PC with W2K dead?

15 years ago

Gateway model NOCPP063

Windows 2K prof sp4

pentium 4 1400mHz

ram about750+ MB

Reformatted harddrive 2 months ago

There have been a few times in the last month (since I received this old PC) that I have had trouble booting up after closing down normally. When this happens, nothing would show on the screen, not even the intial Gateway emblem. I have had to reboot multiple times to get it to come up, or unplug everything and let it set to reset(I assume) and plug back in.

Now this last time, when trying to boot up after closing down normally, I got only the pic below on my screen and nothing else. I have never seen this before, and the Gateway pc went no further in booting up. I have had no success booting up the pc since, attempting 10-15 times. I also unplugged everything (even the phone) and let it sit for 2 days before restarting. Tried the 2 day scenario again, but still no go. The screen showed as the pic below only once. Thereafter, there has been nothing, not even a cursor dash (just as before). One difference I did notice was before the color strips, the pc would check both the CD disc drive and the floppy disc drive (as indicated by the green lights blinking). After the color stripes, it checks only the CD disc drive.

I took the HD out of the Dell pc I am using now with WinMe, and replaced the Win2K HD in the Gateway with it. (Both pc's have only one HD.) The same result (nothing) occurred.

I took the Win2K HD and put it in the older Dell machine. The Win2K OS started loading(I think), as indicated on the black screen, but did not continue. I am thinking the Bios on that Dell (optplex GX1,pentium III 550mhz,700+mb ram) won't support the win2K OS?

So I am thinking the problem with the Gateway is hardware? Fans are running and nothing is warm. I wish I had more clues here . . . .

Any insight on my problem?

Rick

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Comments (8)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
how old is this pc and has the cmos battery been changed? I would open it up make sure it is clean inside, check for loose cables etc and if that cmos battery has not been changed recently go ahead and try a new one they are cheap, see if that helps at all. I have seen a bad cmos cause some very strange things.

I am sure others will have more ideas to try.
It will likely take a lot of trial and error to ferret out the problem.
randy_ca
15 years ago
Have you tried a different monitor?
This looks like a display problem.
If the monitor works on any of the computers, then you could rule that out.
If the monitor is good, then most likely it would be the on-board video is no good and you'd need to try a video card in one of the slots and hook the monitor to that.

Changing HD's from one to the other won't work, you just can't do that and have them boot, unless they are the exact same machines.
The bios in the Pentium 3 will support any OS.
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zep516
15 years ago
Looks like a display problem to me also or the video card, Widows 2000 very unlikely to display that kind of signal..Looks like a test pattern....
owbist
15 years ago
Do you hear the beep during startup indicating it has passed the BIOS? If so was it only one beep or more? If more, how many?

Are you sure during the swapping of these hard drives that the ribbon cable is not in backwards. Not suggesting you are stupid but on older computers and hard drives there was no guide making it foolproof and you needed to be sure the coloured edge of the ribbon cable was on pin #1

You might look around the BIOS. If you replaced the onboard battery as ravencajun suggests (only about $3) then your BIOS will reset to defaults. You could try resetting it before going for the battery if the time and date still show correctly.
leftwood
Original Author
15 years ago
The machine, I would guess, is 8+years old, I haven't done anything with the cmos battery yet, except make sure it is secure. Blowing out the inside of the pc and checking for loose connections was one of the first things I did.

I tried hooking up a different monitor. The screen came up normally up to loading the w2k OS in the color screen. It stalled at half way, and the graphics were not perfect: half of the pic behind the "Windows 2000" was missing. I rebooted a few times more, getting the same result, but loading a larger fraction of the OS each time, until nearly completely (99%ish), at which time all froze, and the screen was a mix of the normal w2k loading screen and color bars similar to the above pic.

Meanwhile I put the WinMe pc with the suspect monitor, and I find that both monitors work. In fact I am using the suspect monitor right now.

Thanks for the info with the HDs, randy. Obviously, I didn't know.

Owbist, maybe my pc isn't that old after all. The ribbion cable will only attach one way. I don't have any speakers hooked up, but I now realize the beeping regarding the BIOS would not be from them. No, there has been no beeps the whole time with the Gateway. Until a most recent attempt of booting, did bring two beepsand brought up a screen monitor that said my memory had changed to 448mb, and to press F1 to continue, which I did. But it went no further booting up. When I shut it down, I made sure the memory sticks were firmly in place. Started it up and got 3 long beeps, no screen.

That's where I am now. So I have a few leads to follow up on too. You guys are so great! iThe pc is configured to not need any passwords. If the BIOS is reset, then I would need my administrative password, right? I do have that. And the way I would reset the BIOS (since there is no screen) is to remove the cmos battery for - 10 minutes? before puting it back? My brother probably has an extra video card to try too.
owbist
15 years ago
Leftwood, below is a link to PCHell and beep codes to various BIOS. Your problem now is deciding which BIOS you have seeing there is no picture. Googling the model you gave at the top brought no responses at all that I found while trying to find the BIOS maker.

To the best of my knowledge removing the CMOS battery will cause the default settings to become effective but I do not believe it would then require a password.

You might also try having only one stick of RAM installed and be sure it is in slot zero - usually nearest the CPU but it will be marked on the motherboard at one end of each of the slots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Beep codes for various BIOS
randy_ca
15 years ago
I'd go with the one memory stick and see what happens.
If it doesn't work, try the other stick.
Only one at a time.
my memory had changed to 448mb
I'd take that as some kind of sign.
zep516
15 years ago
I would not reset the bios, the Idea is to change the battery as quickly as possible so the bios retains it's settings that means having the battery in hand before pulling the old one out. That would be the last thing I would do.

focus on the ram as instructed, then reboot no go, put the original ram back, then try the Video card.

PC with W2K dead?

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ravencajun Zone 8b TX

randy_ca

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PC with W2K dead?

Comments (8)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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leftwoodOriginal Author

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