2011-09-30, 01:52 PM
(This post was last modified: 2011-09-30, 02:42 PM by keith_leitch.)
Greetings, all,
After six months away, I have returned to a non-functioning media centre. Before I left, I backed it up and packed it carefully into a box in a self-storage facility; since it came out of the box undamaged, I can't see many reasons that it shouldn't "just work..." but it doesn't.
When I first started up, the machine kicked me straight to CMOS settings, with a complaint that the time needed to be reset. Perhaps the onboard battery had drained. I set the time, and restored some other changed defaults, then saved the CMOS.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten about replacing my original, onboard HDMI controller with a newer card, so by enabling HDMI, I actually lost the ability to use it. No problem; I switched to VGA, and agreed to let the system restore CMOS defaults due to some conflicts it detected. I then waited for the long boot and numerous complaints about out-of-date virus-checking software. I then issued a soft restart. The computer seemed to shut down normally.
That was the last I saw of it. Each subsequent restart results in fans spinning, but not much else. Devices "light up" in the USB ports, but I cannot tell if they system is reading them or not. I don't think I hear drives reading after the initial spin-up, but it's hard to tell over the noise of the fans. I have tried to issue the remote commands that I programmed for it to "sleep," and it hasn't "slept," so I don't think it is booting. I certainly don't hear any system beeps, or see any video, even on an external monitor. I have attempted at least four times to remove the battery and use the jumper settings to reset the CMOS, to no avail.
Other than the obvious "solution" of building and installing a whole new system (which I will never have time to do), does anyone have any suggestions?
P.S. I have now put a tester to the onboard battery, which is issuing the 3V that it is supposed to.
After six months away, I have returned to a non-functioning media centre. Before I left, I backed it up and packed it carefully into a box in a self-storage facility; since it came out of the box undamaged, I can't see many reasons that it shouldn't "just work..." but it doesn't.
When I first started up, the machine kicked me straight to CMOS settings, with a complaint that the time needed to be reset. Perhaps the onboard battery had drained. I set the time, and restored some other changed defaults, then saved the CMOS.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten about replacing my original, onboard HDMI controller with a newer card, so by enabling HDMI, I actually lost the ability to use it. No problem; I switched to VGA, and agreed to let the system restore CMOS defaults due to some conflicts it detected. I then waited for the long boot and numerous complaints about out-of-date virus-checking software. I then issued a soft restart. The computer seemed to shut down normally.
That was the last I saw of it. Each subsequent restart results in fans spinning, but not much else. Devices "light up" in the USB ports, but I cannot tell if they system is reading them or not. I don't think I hear drives reading after the initial spin-up, but it's hard to tell over the noise of the fans. I have tried to issue the remote commands that I programmed for it to "sleep," and it hasn't "slept," so I don't think it is booting. I certainly don't hear any system beeps, or see any video, even on an external monitor. I have attempted at least four times to remove the battery and use the jumper settings to reset the CMOS, to no avail.
Other than the obvious "solution" of building and installing a whole new system (which I will never have time to do), does anyone have any suggestions?
P.S. I have now put a tester to the onboard battery, which is issuing the 3V that it is supposed to.