computer wont start

Open it up, check all your connections, if you are familiar with it.
Do you hear Hard drive spin up?

hey chum thanks for the reply the hard drive does spin up an all the connections seem ok all the fans work also. iam wondering if the 250watt power supply is shot, iam running 800 duron win98se, 512megs ram, sound blaster live 5.1, geforce 2 mx400, cd burner also a seprate cd/dvdrom

250 watt is smallish for this system...but I do not think it is your problem...you say your monitor "came on"...how can it come on with a blank screen...do you see POST screen?...if not try this un plug everything except memory, CPU and vid card...do you see POST screen, then. LEAVE THE CPU FAN PLUGGED IN, OF COURSE!

I tried what you said and still nothing at all i even swapped hard drives. what i mean about the monitor is when the computer is off and the monitor is on there is a self test screen and when the cpu boots up it it shows the post screen and so on. so that is all that is happening i just get the test screen on the monitor no bios beeps or anything!

I have the same problem. XP
I went away for a week. I was logged out of windows XP, but the comp was still on. When I got back it was in a hibernation state, but I couldnt wake it. I hit Ctrl Alt Del, reset, power off held the button down for 30 secs. the Monitor works fine , I get cable signal out of range, the CDRW and CDROM lights come on but the hard drive light doesnt come on, I checked all the connections and tried swapping out the RAm, nothing works this is so aggrevating . How can it just lock up when nothings being done with it? The fan comes on the Video card fan comes on, it just seems like the boot process is not even initiating. I even pulled the battery out for a minute or so hehe.
Please help Im going nuts!

oh yah, I cant even try safe mode cause there seems no power is going to the keyboard, its plugged in and everything, All the above still pertains. I tried unplugging it restarting it pulugged in , not plugged in then inserting it, blah nothing happens!
like I said before it seems like the start-up/boot sequence never even gets started, probably why the mouse and keyboard are inop too. still get the lights for the CDROM and CDRW spinning up.

Try shorting the cmos jumper pins on the motherboard.....disconnect the power supply first.

AcaCandy,

I noticed you have three separate issues posted here. Are they all on the same PC that you think was hit by lightening?

Sorry guys. Brain fart.

Try disconnecting everything except a stick of memory/ vid card/ keyboard / and monitor. Then see if it'll boot. If so, hook up one hard drive to it, and test again, add the devices one at a time till you find the problem.