Compaq power led flashes red...

Have you tried reseating the internal components?  What model Compaq is it?
Probably a card or something has come loose inside...

What was the original issue they brought it in for?

I would think power supply myself.

yeah, i figured the power supply, but the problem was a missing kernel file when they brought it in. figured we would just reinstall windows. well, we cant get it to even turn on. they said they had no problem turning it on.

Which leads me to believe it's more of a dislodged card/component...
You can certainly try a power supply though.  Have you tried reseating everything?

yes, took out everything, and put it back. still same thing. it is a presario 5000 series.

Check the cpu fan to see if it is working - many times, a nonworking one or one that isn't plugged in properly will exhibit thos symptoms.

all the fans are working and plugged in correctly. when i push the power button, the cpu and case fan spin for a second, then i get the flashing red light.

Is this an AMD motherboard?  They come with this protection built-in.  Otherwise, you should swap the power supply, which others have been saying.

no, it is a P4 board. is the power supply the only thing that it could be? I would think so, but i dont want to have to order one and that not be the problem. it is not an ordinary power supply. it has 12 rows of connectors for the board instead of 10.

There's always a chance that the most likely cause of a problem is not what you think it is, but I think the power supply is the front-running candidate.  Without a bin of spare parts, this can get expensive, but sometimes, there's no other way.

I would also make sure that the speaker is hooked up so you can hear the POST test.  Is it beeping?  Everyone always wants to blame the power supply but that is not the case most of the time.  If it is the power supply most POST do not beep.  But if you get a beep then it might not be the case.  The other thing is if it is a bad power supply then why would you get the LED lit up???.  You can get a power supply tester for $15 at almost any radio shake or anywhere they sell computer stuff.  If not I use newegg.com they sell good stuff.  But it sounds to me that the tester is your first step on the adventure.

well, the fans do not stay on, but the red led does continue to blink. wierd...

But it would still help to know if the power supply is good?
If there is a POST results?  How many beeps and how long they are?
If you have a multi meter you can test you Power supply your self here is a link on how to do that.

http://www.duxcw.com/dcforum/DCForumID3/447.html

Besides that the only thing I think it might be and this is a reach is that your hard drive has crashed and that would explain your red light.  Because it comes on when the logic circuits are powered.

Did that multi meter test come out ok?  did you find any other test results?  Just letting you know I am still her to help you find the solution.

It can be a power supply that has gone into protect mode; mostly they come out of it by themselves if disconnected for some time. I had several which came out of it after more than 2 hrs. So my advice is, leave it umpowered for the night, and test tomorrow.
Other than that you can try starting it up with a minimal config, so disconnect everything not needed to POST : HDD, CD, PCI cards, etc.

i get no post at all. i have tried unplugging everything to get it to boot. still nothing. i will check it with a volt meter later on today.

No problem just let me know what you get form that test and we will see what we can do.

A better test of a power supply is using a dedicated tester: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=561263

This will put a load on it and be able to tell if it can provide current to all rails.

Just wanted to check up and see how it was going.  Did you get any results from the test?

can you please let us know what is going on with this issue?

i ordered a motherboard for it. that is what compaq is saying is the problem.

I believe Iggy79 is on the right track... I have had the same problem with a Compaq Evo.  The original system displayed symptoms of a bad hard drive, so I replaced the drive.  Then I took the failed drive and installed it as a second drive on a second PC so I could try to pull files off of it.  When I powered the second PC up, I got the flashing red power light after a second.  When I removed the failed drive, the PC powered up correctly, so obviously the problem is with the bad drive.

So what exactly was the final verdict on this. I am getting bad PS, MOBO, and HD.