How should I go about fixing this?

[The Magic Hobo]

In the "what is the oldest comp you still use" thread, I mentioned my steam powered, IBM PR200 pc, well, today it decided to give up and die It all spins up, lights come on etc etc, but it is just a black screen on the monitor. I dont know whether it is GPU, which is an S3 Trio 64, dead RAM, which I have no idea what it is, or a CPU thing, like I said, this is an IBM PR200. Or maybe its the mobo, I dont know. If any of you were in a similar situation, what would be the first thing youd try? I know its not the HDD cus that works, but I have no way of testing the CPU/GPU/RAM/Mobo. What should i do, cus Im thinking that getting components for the mobo(which has no markings or brand names on it what-so-ever) would be difficult.

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[Rameez]

first Start always with ram cause The black Screen mostly appears due to Ram Faliure.If Ram is ok Then Check your processor...

[The Magic Hobo]

Hmmm, I tried it it a fairly new(Like three or four years old) mobo, and it comes up with a black screen as well, I dont know if this is dead RAM, or the mobo dosent support this type of RAM cus its so old.

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[refraction]

sounds like a dead cpu

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[The Magic Hobo]

That Im dreading, I love me old PR200, It was me first computer Cus Im holding onto the small chance its just the RAM, what kind of RAM would I need to find that would work with this type of CPU?

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[Hyuga]

...and what kind of processor is that? You didn't mention it. 3-4 years back DIMMs were most popular AFAIK.

[The Magic Hobo]

It says on the CPU heatspreader, IBM PR200, and then some information for adjusting DIP switches, i think, Im not sure, all I know is that it is a IBM PR200.

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[KillerShots]

Does it ever beep? If not, is the PC speaker (the one inside the case) hooked up? If so, your CPU or your mobo is dead.

If it beeps, what is the beep pattern? How many beeps, spaced how far apart? There are standards that define what those beeps mean. In most cases, a PC will give a single beep to show all-ok. Two short beeps and a third long beep means no video.

For checking RAM, you can remove individual sticks to see if the symptom changes (most machines back in that era had quite a few sticks (mine had 8 )). You may have to remove "pairs" of sticks.

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CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Mobo: Biostar N4SLI-A9 RAM: 2G Crucial (DDR400) Video: eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX (512M) Audio: HDA X-Mystique HD(s): Maxtor 300G SATA2, Samsung 400G SATA2 OS(s): WinXP x64 Pro, Vista x32 Ultimate, Gentoo x64 Monitor(s): Primary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Secondary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Tertiary - Zenith 42" Plasma TV (1024x768 res)

Many other machines... sig too short

[Coolsvilleman]

Originally Posted by KillerShots

Does it ever beep? If not, is the PC speaker (the one inside the case) hooked up? If so, your CPU or your mobo is dead.

If it beeps, what is the beep pattern? How many beeps, spaced how far apart? There are standards that define what those beeps mean. In most cases, a PC will give a single beep to show all-ok. Two short beeps and a third long beep means no video.

For checking RAM, you can remove individual sticks to see if the symptom changes (most machines back in that era had quite a few sticks (mine had 8 )). You may have to remove "pairs" of sticks.

Agreed. Also check any manuals it came with as they usually have information for troubleshooting or identifying some problems.

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[The Magic Hobo]

No beeps or anything, it never did when it worked, and dosent now its fuked, and it only has two sticks of RAM, as for manuals, it was bought second hand off of someone, who had bought it second hand, so any thing that came with it have been lost for 10+ years I might just admit defeat, cus I doubt I could find replace RAM or a replacement CPU, or mobo actually, for somehting this old, without going down the realms of eBay, which I never do:/

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[KillerShots]

If it never beeped before, you need to hook up the PC speaker. Without a manual telling you the pinouts of the control block of your motherboard, the best you can do is hope that it's marked on the board itself. It will be next to where the hard drive LED and power LED are plugged into the motherboard. Depending on how old this system is, you may also have a power switch and reset button in that block as well... but if it's really old, the power switch goes straight to the power supply and never touches the motherboard (and I think the reset as well).

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CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Mobo: Biostar N4SLI-A9 RAM: 2G Crucial (DDR400) Video: eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX (512M) Audio: HDA X-Mystique HD(s): Maxtor 300G SATA2, Samsung 400G SATA2 OS(s): WinXP x64 Pro, Vista x32 Ultimate, Gentoo x64 Monitor(s): Primary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Secondary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Tertiary - Zenith 42" Plasma TV (1024x768 res)

Many other machines... sig too short

[The Magic Hobo]

I dont have any sound cards and the board its self has no outputs at all, except for some weird thing I've never seen before, luckliy I dont have in a case exactly, sort of mounted on an old part of a case, so I can take it off and photograph it really easy if it would help. And It has the power/reset on the mobo, cus I have to turn it on with a screwdriver cus it dont have a power switch

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[KillerShots]

I'm not talking about a sound card, I'm talking about a PC speaker - you know, those things that every computer ever made came with, ever since the 8086 days. Doesn't do much more than beep at various tones. It will be inside the computer case.

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CPU: Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Mobo: Biostar N4SLI-A9 RAM: 2G Crucial (DDR400) Video: eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX (512M) Audio: HDA X-Mystique HD(s): Maxtor 300G SATA2, Samsung 400G SATA2 OS(s): WinXP x64 Pro, Vista x32 Ultimate, Gentoo x64 Monitor(s): Primary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Secondary - 19" Flat Panel (1280x1024) Tertiary - Zenith 42" Plasma TV (1024x768 res)

Many other machines... sig too short

[The Magic Hobo]

Originally Posted by KillerShots

I'm not talking about a sound card, I'm talking about a PC speaker - you know, those things that every computer ever made came with, ever since the 8086 days. Doesn't do much more than beep at various tones. It will be inside the computer case.

No case, it has no case, I dont remember when I had a case for it, its just the bit of the case that you clip the mobo onto that I have, (which I lost actually, must find it...) Anyway, it must not have been connected in the past cus its never beeped, but who knows, I have loads of old computer parts, I might still have one of the old internal speakers, and I do know what they look like (and what they sound like cus my thats what produces the sound while im playing Doom on my newest pc)cus I've had other old computers that I've dismantled and kept the majority of, I think, it all might have gotten thrwon away when my family rebuilt the shed I had it all stored in, I'll look.

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