My PC isn't working. How do I find out why?

[TheFaQQer]

Given that time is money, faffing around for a whole day will cost less than buying a cheap PC, if I can salvage the current HD into a new PC as second disk.

Oh, FFS - get down to PC World and buy a cheap PC.

[DS23]

whs - your company deserves it.

[doodab]

Oh, FFS - get down to a proper computer shop and buy a top of the range workstation or laptop and an external disk caddy for the old HDD

FTFY

[TheFaQQer]

FTFY

Why waste money on a caddy? Just make sure that the new one can take the old hard drive, and smack it in there.

[doodab]

Cos it aint gonna fit:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-z-series

[suityou01]

How would you learn and grow if you just toss kit away? If it is a business critical machine then alternatives should be available, but in terms of wanting to know more, asking questions and finding solutions, well I applaud this.

The next time someone has this problem you can speak knowledgably about this and fix it for them for a modest fee.

[Paddy]

Connect PC to your default printer.

Boot up the PC

When the time is right login.

wait...

use the keys Ctrl + Esc then

R for run

then type winword

type some text, then

alt = f then

P then enter.

It should print, if it does; you know the PC is working and it is a graphics fault.

[TheFaQQer]

Connect PC to your default printer.

Boot up the PC

When the time is right login.

wait...

use the keys Ctrl + Esc then

R for run

then type winword

type some text, then

alt = f then

P then enter.

It should print, if it does; you know the PC is working and it is a graphics fault.

I tried that on my machine (just out of interest) and I got nothing.

Of course, not running MS Word might be part of the problem. And not running Windows might be another part of the problem.

[suityou01]

I tried that on my machine (just out of interest) and I got nothing.

Of course, not running MS Word might be part of the problem. And not running Windows might be another part of the problem.

Or running Vista or Windows7 is a problem.

[pzz76077]

Just a thought, have you tried booting in safe mode (F8 after boot) with default VGA drivers.

Though if you are not seeing the bios message after power on, then it is likely to be either the mother board or graphics card. Do you have a mate that has a spare VGA card from a old PC you could borrow for an hour?? Shove it in your PC and see if you get an image of some kind.

Also another long shot, try swapping the cable between the PC an monitor, and pulling out the connector and putting it in a few times at each end. I had a PC a while back (an ASUS mb) that just had dirty connector contacts and this fixed a similar sounding problem straight away.

PZZ