strange behavior - Tech Support Forums

Mombo323 · January 3rd, 2008, 02:08 AM

Let me see if I can explain what the deal is with this puter. Couple of things Ive noticed. 1. when it is on, no image on monitor. Monitor works on spare computer. CDR and DVD drive trays will NOT open unless the IDE ribbon is pulled from the mainboard.
2. With machine on, when connect power to hard drive, power supply shuts off immediately. Will start as long as no power to hard drive.
Tried using a spare good drive, computer does NOT cut out when power is connected to hard drive, and I can hear the disk spinning, yet no OS comes up. I have XP Pro OS on that drive.. it just spins/hums. no clicking disk activity at all, but at least it dont kill the power supply when I plug it in.. Hope I explained this to be understood. Could it be a powersupply problem or Mainboard? will not even boot up at all.. strange... advise greatly appreciated. Thanks

**RicheemxX** · January 3rd, 2008, 02:14 AM

Was this a working machine that suddenly stopped or what? Do you get any sort of boot with no drives connected? Have you pulled all the none essentials and tested it out side the case?

Quote:

With machine on, when connect power to hard drive, power supply shuts off immediately.

Its never a good idea to connect things after your powered on, unless you are using hotswappable drives!

Mombo323 · January 3rd, 2008, 02:28 AM

Yes it was working fine. When I tried to plug in drive with machine on, I had the power connector backwards, and when it touched, machine shut down asap. Ive had this happen before with no adverse effects. My fault for not shutting down machine before connecting hard drive power plug. Will not boot at all, even will all drives unplugged. NOt sure how to test "non-essentials", that much be the cdr, DVD, floppy, and hardrive. Should I test these in my spare maching that I KNOW works?

**RicheemxX** · January 3rd, 2008, 02:37 AM

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NOt sure how to test "non-essentials", that much be the cdr, DVD, floppy, and hardrive. Should I test these in my spare maching that I KNOW works?

No I meant without all those connected! If you've done that and there is still no boot then there is no need to test them.

Again was this a working system to begin with?

Any time I'm trouble shooting I start off with the board outside the case and with only the min connected. That means just the cpu/hs/fan a single stick of memory and known good video card (if needed). Grounding is a big culprit, and in many cases the cause of none boot issues so pulling the board and placing it on a box or book eliminates that issue.

Steve R Jones · January 3rd, 2008, 06:55 AM

I'd guess that you either fried the mobo or the power supply.

KarmaKiller · January 3rd, 2008, 06:58 AM

^I concur. ^

Mombo323 · January 3rd, 2008, 01:33 PM

I unhooked the Primary and Secondary IDE cables from the board, along with floppy IDE. I removed first one stick of memory, then both pcs. PS and CPU fan still come on at power up, but no boot. Only difference is DVD and CDR trays will open when not connected to the IDE ribbons. Still will not power-up at all with the power lead connected to the hard drive. unhook power to hard drive, and PS and CPU fans will come one. Should it not beep with no memory in it at all? 1 stick or 2, no difference? should I have the PS checked first?

Mombo323 · January 3rd, 2008, 03:02 PM

I unhooked the IDE ribbons from the board, incl. floppy, and I got a boot. Only thing I notice now is when power plug in connected to hard drive, computer will not even turn on. If unhooked and hard drive power plug is connected, computer immediately turn off. Reonnected IDE ribbons to board, now on power, cd and dvd trays come out. Hard drive power is still unhooked..

Set first boot device to cdr/dvd rom. Got this error message: "File \i386\ biosinfo.inf could not be loaded. Error code is 4096. Setup connot continue"

This puter is an Emachine, and has XP Pro SP 2 on it. I am using a basic XP Pro cd to try to boot. No luck.

**RicheemxX** · January 3rd, 2008, 03:40 PM

It sounds like you might have fried one of your power supply rails. Leave everything unhooked, just use the basics mobo, cpu/hs/fan one stick of memory and reset the bios then try another power supply.

Quote:

Should it not beep with no memory in it at all?

It should but you might not have a speaker connected?

If the machine ran completely fine to begin with and "hot plugging" the hard drive caused the issue then IMO it would most likely be you killed the powersupply or your IDE channels or both!

JPMiller · January 3rd, 2008, 03:44 PM

Just replace the power supply, it was basically faulty to begin with, (E-machines are notorious for this) and pray it didnt take the motherboard with it... if that doesnt fix things, your looking at a new motherboard...
These have a high rate of PSU/Mobo failure over time