My computer locks up and won't boot. What do I do?

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Leo: I have a Compaq presario PC. It would crash intermittently (and unexpectedly) but then would reboot and everything would be fine. Lately, though, once it crashed, it would not reboot. I turned it off and after a while it would work again. Now it just sits there. No beeps, nothing. No script on screen. No lights on the keyboard. No logo. Nothing. Only the green light indicating the computer is "on".

What's the first thing to do other than check the power? Can you give me a checklist?

Thanks!

Debra

For something that dead, the next steps are all technician diagnostic things - time to open up the machine :-). Unplug it first. I would check the power supply - which typically just means replacing it. Another thing might be to carefully blow the dust out of the machine and reseat or push all the cards firmly into their sockets. If that doesn't do it, then I'd start removing expansion cards one at a time until the symptom's changed. (This needs to happen with a known good power supply, though - removing a card can cause a failing powersupply to appear to work - for a while.) Swapping memory cards is also on the list.

And if all that's greek to you ... then it's time to just take the machine to a hardware technician to diagnose it for you.

Good luck!

Hi Leo:
Saw this website when I was running into problems and hope you can help. My computer does the POST, but then just goes to a blank screen with a cursor on the top left corner (no beeps and no ability to do safe mode). it happened all of a sudden (ie working for 1-2 years, now this). i'm using win2000 pro.

i've ran diagnostics on the hard drive and memory, swapped out the the memory modules, and nothing comes back with a problem. i've gone into win2000 recovery and ran emergency recovery, and also fixed the mbr. nothing changed.

my question is this:
i have a feeling that if i take the computer into a diagnostic place, they will simply tell me that i have to reinstall windows. i am hoping for a better answer than this so that i keep my current programs and settings intact. is there anything that i can do in the recovery console to correct a system file? if not, can i simply buy winXPpro, upgrade to this, and i'll keep my current programs and settings and the boot will now be fixed?

Thanks!

Well, you can install the OS on top of the existing install, and you *should* keep your existing programs and so on ... that's how an upgrade install is supposed to work. But I'm hesitant, simply because of the problems you're experiencing. It could be as simple as a bad sector on the hard drive that happens to be in the boot image, for example. A reinstall would fix that, of course. If you can run a chkdisk surface scan that might be an intersting thing to try first, or some of he other non-destructive hard disk recovert/test tools (this article has more: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_fix_a_bad_sector_on_my_hard_drive.html).

I think in your situation, after the hard disk check, I would a) attempt to backup the contents of the hard drive if at all possible (booting from floppy if needed) and then re-install the existing OS before further confusing the situation with an upgrade.

Good luck!

hi, i just bought my friends' computer and i want to take all her files out off that computer and reinstall everything. What do i do? How do i take all her files out off that computer?thanks...

Boot from a Windows XP install disk, and have it format the hard disk as part of the installation.

Recently I think my computer got hit with lightning. I was sitting near it and hear this wierd little popping sound and not more than a second later heard thunder crack. Well i had everything on a surge protector except the modem so i figured it entered there. But when i turn on the computer, it turns on but doesnt make the little noises when it boots up or even boot up at all. Nothing comes up on the screen either. Also usually if u hold the power button for 5 or so seconds the computer will turn off, but it doesnt do that either. I firgured it was a hardware problem but was praying it wasnt my mobo but its doesnt look good,. Can you help me? thanks.

You're right: it doesn't look good. I'd take it in to a repair technician, myself. Could be the mobo, could also be the power supply. Could be something else. A tech should be able to diagnose pretty quickly with the machine in hand.

Hi Leo
In a post Paul made on July 1, 2005, he describes almost the same problem I am having. I run Win2000Pro on a Gateway mfd in 2001. One day, when booting up, I got the message that my hard drive could not be found. So...I had a new 200 Gig hard drive installed and the old HD cloned to the new HD. I got it home, started it up, I get the Gateway emblem followed by a black screen and flashing cursor in the upper LH corner; nothing else! Restarting the machine gets me all the way through boot up, but many times it cannot find my printer unless I unplug the printer USB cable and plug it back in. Am I having a CMOS battery problem or a BIOS problem? What's your best guess about this situation.

My best guess would e the cmos battery. Does it have the correct date and time in the bios setup? If not, or if it resets to the same out of date date and time, then it's almost certainly the battery.

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