding noise a few seconds after you turn on the computer, my bet is on a failed onboard video adapter. So I would start with an old PCI video card... Ben Myers >my daughter has a compaq presario s4020wm system.it boots up to a black >screen,the green light comes on,the dvd rom tries to boot,the floppy also >tries to boot,we know the monitor works because we tried it on another system, >how can we tell if the onboard video adapter is bad?and what else can i do to >get it to boot to the operating system,also there are no beeps to confirm >what is wrong.help.... thanks for the advice,but my question is,if the the onboard video is bad,how do i go about adding additional video in the pci slot,i tried another video card from my other computer,but nothing,i thought that if the onboard video was already registered in the bios,you could not add another video adapter,is my board going to have to be replaced or is there somthing else i can do? thanks Chances are that the motherboard would have to be replaced, given the symptoms you described. If you added another video card with the same result, either the motherboard has failed or there is small chance that the motherboard BIOS is not switching to the card you added. To check out the latter possibility, unplug the computer, carefully remove the C2032 battery for about 5 minutes and put it back in again, then with the other video card installed plug the computer cord into the wall current and try again. If you still get the same result, the motherboard has likely failed. If you are somewhere in the vicinity of ZIP 01451, west-northwest of Boston by I-495, bring it over and I can diagnose and repair... Ben Myers >thanks for the advice,but my question is,if the the onboard video is bad,how >do i go about adding additional video in the pci slot,i tried another video >card from my other computer,but nothing,i thought that if the onboard video >was already registered in the bios,you could not add another video adapter,is >my board going to have to be replaced or is there somthing else i can do? >thanks >Chances are that the motherboard would have to be replaced, given the symptoms >you described. If you added another video card with the same result, either the [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >>my board going to have to be replaced or is there somthing else i can do? >>thanks i tried taking the battery out to clear the cmos and tried another video card, one i know works.but still a black screen ,i saw some pc diagnostics cards on ebay,wonder if they work?and no i live in nicholas county.i've rebuilt computers before,just never had this kinda problem before,any ideas you can give would be very helpful,thanks.i've tried getting in touch with hp just to find out the type of motherboard that is installed but my warranty already ran out so they wouldn't even tell me that,i think it has a socket a processor and the chipset is km266 mghz and the video is via-s3,other than that i'm stuck... Yes, the diagnostic POST cards work well. The main thing is that they have a two-digit LED that displays the motherboard's POST code. No POST code at all or zeros continually usually means a dead motherboard or CPU. They usually show whether or not the 3.3v, 5v and 12v lines are supplying the right voltage. HP contracted with a manufacturer for the motherboard in your system, as it does all of its motherboards. The best and only information you can obtain about it is from the support section of the HP web site. Simply enter the model of the system, and look for specifications. HP does not stock many, if any, replacement motherboards for its consumer models, Presario and Pavilion, and your system is now too old for HP to stock them anyway. Best bet for a replacement is eBay. I will also bet that the Presario power supply is problematic. If the brand is "Bestec", it is the same brand used in the eMachines computers known to fail regularly. At this point, I'll vote for a failed motherboard, not just the video, with a highly probably flaky power supply. You may be at the point where it is simply time to replace the computer... Ben Myers >>Chances are that the motherboard would have to be replaced, given the symptoms >>you described. If you added another video card with the same result, either the [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >processor and the chipset is km266 mghz and the video is via-s3,other than >that i'm stuck... >Yes, the diagnostic POST cards work well. The main thing is that they have a >two-digit LED that displays the motherboard's POST code. No POST code at all or [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >>processor and the chipset is km266 mghz and the video is via-s3,other than >>that i'm stuck... i ordered a post card,when i receive it maybe ill know more,i just bought my daughter an emachine,i hope the power supplies dont really go out on those, lol.i went to the support section,they don't tell you much.i guess i'll just try the post card when i get it and go from there,thanks.... > my daughter has a compaq presario s4020wm system.it boots up to a black > screen,the green light comes on,the dvd rom tries to boot,the floppy [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > confirm > what is wrong.help.... Is it 'normal' on that Pc for it to access the floppy? ( has it always done that?) Or do you think the hard drive died, so THAT's why it's trying CD/floppy ? If you put a floppy disk in the drive, does it TRY to boot from it ? Anything onscreen - even an error message to try another floppy ? For specific pc info http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=326832&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&sub mit.y=7&submit.x=6&lang=en&cc=us If bad onboard video, might it be that it has booted ( disk activity) and just can't see desktop ? Does the boot sequence "appear normal" to her ? (other than no video ) Right after power on tap the F10 (5-10) times to see if you can get into BIOS On some models you then had to hit RETURN for ENglish, then you'd see a menu. Ask her if she knows how hers looked. ( did she have to select ENglish first or did it go right into menu ?) Try it both ways if failure. (read manual at hp site) anyway, where I'm going with this .... If you do / think you ARE into the BIOS, look at this screenshot: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00007413&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en &product=326832&rule=44904&lang=en It looks to me like - if your video IS bad AND you want to change from primary to PCI card, then once in BIOS, type the RIGHT arrow to get to that ADVANCED menu ( even though you can't see the menu, the cpu should still follow instructions), then DOWN ( to get to primary video adapter option) then ENTER to select the menu, then DOWN again to select PCI. Then ESC then right-right -right ( to EXIT) then ENTER. I would imagine then a prompt to SAVE BIOS ? Y/N ? so type a Y then ENTER, see if it reboots and then uses video card. If it doesn't work the first time, try a few times varying/ watching your keystrokes. >> my daughter has a compaq presario s4020wm system.it boots up to a black >> screen,the green light comes on,the dvd rom tries to boot,the floppy [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] >If it doesn't work the first time, try a few times varying/ watching your >keystrokes. I have been in bios before,just was afraid to try it again with no monitor picture,i ordered a post card from ebay,hopefully when it gets here,i can test the motherboard,if all else fails,i'll definately try what you suggested, thanks for all your help,i probably will have to get new motherboard,and the thing you said about the power supply,i hope emachines dont go out,my daughter just bought an emachine,lol... EMachines and Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion computers often (always?) use the same Bestec power supplies. In the past, they have all shared the same model of motherboard and chassis, with cosmetic differences. On all three, when a power supply fails for whatever reason (power spike, internal failure, etc), it often takes the motherboard along with it... Ben Myers >>> my daughter has a compaq presario s4020wm system.it boots up to a black >>> screen,the green light comes on,the dvd rom tries to boot,the floppy [quoted text clipped - 45 lines] >thing you said about the power supply,i hope emachines dont go out,my >daughter just bought an emachine,lol... |
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