God damn Vista

[Segnam]

So I have a compy issue.  I have a computer I want to set up for my media center basically.  Problem is, its stuck in sleep mode.  Even after being off for a month and unplugged, still stuck in sleep mode when you turn it on.  The mouse is getting power because the light comes on but its in power save mode or some shit, no amount of clicking it or button smashing on the keyboard wakes it up.  I poked around on other forums looking for some answers but I figured I try someone here that I trust more than some random people.

edit- OS is Windows Vista HP

[Nightstalker]

So have you tried bringing up the boot menu before windows is loaded?

You should have an option to boot the PC normally from there

[Varg]

Segnam, how do you know its in sleep mode? When you boot it up, do you get a beep, do you see it POST? Can you get into the bios? If you get into the bios, I would suggest using a linux LIVECD, set bios to boot from CDROM and load from that and see if it still works and maybe there is a way to check that drive for problems via linux.

[Segnam]

The monitor is blank when you power up the compy, says its in power save mode if you press a button on it.  Switched out monitors for one I know works and same thing.  Tried USB and old school keyboards and mouse, nothing.  As for it being sleep mode, not 100% but it has always had problems with getting stuck in sleep, but rebooting always fixed it in the past. 

No beeps when it starts up.  Fans start and you can hear the hard drive but thats it.

[Armonde]

fucked up power supply?

[ZONK]

Well, as much as I like to say OS X is better, this problem has nothing to do with vista. If the computer is being turned on no matter what state it was shut down at, it has to boot up through POST and BIOS. The thing you have to do is push delete or whatever you do to get into BIOS setup to at least enable and tell it to boot on a CD. Question 1: In the past is do you normally hear 1 beep when you turn computer on, if you never have it could just mean the speaker isn't connected and that isn't a big deal. However if you use to hear a beep and hear nothing now that means there is a problem. Now if you are unable to even see anything on the screen ever: First check the video card, swap out with one you know works to make sure the video card isn't dead (if you have a good memory you can just turn on the computer and try and push tab for example then type your password and push enter and listen for windows making login sounds etc, but this only works if you are use to using windows with out a mouse or vision lol) If video card is fine, something is up with POST and BIOS, try to reset it http://www.trap17.com/index.php/Reset-Bios-Guide_t39291.html If you are still unable to get into BIOS setup after that and still see nothing then only can guess motherboard has something dead on it. Vista or your hard drive are not the problem. Also don't be afraid to remove some ram the less components on the motherboard the better, a bad RAM stick with boot instructions from windows could be confusing it.

Edit: I also forgot to just say try changing the battery on the motherboard.

[Varg]

What zonk said:
 Swap out video cards if you have a spare, or try the onboard video if you are not already on it

If you are rebooting it it should be out of sleep mode, for instace, you hit the power button, hear the fans kick on etc- you are out of sleep. I honestly dont think it being stuck in sleep is your issue. This is going to be your video card or mobo. I am leaning on video card. If you are using this for a media center you are going to want a nice card anyway. is there onboard video via mobo you can check?

[Segnam]

Thanks for the info guys, I will try some of it when I get back home doing laundry atm.  Zonk hit some points I had seen on a forum so I will have to mess around with it.

[Segnam]

So I think my mobo is toast.  That or my power supply is being a bitch.  Can't get to bios at all.  There are no beeps at all when it boots up Zonk.  Tried to do a login anyway to see if it was the video card but nothing.  Keyboard only lights up briefly.  I yanked the battery out of the mobo and left it out for 5 min.  Put it back in but still nothing.  I might see if I can snag a new battery from someone to be sure though.  Haven't tried yanking any ram yet but there is a lot of shit in the way, will have to take it apart a bit more to get at it.  Not looking good though.

[ZONK]

The keyboard lighting up then going out and not coming back on is normal. I can give you examples of power supply symptoms:

If you power it on, and just leave it going for at least several hours, does it randomly power off and on, reset, or do anything funky without you touching a button? If it does then yes the power supply is unstable. If the computer remains on, and powers up all the devices (hard drive, and etc) means it is delivering the correct power, the CPU is very picky and if power fucks up at all it will kill the system.

Power supplies rarely die all at once. Normally they will start by just randomly resetting your computer while you are using it or it running. In the rare cases it can just completely die and pushing power button will not do anything, as if computer was unplugged.

So that said, the other things that could cause the issue: Video card / Motherboard

Video card: if a video card fails to show video the computer can fail post and therefore not start, so if the video card is dead it could be the very reason you don't see anything AND the computer won't do anything.

Motherboard: if the battery is dead on motherboard it could fail some stuff, more advanced motherboard will just complain that the motherboard timer (how the motherboard keeps time when computer is unplugged) is wrong, however older motherboards will not work at all if the battery is dead.

If something got shorted, or simply motherboard just failed in some way it can show signs of what your computer is doing where it powers up but nothing can ever happen. This is normally the last straw, not something you can test for until you eliminate all the other possible problems.

[Jim Tressel]

Sounds like fried mobo to me.  Don't buy a mac.

[Segnam]

Had a buddy look at it, he is of the same opinion as Zonk.  Thinks my mobo is dead. 

[Snackcakes]

Sounds like fried mobo to me.  Don't buy a mac.

Don't compute with fruit.