[Resolved] Computer won't boot

[Edwardo]

I recently purchased a used computer for my kids for x-mas. They think i am fixing it for someone.
It was working great, but all of a sudden it won't boot up. I have tried to boot from floppy but system doesn't make it that far.
I managed to get it started by multiple hard restarts but when my screen lit up with the normal start-up info, instead of telling me that i had a 600 mhz celeron it told me that my cpu setup was incorrect, but it kept going and i missed the setup utility.
After it completely booted to windows i did a restart so i could run the setup. It asked me for a current password. I have never set it up to require a password.
Now the computer won't start and I cannot use the setup.
It has an M754 motherboard with a 600 mhz intel celeron.
Christmas is getting closer and I could use some ideas

 

[B3gbie]

If you've had the case off did you change any motherboard settings? Also, if the processors not seared correctly it'll not beep on startup and you'll get a blank screen. Is it powering up at all? If not check power supply. Sounds like a problem with processor or motherboard settings.

 

[Bryan]

If you hadn't been fooling with the BIOS settings and out of blue this started to happen, my guess is the battery on the motherboard is going or gone bad. At least that's the first and least expensive thing to try replacing. Be sure to take the battery to a competent computer store so you get the correct replacement battery.

The other thing that can cause all sorts of strange things like your experiencing is mismatched or bad RAM. And there's always the chance the RAM may not be firmly seated in the slots.

 

[ratchet]

Find a friend with the same OS and make a start up disk, reinstall windows or take the pos back.
Rember the "customer is always right" you just have to remind
them.

 

[Edwardo]

Many thanks to everyones sugestions. I didn't expect the assistance to come so quickly. (only about 25 minutes). I changed the battery and that didn't seem to help so i replaced the two 64mb ram chips with two new 128mb chips and presto. It automaticly loaded the default cmos setup and everything is as good as new. It now boots and runs like a million bucks. Which is great considering the entire outlay for parts was about $75.

Thanks again.