Topic: Blank monitor - can't start PC

[Simon]

A friend has called on me for help with their PC, which appears to have died.  Well, it has now!    I went to see the machine, which is a VERY old, Win98SE, with a 6Gb hard drive, and very outdated components.  They have been talking about getting a new PC for some time now.  The problem was, that the monitor wouldn't fire up when the PC was switched on.  Thinking it might be the PCI graphics card which I installed about 3 years ago, I connected the monitor to the old integrated graphics, rebooted, and got the memory test screen, with the options to press DEL for BIOS, etc, but after 5 minutes, it hadn't gone any further.  I decided to have a look in the BIOS, to see if somehow the PCI graphics card had been disabled, but it appeared that it was still set to boot with it, even though I was now viewing through the old mobo graphics card.  I thought it might be a good idea to set the default fail safe settings, which I did, and exited, but now the monitor will not come on at all, connected to either graphics card.  I am now stuffed.  I can't see what's going on with the PC, because I have no screen, but the post beep sounds, and the PC seems to start up, but again, I don't know if Windows is loading.

The family have resigned to the fact that they need a new PC, and that this old one isn't worth spending time repairing, but they do have some precious photos stored on the old hard drive, which they don't want to lose.  If they buy a budget PC (thinking of a cheapo Medion from Woolies), will they be able to install the old hard drive, as a secondary drive, simply to recover the data from it, even if the existing Windows98 installation is screwed?  Is there a better way of doing this?  Any ideas appreciated.

[Clive]

Would it be possible to try another monitor with it Simon?  Perhaps you could connect your own up to it to find out what's going on? 

[davy51]

they should be able to use the old drive as a slave and bring the pictures over
to the new computer

98 will be fat 32
so if they upgrade to a more modern os then they will need to convert the drive to ntfs so it can be seen on the new os

partician magic is good for this

but if they stay with 98 no conversion nessasary


i brought all pics and personal files from an old 98 hard drive to xp pro

they look fine

[Simon]

To be honest, Clive, I don't want to get too involved, but I don't think the problem is with the monitor, as it worked initially to get me into the BIOS screen.  Might be worth a try though.

Dave, so what will happen initially if I connect the old drive as a slave on the new system?  Can I do the FAT32 > NTFS conversion by installing PM on the main drive, or will it not even see the 'old' drive when connected as a slave, before it's converted?  Also, what happens if it detects an OS on the slave drive?

[Sandra]

You dont need to convert the FAT partition to NTFS as all OSs after 98 will see both FAT 32 and NTFS.
Its just 98 and ME that cant see NTFS.

If the old drive is set as a slave and the pc is set to boot from the primary hard drive then it wont see the OS as being a bootable drive.
You could however set it to boot from that drive and as its on 98 it would probably boot off it and try to update the drivers on the new pc, probably without any success though, as 98 hasnt got the same restriction on swapping drives as XP has but it wont have the drivers for the newer hardware.

I would remove the pci gfx card and then use the clear cmos jumper to reset the bios Simon, that way they can continue using the pc until they have time for you to build them a new one without having to rush into it 

[sam]

I now have a set of cables i use to mount external drives to the usb.. just a suggestion as this is rather useful when you have friends whos hard drives are fried and want to recover there data. I think ebuyer had a good pack for about a fiver.

[Simon]

Sandra, thanks for that, that sounds like it might be a bit easier.  I have no intention of offering to build them a new PC as it would be severely budget restricted, and I don't really want the responsibility of it, with everything else I have going on at the moment.  They are currently considering a basic Dell from the website, at around £350, which should suit their needs.  The data on the old hard drive can be dealt with at some later stage.  What I do want to do first, however, is just try another monitor, in case it's that which has died, and I will also try your CMOS trick when I get hold of the unit.

Sam, that sounds a reasonably idea, but I'm not suite sure how it would work in this instance.  If we decide to go down that route, I'll come back to you for some more pointers, if that's OK.

[davy51]

You dont need to convert the FAT partition to NTFS as all OSs after 98 will see both FAT 32 and NTFS.
Its just 98 and ME that cant see NTFS.




not trying to disagree but
Im on windows xp pro Sandra and fat 32 doesnt show up a hard disk drive untill i physicaly put it on there

[Simon]

Update:  I reset the CMOS jumper, and the machine now fires up into Windows.    The plan now, is to back up any required files on to a USB pen, to transfer to the new PC.  That would work, yes?  Believe it or not, this old machine doesn't have a CD Writer.   

[Sandra]

Clearing the CMOS often works Simon, its always the first thing I try when I get a non booting pc.
It didnt work for me this afternoon though as the pc had a faulty gfx card and ram, poss a surge had taken both of them out simultaneously 

Cant understand why your XP cant see a FAT 32 partition or drive Dave 
Quite often when you get an external USB hard drive its formatted in FAT 32 so that it can be used on any OS.
I reformatted my 250gig external one to a NTFS partition of around 180gig and the remainder as a FAT 32 one in case I need to use it with a 98 or ME pc.
I load any programs that I am likely to use onto the FAT 32 partition so that all OSs can access it.

[davy51]

i dont know sandra
ive put xp on this computer about 6 times after crtashes of one sort or another
i always install as ntfs
and it never has the slave drive in my computer untill i manually put it there
it shows im my partician magic but thats all