Firstly, sorry if this shouldn't be posted here, it's definitely a tech support question and this isn't a tech support forum. However, the sticky seems to say that you can ask tech support questions. Now, onto the actual problem. I've got your average computer desk where you've got a little cubbie to put your computer, and above that, a long arm-rest/mouse-pad holder/coffee cup holder that pulls out from the desk. This morning, my cat jumped up onto my desk and then walked onto that pull-out board. He's done this many times before, but this time, the board snaps right off the desk, frightening my cat and making my computer go berserk. What my computer now does is make a loud, annoying tone from the internal speaker that lasts for about 2-3 seconds, then stops for about 2-3 seconds, then repeats forever. The monitor (which now turns itself off upon turning on the computer, which it never used to do) shows very odd things. In the top 1/2 inch or so of the monitor, it has light-gray shapes that slowly move off the screen to the top. This disturbs me because my old Windows '98 computer did that after it failed. Other than that, the computer doesn't seem to do much. The PS/2 keyboard has electricity (num lock light is lit), but the USB mouse doesn't. It doesn't make much noise as if it's trying to read hard drivers or CDs or anything. It starts the beeping within seconds after I press the on button. A little more about the board that fell off. It didn't snap, the strip underneath it that was holding it up broke off. The computer got hit by that small strip, but not by much of the board, since it was almost fully extended at the time. It definitely shouldn't have been hit further back than the CD rom drive (which is empty and can be opened), and shouldn't have gotten hit very bad. This problem started immediately after that happened. The computer was booting up at the time when this happened, though I couldn't say where it was at. Any suggestions? Please help! I'll be stuck with a GeForce 2 if I can't get that computer to work!

Sounds bad.

The beeping sound usually has some failure message attached to it. It's generated by the BIOS if something fails during the Power on Selftest. You should find out what your computer is trying to tell you by looking into your mainboard's manual (either by reading the hardcopy or by downloading a PDF from the manufacturer's website). Then you can start tracking the defect hardware.
Some newer mainboards also feature some kind of visual error message either via some diagnostic LEDs or a numeric display, which should also display some error code (again check your manual for a human-readable-message :D )

I would recommend to first disconnect all periphery, including your mouse. I would also remove all unnecessary PCI(-E) cards and disconnect the CD and especially the HDD drive. Of course, your computer wouldn't boot anymore than, but you should at least see some BIOS messages.

The hit might have also caused the RAM or the GFX card to slightly pop out of their slots. Try to push those parts a bit to check if they are still plugged in correctly.

If your computer does only show some weird picture or no picture at all and you do get back a sound message from your BIOS, it's usually the RAM, the GFX card or the Mainboard (sometimes including the CPU) which is defect. Yes, I know that's a lot of possibilities, but that's why sou should check the beeping sound message to narrow it down a little bit. It sounds also a bit strange to me, because on a hit, it's usually the mechanical parts which experience a damage... That's why you should also try to disconnect the HDD and the CD drive. Again, make sure that all the electronic extensions tightly sit in their slots on your mainboard (RAM, GFX card, etc.) and also make sure that your CPU cooler and fan are still connected to the CPU ;-D

PS.: If you need any help with finding the error message, post some details about your system (especially the mainboard product name and revision) and I can see what I can do for you...

Thanks for the reply.

I seem to have an ECS Photon PF1 Rev: 1.1. On ECS's website, it's got some manuals, but I can't tell which one is for my motherboard; I've never seen any of the numbers there. The manual that I have doesn't seem to have any information about error messages.

I don't really know much about hardware, but the RAM, graphics card, and all other plugs that I could find seemed secure enough when I felt them.

[Edit: Plugged it back in after opening it up to see if anything was loose and now it works! I still don't like it, though. I feel like that I'm just pushing aside whatever problem it is/was, so I'd still like some more thoughts as to what (and now whether) I should do.]

[Edited by - Ezbez on January 21, 2007 6:51:30 AM]

I tried to find out what your mainboard is trying to tell you with this error message but could find nothing indeed. Seems like ECS is providing almost no support on this end.

It's good to hear that everything works so far. Have you experienced any problems since plugging everything in again? It's fine if it works. You're not pushing aside anything. I really guess that something popped out of its slot and you just pushed it in again.

Everything you can do, now, is wait and see what happens. If everything works, you're fine. You can (and should), however, also wait for some other peoples' opinions...

I have run into this problem before after doing a few head stack transplants I have become comfortable opening HDD's. This noise is commonly caused by a seized
Spindle, sry to say that you need to do a platter transplant :(
Be carfull doing this, as 1 micrometer of movement of one platter will make all data useless. unless that is, it's a single platter drive the you just need to park the heads, remove the platter, find a donor drive, park it’s heads, remove it's platter & place the original platter in the donor drive case and carefully slide the heads back in place & viola

The beeps most likely indicated that there was a problem with RAM or Graphics board, and reseating them seems to have fixed it. It seems unlikely that anything wrong with the mainboard would fix itself, if it was severe enough to cause boot failure. And I think we can safely say that if the motherboard was generating those loovely BIOS beeps, taking the hard drive apart would be foolish. In the extreme.

Mathmo

Would it have been possible that the movement of the PC case caused the motherboard to short out against the case? If you pulled out the PC, it may be possible that it shifted back into place. Just a thought.

Quote: Original post by _underscore
I have run into this problem before after doing a few head stack transplants I have become comfortable opening HDD's. This noise is commonly caused by a seized
Spindle, sry to say that you need to do a platter transplant :(
Be carfull doing this, as 1 micrometer of movement of one platter will make all data useless. unless that is, it's a single platter drive the you just need to park the heads, remove the platter, find a donor drive, park it’s heads, remove it's platter & place the original platter in the donor drive case and carefully slide the heads back in place & viola

That's terrible advice unless you happen to have a humidity controlled clean-room handy. Any hair, dust or moisture, even from your breath, could destroy the drive, if not immediately, then certainly over time. I'm not saying its guaranteed to do harm, but its incredibly risky to be recommending as first course of action without far more evidence to back up your conclusion.

I'd back Mathmo's advice. In my own experience beeps indicate that something has gotten unseated from where it should be. RAM in particular can be very finicky from what I've seen. Combined with the sharp rapping the computer likely received, either directly or indirectly, unseating is a real possibility.
Also, beeping means that its gotten as far as the BIOS, and is failing to initialize something -- Can't be the CPU or you'd get nothing, so RAM and add-in cards are most likely.

Unplug the machine and try to power it on to release any residual juice in the PSU. After that, switch the PSU off and open up your case. Take the opportunity to remove dusty build up, then remove each addin card and RAM module, immediately re-seating them. Don't shuffle anything, including any of the RAM, to another slot.

Nowadays, the first thing I suspect is Capacitor Plague, once you have ruled that out, then the "begin taking components out until it works again" procedure should apply [smile].

Yes, that's true. Though that's often accompanied by strange sounds, smells, and possibly lights :)