hardrive light stays on!

[jeffr]

I recently came back from vacation and my pc won't boot up (no signal to the monitor) and my harddrive light won't go off...Even if I shut the system down and turn it back on, I still get the same thing..I'm running Windows XP Home...what should I do?

[andyms18a]

first unplug the pc from the wall socket then open the case and remove the battery for the comos leav it standing like that for 10 minits all so tern the moniterr off and back on to check its working check all cables and pci cards are on tight and the ram and video cards as well allso make shore the fan on the cpu is tight if you left your computer pluged in at the wall socket or the phone line was conected when you was away check for any sign of litning damage replace the battery and plug the computer back in and try a start up if it wont start do you get any beep errors from the bios

[jeffr]

Still won't work...nothin on the screen...harddrive light still on..checked cables...any ideas?

[ktkendall]

Question::
What could have happened while U were on VACA?? I would say if no person had access and may have cause the problem but U left it plugged into the wall power or even possibly the phone line, U may have taken a power hit or surge while U were out....

[mikeyr71730]

OK, check the cables that go to all IDE devices (it's not a bad idea to check all cables in the system...) and check to make sure that all devices are getting power. Also make sure that none of the cables are plugged in backwards. If none of these things of which I have listed are the problem, then check every IDE device in your system. You should only have to worry about checking the devices that are on the same cable as the hard drive, but why not check everything while you have the case off, right? There is also a chance that the IDE port on the motherboard is bad or that the mobo itself is bad. Also, just as ktkendall said, there could have been a power surge that could have damaged some, if not all, components of the system.

[andyms18a]

disconect the hdd cdrom and flopy drives and all pci cards and all but one stick of ram and try a boot do you get a bios setup screan or is it blank? dose the light on the monitor go on ie grean if poss remove video card and try a diffrent one if your still not geting a bios screan then remove all ram dos the computer beep ? if no sound then fult is eathe power supply
mobo or cpu

[mike breck]

Make sure the Reset button at the front of the case is not stuck. Try pushing it in and out a few times.

[jeffr]

Thanks everyone....So far I believe my PNY video card is fried! (smells fried!)Looks like the fan on the card either shorted out or stopped working...I don't believe I took a power hit or surge...my wifes computer is plugged into the same outlet (surge protector) and hers is fine. I'm picking up a new card today...will let you know what is going on later today!
Cheers!