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General Troubleshooting

How to troubleshoot a computer that does not POST?

Sometimes it is difficult to know why a computer does not POST. A number of things could be wrong with the system including the motherboard, power supply or components.

If the issue is being caused by a component whether it be defective or incorrectly seated you can use these steps to narrow the problem down:

  • Power down the system.
  • Disconnect the cable from the back of your computer.
  • Remove power from all external components, Hard Drive, optical drive (DVD and/or CD drive), external video card, if one is present, and use internal video, again if present.
  • Remove all RAM Sticks.
  • Disconnect CMOS Battery.
  • Hold front power button with power cable DISCONNECTED for 30 seconds.
  • Reconnect CMOS Battery.
  • Replace one RAM module into the system.
  • Replace video card if one was originally in the system.
  • Reconnect power cord and reboot system.
  • System will halt at POST and asks if you wish to go into BIOS or Windows.
  • Choose BIOS option by pressing the DEL Key.
  • Navigate to the Load Optimized Defaults entry in the main screen.
  • Choose and accept that setting to optimize the BIOS defaults.
  • Exit that screen and return to main BIOS screen.
  • Navigate to Standard CMOS Features and make sure the date and time are accurate.
  • Save and Exit the BIOS by pressing the F10 key.
  • The computer will reboot. Let it reboot and hang.
  • Power it down, disconnect power cable and reconnect hard drive.
  • Reboot system and see what happens.

If your system does not POST, please try the above procedure with one stick of RAM at a time by itself until you get a video screen. If you do not get a video screen, then something else might be wrong with your unit.

If the system POSTs, continue attaching devices and testing each until the system is back up.

The above procedure should help you narrow down the issue if is being caused by a component.

  • Last modified: 2015/08/27 09:07
  • by Shuttle