Bill Six schreef: > Hi, > > This isn't a Gentoo related problem, but a hardware > one (I know next to nothing about hardware). > > First of all I have a Micron computer with a floppy > drive, DVD-read drive (/dev/hdc), CDR drive > (/dev/hdd), a master harddrive (/dev/hde), and a slave > harddrive (/dev/hdf). > > Yesterday my computer was running fine. Today my dad > put in a DVD burner where the CDR was previously > (/dev/hdd). He also took both harddrives out and put > them back in because the ribbon (whatever it's called, > the grey cable that goes into each drive) was twisted. > > Now, when I try to start up my computer, it doesn't > start at all, it just goes "Beep.... (wait 3 > seconds)...Beep.... (wait 3 seconds)...Beep.... (wait > 3 seconds)..." over and over. It doesn't show the > splash screen for the video card, or for the > manufacturer (Micron). > > Any idea why it would do that? What do the beeps mean?
The beeps tell you why it would do that. Depending on your BIOS type (AMI, Award) the pattern of the beeps is meant to tell you what has failed. The information as to what pattern means what is available on the Internet, but you may not have access to the web, or know what kind of BIOS you have, and researching all of that now would be a distraction. > I put the CDR back in instead of the DVD burner, and > it still gives the same error. Since replacing the DVD with the original CD didn't help, that's probably not the problem-- and I wouldn't have thought it was anyway. I've assembled a fair number of computers in my time, so from experience I can take an educated guess that the problem is also not the removal and replacement of the hdd cables (if it was, the system would probably boot up to the point where it needed to access a drive and *then* fail). The fact that you don't even get a POST (that's the part where you count the memory and that shows the logos you aren't seeing), strongly suggests that what has happened is that your dad "misattached"* one or more *power* cables when attaching them to the drives. The motherboard seems to have power, or else you wouldn't even have beeps. *I say "misattached", but it's probably not his fault, if this is in fact the problem. [Inexact explanation follows] The thing is, current power supplies have a certain number of "leads" (maybe 3 or 4), and then these leads are split into multiple connector types (floppy, hdd, motherboard), of which you maybe have 10 in total. What one (and I don't mean just your dad, I've been bitten by this more than once myself) fails to realize is that just because there may be 5 connectors on one lead, this is not the same as 5 separate leads, and all of the connectors on any given lead are sharing the power output of that particular lead. If the group of devices connected to a single lead via the various split connectors demands more power than the lead as a whole is designed to output, the lead won't output anything (to prevent damage to itself or to your components). So it often happens that one has to fiddle with which set of power connectors must be connected to which devices so that the system will boot. If you bought this computer pre-assembled, that was all done by the OEM; it's not surprising that your dad wouldn't have thought that any old hdd power connector couldn't be connected to whatever hdd it was closest to, regardless of what other devices were already on that particular splitter. It's an extremely tedious operation, switching around power connectors, but worth a try. While you're back there, make sure that the IDE ribbon cables are correctly plugged into the hard drives (it's quite easy to reattach them "crooked"-- i.e., not correctly pin-matched, with some pins not in their holes, despite the fact that this is not supposed to be possible). Anyway, that's what I'd check first, but maybe somebody else has a better idea. In any case, hope it's helpful. > > Last time I let my dad touch my computer haha. Awww, give him a break. How else is he going to learn? Don't discourage him just because he didn't get it quite right :-) . Holly > > Thanks for any help, > > Bill Six > > > > > > __________________________________ > Discover Yahoo! > Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and more. Check it out! > http://discover.yahoo.com/ -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
