Fan turns on, computer does not. Hardware or Software problem?? Please help!

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jazzymoon

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Hi, I used to work as an internet technician and I am fairly good with computers and can do a pretty good amount with software, but as far as hardware goes, I don't know the first thing about installing new motherboards, etc. So I am helping my grandmother with her Windows 98 HP computer. When you push the power button, the fan of her computer turns on, but nothing else. The power button light turns green while you are pushing it in and then turns yellow when you let go. Also, there is a picture of a lock next to the powerbutton with a light above it, and that turned on and is orange, which is not normal. Usually when on the power button is green and that is it. So now we have a computer with only the fan running and a yellow and orange light. At first I thought her computer was stuck in some kind of standby mode, since the lock picture matches that on her keyboard for putting the system on standby, but if you turn it on and off it will only power on the fan. I tried using the lock button on the keyboard but it did nothing. I held the button in for a long time, and it the CPU made a strange noise lots of beeping (from something in the computer, not the speakers). I thought it had something to do with a power overload. (I remember overloading a ac adaptor in my car that made a similar sound when I plugged in with something that the wattage was too high.) I was able to get it on finally after pushing the button on and off and holding it in for a while, and then letting go, it FINALLY came on after about 10 minutes of trying and pushing the button. When it boots up, it gets all the way through to windows, then something says it's trying to connect to the internet but a connection is not available, then the computer would restart. This reminded me of the sasser virus, although I didn't think it affected 98 unless it does now. I went into safe mode and removed things from the startup menu, and tried several things but it would just keep restarting once it got to windows in normal mode. She doesn't have virus protection on her computer, although I know she should. I went back over today with virus software, and ran into the same problem, but this time I could not get the computer to come on at all, after trying for an hour of pushing the button. It did the same thing as before with the lights and only the fan would come on. I'm confused at this point if it is a hardware issue, software issue or both. If I hadn't been able to get it on at all, I would say hardware/power supply, but because I was able to get it on the other day, and then it did the restart thing over and over, I was thinking it had to do with the virus and maybe the virus did something that is causing the problem of it not turning on either. If anyone has advice I would really appreciate it.
 
Can't turn it on!

I can't reformat because right now I can't even bring up bios or windows... when I try to turn it on, only the fan comes on, the power button turns yellow and the light above the picture of a lock is orange, all three keyboard lights come on for a second and turn off. I tried unplugging everything and powering up, thinking something was shorting it out...
 
Unplug your optical drives and Hard drives.

Remove the video card and power up. If you still get nothing then you can real out that it's the video card. Reseat the video card.

Next try removing the RAM. If still no beeps or response then you can rule out that it's not the RAM and the only thing left is the CPU and mobo and the only way to test that out of course would be to throw another CPU in there if ya have one. If you don't then unfortunately you're kind of stuck wondering whether it's the CPU or Mobo =/ You need a spare to find out which one is the problem in this case.

Make sure the motherboard isn't grounding out to the case also.

EDIT: By the way, that beeping is the internal CPU speaker. This basically tells you what's malfunctioning in the computer. You need to listen to the beeps and see how the pattern and sound is and then you can look up beep codes depending on what BIOS you have
 
You could try a long shot and go into your bios probably del key while booting and reset the bios back to default. like i said long shot.It almost sounds like the power switch is going out also.The beeping you heard was because you were holding down the key on the keyboard making the bios think you had a stuck key.like Nubius says un plug vid card and hard drive and see if you post.
 
Not holding keyboard

I wasn't holding a key on the keyboard, but the power button tryin get it up and the sound came from something inside the cpu itself, not the normal speakers. I will definitely try all of these things when I get home though. I appreciate it!

Jasmine
 
You could try a long shot and go into your bios probably del key while booting and reset the bios back to default. like i said long shot.
His computer isn't posting therefore he can't get into the BIOS..

The beeping you heard was because you were holding down the key on the keyboard making the bios think you had a stuck key.
This is incorrect, he's hearing this beep because there's a hardware problem and the computer is basically telling him what the problem is. If it was from a keystroke and he could enter the BIOS he wouldn't have a problem.

and the sound came from something inside the cpu itself, not the normal speakers.
It's called the PC Speaker. Every motherboard comes with one. Some mobos come with it attached others rely on the PC Speaker in the case to be attached to the pins where you attach the power and restart button. This speaker is solely for troubleshooting your BIOS.

Here are beep codes for an Award Bios:

http://bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm

Just to give you an idea of how you troubleshoot based on beeps
 
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