Flashing lights in front panel.
My wife has a compac computer P3 500Mhz 128MB ram and for some reason both lights in the front panel are flashing. They are the power light and drive access light. The computer runs fine except for the flashing lights. The question is what does the flashing lights mean and how do I fix it so it is not flashing anymore?
.... here's a link to more esoteric theories ... http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/03/125018.aspx ...
having to do with the os, etc.
having to do with the os, etc.
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Both lights flash together 4 times a second. It has nothing to do with hard drive read/write or CD detection. The system worked ok up until this morning when the two lights started flashing. Otherwise the system works fine.Even when the computer is off the lights flash 4 times a second. Only if I unplug the power supply do the lights stop after about 5 seconds.
How old is this system? I would be very impressed if the designers had put in a system to let you know if the clock battery on the hard drive was dying and needed to be replaced. I've never heard of such a thing, but stranger things have been done.
A quick look at the HP (formerly compaq) website shows that you may get flashing lights if the CPU has overheated, or if it's been running too long without the cover properly secured. You might want to check and see if the CPU fan is still functioning. You may also find out something by checking through the troubleshooting faq yourself. Just head to http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html and drill down to find the support info for your system.
A quick look at the HP (formerly compaq) website shows that you may get flashing lights if the CPU has overheated, or if it's been running too long without the cover properly secured. You might want to check and see if the CPU fan is still functioning. You may also find out something by checking through the troubleshooting faq yourself. Just head to http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html and drill down to find the support info for your system.
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The computer is off and the lights still flash
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Compaq Deskpro (Tower) 3872C784
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Thanks. The info did help. I found out that it was an unseated riser board. I fixed that in 10 seconds and it works fine with no flashing lights.
That is normal. Try a disk cleanup and a defrag to improve the efficiency of the hard drive.
....and adding more ram to your system might help.