Did my computer die?

Well, I woke up this morning, pressed the power button and this is what happened, exactly:

The orange system light went on and stayed on. Green lights indicated it read both of my optical drives. Meanwhile, the monitor does not flash on like normal. Its light is orange as if receiving no signal. All this time, the orange system light just stays on and thats it!!!

To turn it off, I have to hold down the power button for several seconds. I've tried several times with no luck.

Specs:

HP Pavilion
P3 933mhz
256 PC133 Ram
40gb hard drive
Windows XP

Pleas guys, I need your help now more than ever. Can't afford a new computer, though I could replace parts if that would fix it.

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Second scenario. Assuming computer is dead and gone. Is there any method for recovering the data on the hard drive? I really need some of the files off of it.

Could I just take it and put it into another computer???

Thanks!

The first thing that comes to mind, if the computer seems to go through a boot process would be to re seed your video card. If that does not work try putting in an old one that does work for sure and see if that helps. If that is not what is wrong the next thing i would do is check the connection between your hd and mother board. make sure nothing is loose inside the computer such as a pci device just slightly out of its slot. The pci devices could look like there in but press down on the to make sure. If none of this works you can try swapping out your cpu and if that doesnt work i would look no further than your motherboard itself.

Well, I'm pretty sure its not going through a boot process although I could be wrong. I really can't tell because the screen never shows. But, when it boots up normally, like it did a day ago, the orange system light did not stay on consistenly like it does now which leads me to believe its not booting at all.

With it being so old and going through the torture of a family, I fear it may have just "died" in plain english terms. If its either the cpu or mobo, then there's no hope I guess.

Do you know if the data on the hd is recoverable?

A problem that I have had a couple of times is the power button not returning all the way out after you push it in.. When it does not come all the way out, it has the same symptoms. (On some of the cheap computers we have at work) I would try playing around with the power button to mke sure that is not the problem.

Hmmm,

It sounds as if the monitor is having a problem, dead memory, dead hard drive, dead video card................do you get any "beeps" from the BIOS?

In theory you could connect the harddrive to another machine, but I have never tried it with a laptop. The Pavilion is a laptop isn't it?.................you will need a suitable cable and power source.

The BIOS bleeps may provide a clue as to the actual problem?

Good luck

EDIT: It may sound a bit strange, but make sure that you havent left a CD in one of your drives. Have a machine that gives "invalid system disk" with a floppy, but just freezes if I leave a CD in the drive.

The pavillion is not a laptop, tower desktop.

When I press the power button, which appears to be ok and releases all the way, the orange light comes on and stays on forever.

I hear the fan and the drives both read. All the while though, the screen is off with its light being orange as if no signal is being received from the computer.

There are beeps or any sounds when I press the power button.

I've tried it with a CD in the drives and without. No difference except it seems to read the CD and stop.

All the while, monitor is off with orange light and computer system light is orange the whole time, no blinking or anything, solid.

"The pavillion is not a laptop, tower desktop."

Yes i know that

Iceborg i have Good News for you my experience tells me that you your Processor and The Motherbord are ok So is your Hard Disk. I am saying this Because your computer seems to boot up prorerly, its just that you are not able to see it on the monitor. The monitor cable is fine and properly atteched To the CPU Tower i know this because you said the light is Orange otherwise the monitor would have shown random colors one after another. and well 100% of all Computers i Checked with these symbtoms as tech Support had a loose or bad PCI or one RAM slot .

First of all i think (with all due respect)you are not qualified to open the CPU tower i think. So you should call a tech.

If you can open it or find some one who knows Hardware then First of all remove All PCI Cards in it and then again put them in place ( or try putting then one by one starting your computer each time). Then repeat it with RAM slot Try booting with one RAM slot If you have More than one RAM Sticks

Regarding Data it is fine and very well recoverable in there, you just need to take out your hard Disk and put it in another Computer

psss: I will tell you one of my trade secret , whenever i found those symbtoms i started off with wiping the dust inside of the CPU tower with a Brush and 40% of the Computers started as they had something loose in their, now shhhhhh don't tell it to anyone

Thanks to your help SF. I was referring to Nihil's ponderence over whether it was a laptop or not.

Anyhow, I've installed the CDRW, RAM, and NIC that is in there, so I think I am okay with opening it up.

Last I did, I noticed it is very dirty in there. What it is ok to use to wipe around in there with?

When I get home I am going to run through your instructions.

Worst case scenario, I am sticking the hard drive in another computer?

Quote:

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Last I did, I noticed it is very dirty in there. What it is ok to use to wipe around in there with?

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Brush a small sort dry brush. with light hands. keeping in mind the things are very delicate in there

Quote:

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Worst case scenario, I am sticking the hard drive in another computer?

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Call HP Computer Center

Hi Iceborg, I wasn't sure, HP seem to do "Pavilions" in a number of configurations.

That is good news, you should be able to load the HDD into another machine to get to your data.

Try disconnecting the Display fom the PC an power up the screen by itself................it should come up with a "no signal detected" message and or some sort of diagnostics message.............if it doesnt then I would say the problem is with your monitor.

Can you borrow another monitor, and/or test you one on another computer?

Make sure that you earth/ground youself on the bare metal before touching anything inside. :)

If your monitor works but the PC doesn't, then I would take the suggestion to reseat the memory and the video card.............take a lint free cloth and some isopropyl alcohol and clean the contacts (the conecctor strips that plug into the MoBo. I have certainly solved at least one machine's problems by doing that............although it was a lot older than yours.

Keep us posted & good luck

Thanks everyone for your many rapid resopnses. I'm glad I can go home with several different solutions to attempt. I will let you know how they turn out.

Thanks!

I just wanted to thank everyone who offered assitance, it worked and my computer is back to normal operation.

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New Problem, wasn't sure if i should start new thread, but its so similar:

A friend is having a similar problem as I described in this thread, however, he is gettin about 10 beeps after turning it on, they come in increments of 2's and 3's.

Any ideas? Note, we tried everything suggested here for my comp and that rendered no results.

Thanks.

Do you know which BIOS he has? On the system board there will be a chip with Award, AMI, Pheonix etc on it. Google for the BIOS chipmaker and beep codes and that may point you in the right direction.