this old compaq presario I have....

g35x

well, I have a compaq presario my friend gave me after he bought a new computer (he never tries to fix anything, just gets a new computer) so he gave me this compaq, he kept the hard drive but everything else is intact, the main problem is that when I turn it on, all it does is beep. now obviously I turned it on without a harddrive in there, but it had ram and a cd/dvd drive, so it should have at least shown the bios screen right?

me and my dad came to the conclusion that the onboard video was fried, after I turned it on and he touched the video chip and it was hot to the touch. I was thinking about buying a radeon x1650 to check if it works (it does have a pcie slot, and an athlon, so it should be fine for counter-strike source once I get it going ), the last time a computer beeped like this was the first one I built , when I didn't pluig the radeon x800xl into the psu, so I was thinking videocard is the case here, but does anyone know what else it could be?

g35x

okay, I tried it again today after not trying for awile, and this time, no beeps, just turns on, cpu fan goes, and nothing. tried the onboard video, and two different (but both very very old) pci cards, none worked. tried switching ram around, that didn't work, tried taking out the bios battery, that didn't work

I'm really at a loss here.

BlueMak

Did you try a new bios battery?

g35x

could I just take one out of another pc and try, or are they motherboard specific?

BlueMak

If the other PC is not old and it still works and in use everyday, you should be ok. BUT, if you remove the battery from that PC, then all the BIOS settings will be lost. You are much better off by buying a new battery. They are very cheap.

g35x

yeah, I was thinking that.
will newegg have them?

also, shoulden't it still show the bios screen even without a battery in there?
because we tried it without the battery and still, nothing, no screen whatsoever, no beeping.

BlueMak

I have never tried to run a PC without a BIOS battery, so I can't comment on that. My gues sis that you wouldn't be able to see anything cause if there is no BIOS battery, there is no access to the BIOS, so, what would you expect to load and see ? Plus perhaps the hardware would not be able to organise itself to work, right?
Anyway, it is something cheap to get and if it isn't the reason for your problem, no harm done.

Newegg? I don't know, perhaps. Perhaps even simple stores that sell batteries will have them. Just take the one that is in it with you and ask if they have one of same size and voltage.

g35x

ahhh, okay

well I'll see if I ever get around to trying to track one down.
my friend gave me this for free, so its no big deal if it just sits around forever.
thanks for the help

...now onto the small form factor forums to read up about building my next rig