Problem With PC Help!

 

I have a Compaq Desktop that I hardly ever use. It sits running. I only
have one visual basic billing program that I periodically use. This
morning I went to boot it and got an error message that the file windows
2000   root\system32\ntoskrnl.exe was corrupted and needed to be
reinstalled. I booted off of the Win2K CD and tried to repair the disk
with no luck. I believe and I/O error message accompanied this. So i
decided to take the pc apart to clean out all dust, make sure all cables
are seated, no dust in the contacts, etc and then went to reboot. Well
now, I get no image on the monitor and the CD sounds like it is spinning
up and getting warm but all I get is 2 beeps. I have retraced my steps,
thinking that I reassembled the cables incorrectly but I do not think
so. I am not sure. There is a separate cable going to the HD, the CDR
and the floppy drive.  is this correct. Then each gets power and the CDR
gets some smaller connectors. i am stumped. I am more of a Mac person so
I do not really understand how PCs go together as well.  I do know that
the cable that goes from the board to the floppy is of a unique size and
cannot have been switched by accident. That leaves the CDR and Hard
Drive. If anyone can figure out what I may have screwed up, please let
me know. BTW, I had a couple of spare HD lying around and tried both of
them with the same 2 beeps.  I just need to get it running so I can
contact Western Digital and see where I go from  here. Please help if
you can.

 

michael.roback@gmail.com wrote:

The first step, would be to state the exact model number of the computer.
You're going to need that info, to dig up any technical documentation
from hp.com .

Computers use beep codes, to signal problems before the display starts
running. If the display worked, then an error message could be written
on the display. You currently have no display, and a couple beeps to work
with. It could be something like a problem with the RAM seating (or what
slot the RAM is in), or the seating of the video card.

So for someone to help you here, they'd want to look at the available
docs, and get some idea what to expect from a busted machine.

Hard drives, CDROMs, and floppies, have separate power and data cables.
The data cable has a "pin 1", that must be connected to... pin 1. The
colored stripe on the edge of the cable, may identify that.

The cables are a little bit strange, in their keying features. PC cabling
is not completely bulletproof. You can find some cable ends, which only
fit one way. But in some cases, they can fit two ways.

Which is why, the first time I took apart my PC, I made notes of each
and every cable, and where the colored stripe goes. Now that I'm more
familiar with them, I have a fairly good idea of what to do. But any
time you open strange equipment, making paper notes first is a good
idea. Or, at least ensuring a detailed technical guide is available
that shows any info like that. If you have a digital camera, taking
pictures of the insides of a machine, might give you a reference for
later.

    Paul

 



The model is a Deskpro EN   Compaq

 

michael.roback@gmail.com wrote:

I found some general beep codes here. (I can also find some
Deskpro EN specific documentation, but they don't contain
information about the BIOS.) In the list here, one beep code
is a short beep followed by a long beep. Another code, consists
of two short beeps. The floppy cable could be reversed. Make sure
pin 1 on the cable (red stripe) goes to pin 1 on the floppy.
On one of my floppies, I actually had to pull it out of the machine,
to verify which was pin 1. Reversing a floppy cable, should cause the
floppy light to jam in the on state.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph07107

    Paul

 



Checked the cable on the floppy drive. Actually these cable connectors
in the Compaq have a guide so it seems impossible to plug them in
backwards! How can I tell which connector on the board is for the hard
drive and for the cd? Maybe they are reversed, although I did pull the
cables out of the back of each and reverse so if the position on the
board were reversed, that should have taken care of it? Any other
ideas!!!