No BIOS screen...Computer hangs (SOLVED)

[tenfoot]

Administrators: If this in in the incorrect Section, please transfer it to the correct one.

LinuxMint v18.3 Mate.

Some time ago I installed LinuxMint v18.3 Mate on a friends desktop computer and he is pleased to be free of Microsoft Windows. However, a fortnight ago he started having sound problems. He described them to me as "background scratching so bad that I couldn't recognise a tune or hear the words of a song". Today he brought the computer to me to see whether I could diagnose what the problem was. He is not computer literate. He lives nearly four hours drive away

I connected the computer but it did not even get to the BIOS, just booted to a screen informing me that it was Intel P4 and staying there.

Took the side off and ensured that there was nothing disconnected: all modules were firmly in place.

Is any member able to tell me what the possible problem could be,please? He told me that the computer booted successfully this morning, when he accessed it to read his emails.

If I can fix this problem before he returns to Auckland on Sunday, I will install Teamviewer on his computer so that I can at least access it from where I live in Waipapa and have a go at fixing his sound problem.

[michael louwe]

@ tenfoot, .......

.

.
The (bumpy.?) 4 hour drive through rural roads has likely damaged the very old Intel P4 computer. Maybe, it's time to buy a new or refurbished computer.

[tenfoot]

@ tenfoot, .......

.

.
The (bumpy.?) 4 hour drive through rural roads has likely damaged the very old Intel P4 computer. Maybe, it's time to buy a new or refurbished computer.

I'm inclined to believe the same but it would be nice to know which part is damaged.

[vansloneker]

The screen informing you it was a P4 was that white printing on a black screen -the normal p.o.s.t. screen?

What you can do is check if all connections to the drives are ok, disconnect and reconnect them. An incompatible USB device may cause the computer to hang during post. Also a bad hard disk can cause the system to stall.
The battery may be due for replacement, a reset bios may have improper data and hang.
A memory error can cause the computer to stall, however more likely it would not boot at all. But it's worth removing all memory and testing the modules one by one.
Since it's an old mainboard, caps may have gone bad. You can spot a bad capacitor by the spherical top or smeared stuff at the base of it.

[michael louwe]

@ tenfoot, .......

.

.
For simple hardware diagnosis, please refer to ... https://www.pctechbytes.com/hardware/bi ... enix-bios/ (BIOS Beep Codes for AMI BIOS Award BIOS Phoenix BIOS)
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/diagnose- ... uter-turn/
https://superuser.com/questions/437005/ ... ware-issue

[tenfoot]

Thank you michael louwe and vansloneker for your comments. In the end I did as suggested by disconnecting and then reconnecting all removable modules. The computer then booted successfully.