IBM Pc Jr not booting

[hm3293]

When I turn my pc Jr on I see a white screen with no color bars. I have floppy disk in with dos on it the light next to the drive lights up for a second than turns off. Is the computer dead or is there a way to fix it. Sorry if this is something obvious I just picked this computer up from my aunts basement where it has been sitting for the past 30 years. Thanks for the help:D

 

[hargle]

You may have multiple issues- it could be the monitor simply isn't displaying anything anymore and the PCjr is actually working enough to light the screen, but you can't see it. The fact that the light on the floppy drive comes on and then turns off sounds to me like it is going through at least some steps of its Power On Self Test, but then is isn't booting the floppy disk. If you were to update your profile with your location, there may be another PCjr owner in your area that could help swap things around to help isolate where the problem is.

 

[Trixter]

It also may help to connect the PCjr to a television (the video is composite out) so that you can see if the problem is the monitor or the computer.

 

[wesleyfurr]

Does it give off a beep or any series of long or short beeps? That can indicate an error and what the problem is.

Wesley

 

[tipc]

If I just had to guess (which I am), I'd say it's a ram problem. The POST memory does a very cursory ram scan. But who knows. You could try piggybacking ram chips on to the soldered? in ones. Unless they're in sockets.

 

[Trixter]

I hope the OP connects it to a television to rule out whether or not it is the RGB monitor they're using, as the PCjr has a fairly comprehensive diagnostic built in. The opening POST RAM test isn't comprehensive, but if you hit CTRL-ALT-INS to get into the diagnostics, a better one starts and runs in the background.

Some good PCjr troubleshooting info: ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/misc/Hardware/IBM/IBM PCjr Hardware Maintenance and Service.pdf