Can I check the PC without a monitor? no beeps...

[sentee]

Okay... my pc went down... and I loaned my daughter my monitor... now I plugged in the PC... Packard Bell 820, that ran Win98. The PC was upgraded with memory... then it just went blank after a couple of months... now I have a different and I want to get this one back up and running... the power comes on now, and I hear the fan... the CDrom drive whirls... the keyboard lights up, all three lights... but not one beep. I'm thinking if I get my monitor back.. will this make it beep, at least once? I plan to get it back in a day or so... but right now... I'm wondering why the A: drive doens't light up. Could the motherboard be bad even if all these things are going on? You might remember me asking about this pc before. I figure if I can get it running again, I can use it as a second computer when my grandchildren come over. I need all the help I can get... I 've thought about unplugging this monitor that I'm using now to see if it works.. but I want to know about this "no beep" error first. Thanks all...

[Tom]

Howdy sentee,
Best to go ahead and check it out with the available monitor. It should work with the default video drivers, and will give you that "must see" info (or lack of) to really to get to the issue. Once you get a better grasp of what is (or isn't) working, post back with an update to see what needs to be done to get the pc running.

[sentee]

okay... I will do just that... thanks for replying.

[Bad Dog]

You do not need a monitor to get a 'POST' beep. The video adaptor is what is queried, not the monitor.:fyi:

[sentee]

Hi...

Thanks, something else must be wrong because I plugged in a monitor and nothing happened. I had installed more RAM... I took out the old, after the PC wouldn't power up. Now... as I mentioned, the keyboard lights up and the CDrom drive whirlsl. What steps are needed to bring this PC back to life. The motherboard is a Packard Bell 810/820. I am attending a Computer Repair class and I will be able to bring in my PC, but before I do that I'm wondering what can I do at home. Where is a good place to buy a motherboard for this PC... (Packard Bell 820)?

Sentee

[Tom]

Hey sentee,
Take a look at your motherboard specs Here (http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/810.htm). If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see very specific info on RAM - you can compare this to the changes you have made to determine if your current setup is correct. However, given that your issues are definitely leaning away from 98 solutions, it might be better if you posted these details at the CTH Hardware forum to follow up from here.