Drew,

Are there any beep codes?

I would try the following:

1) I'm with Lisa, although I go overboard and unplug and re-plug everything from the mobo (Memory, video cards, power connections, even reseat the processor) and see if that works.

2) if that doesn't work, try booting it with 1 memory stick at a time. If one works, take it out and try the next until you identify the bad stick(s)

3) switch out the power supply.

4) ????

-Jesse Safran
Technology Coordinator - IT Lead
Rutland Central Supervisory Union
257 S. Main Street - Suite 1
Rutland, VT 05701
(802) 775-4342 x110
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Drew Blanchard" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:01:41 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Computers won't boot

I have to support 11 Gateway Pentium D computers in my video lab, running XP Pro with 2 GB of RAM. Suddenly, 2 of the machines will not boot. Really won't boot, as in the DVD drive light briefly flashes at startup, but the hard drive never spins up. I don't even get the boot menu/bios screen. I've tried the basics, nothing seems to work. I'm not a newbie, but this mystifies me. I wondered if was the CMOS battery; I pulled the battery and reset it, which allowed the computer to restart in safe mode, but at reboot it went back to a blank screen. Hardware isn't my specialty, but the fact I can't even access the bios says I need some advice. Help?

--
Drew Blanchard
Technology Teacher
Winooski City Schools
Normand St.
Winooski, VT 05404
(802) 655 - 3530 x6073