VGX XL100 Won't start up

[bigbear]

OK I have a problem and I'm don't know much about computers.

My VGX XL100 wont start up.

I have power and when the machine is first turned on the DVD drive light comes on briefly, but then there is no flashing hard disc icon or sound from the hard drive.

Does this mean that the disc is dead and I need to try and boot the machine from a DVD drive?

I hope you can help because now I've seen all the upgrade options on here I'm keen to get it sorted and have a bit of tinker with it all.

Thanks in advance.

[Oliver]

The disk light is only functional on the XL100 and XL1 models, I just wanted to mention that in case anyone out there is wondering what you are talking about.

Can you access the BIOS? Just tap (f2) at start up, if you can access the BIOS let us know if the BIOS screen recognises the HHD.

[bigbear]

It's not looking good. There's nothing displayed and the TV isn't detecting it anymore. Pressing f2 has no effect.

[Oliver]

I've dug out an old thread from 2013 of a similar issue to yours...

vgx-xl.proboards.com/thread/41/vgx-xl-202-displaying

Give it a read and try out some of the possible solutions suggested, although they didn't work for the original poster, they may work for you.

[IT Troll]

One quick test is to remove the RAM (whilst powered off) and they power on the system. If the system is still operational and trying to boot then it will detect the RAM is missing and give you a beep code warning.

If you don't get a beep code then I'm afraid it could well be a motherboard fault.

[bigbear]

Thank you both for your help. I'll have a read of that thread and have a go later.

[bigbear]

Some good news, it lives but we're not out of the woods yet!
I followed the instructions above and I read through the other thread, which was helpful.
Removing the memory did prompt some beeping, so I removed the internal battery for five minutes.
I could see no damaged or swollen capacitors so that is good news.
With the battery back in I can now get it to boot and it will go into windows in safe mode.
The strange thing is my normal TV will not see it at all but I have had to use another TV. However this TV will only display a picture in safe mode over HDMI, if window is started in normal mode the display goes off again or displays a noisy red/green mess. I have tried putting a different graphics card in thinking this might be the problem(Radeon 5450 only one I could get hold of quickly), but then with this in I'm back to stage one again where the computer won't start up at all.
I am now hopeful it can be put right again, thanks for your help so far.

[bigbear]

Just another little update, I can get windows in normal mode and a picture using the blue red and green components outputs. I'm Now doing a system restore. Thankfully I have now got some restore points, there weren't any available in safe mode, which was a bit worrying. I've sent it back a month when my VGX world was a happy one!

[Oliver]

After your last 2 posts I think it is sounding less like a motherboard issue and more like a graphics card issue.

If your still on the original graphics card it will be very old and probably on its way out, although that doesn't explain the issue your having with the HD5450, assuming the card works, I suspect that could be driver related. In fact all your issues could be software related so hopefully your system restore will resolve things.

Keep trying different options and keep us informed, I'm hopeful your system will live again

[bigbear]

Sorted. Looks like it was the graphics card that was on its way out and has sent the whole machine into a bit of a fit.
Unfortunately the fault finding process wasn't helped when the replacement card I got was also a duffer. Now sorted with another card, this time an Nvidia gt620 and all appears fine.
Thanks for all the help. Now it's sorted I'll stick around and look at some upgrades.

[IT Troll]

Glad to hear you are back up and running again. The Radeon 5450 is probably fine but others have reported compatibility problems with the XL100 previously. It would seem that it is not a good choice for use with the XL100. See here:
vgx-xl.proboards.com/thread/332/newbie-failed-vgx-xl100

However the GT620 should serve you well for general HTPC tasks.