My PC won't start! Help!

[Bungleau]

That's a dollar fine, Johnny... for bad taste in punnery

Sir G, a boot disk can be made from your computer. Or in your case, from a friend's computer on the same version of Windows.

However, it sounds like you might not be getting far enough in to even get to the boot disk part.

If it's truly doing nothing, you could be in really bad shape. You may need to take it to a computer place to see what's bad and may need to be replaced. Had any lightning strikes, power problems, or new software or hardware installs lately?

[Intrepid]

ok, it sounds like bios may be corroupted, or just not properly working.
How old is your machiene?
and would you be confident in opening the box?

[Megabot]

Check the cables to the hardrives only turn of the pc and shake the cables and se if that helps Sir G it tend to be a problem sometimes! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Stormymystic]

here is a question...does your computer make any kind of beeping noise? I am serious on this seeing as how you have a HP...

[Felix The Assassin]

HP? Ah, man, through it out the window, what ever survives, throw back out the window. When nothing has survived, go get another Mac, I mean PC.

Sounds like you have a corrupt boot file. I hate to say it this way, but you might need to start fresh. When the HP screen appears, can you access the BIOS? If so, reset BIOS and monitor during restart. If she goes, slowly go back and reset each BIOS to the configuartion you had, when it fails again, that is the culprit. If she runs fine, then don't do anymore overclocking tricks.

[Bozos of Bones]

Some people say bad BIOS settings or bad chip. To fix that, easiest way is to open up the case and find the battery, and take it out for a minute or two. Then plug it back in. I'm saying this, because as I understand, your MBO shows the HP logo instead of the loading information. Now, if you turn on your PC it should immidiately display a prompt to go to BIOS. From there, you can, but need not to if you don't understand how, set up things as you think they should be. Anyway, now exit BIOS and save settings. It shouldn't display the logo now(IMHO, haven't worked on HPs much), and it should either load windows(low probability) or stop again. Now, when it stops, you'll see at what step. Try restarting before it reaches that step to get the boot menu, and there choose safe mode. If none of these work, get a Windows install disk and under BIOS settings > Boot options choose CD-ROM drive as 1st boot device. Instert the disk and repair Windows if you have valuable stuff on the C drive. If not, re-install it on a formatted partition. I hope this helped a bit.

[Intrepid]

Originally posted by Bozos of Bones: Some people say bad BIOS settings or bad chip. To fix that, easiest way is to open up the case and find the battery, and take it out for a minute or two.

exactly what i was about to say

[Arvon]

I don't know if HP uses the 'beep' codes. If they do then by counting the 'beeps' at start up will tell you the condition. One beep is everything is ok. Anything else indicates a problem. The number will point you to the right location. BTW my Dell does not use "beep" codes.

[Felix The Assassin]

Originally posted by Intrepid: quote: Originally posted by Bozos of Bones: Some people say bad BIOS settings or bad chip. To fix that, easiest way is to open up the case and find the battery, and take it out for a minute or two.

exactly what i was about to say [/QUOTE]Don't forget about residual electrical energy. ALL written manuals have different ways to drop the BIOS saving, but most agree that the battery should be left out for at least 12hrs, 24hrs, optimum.

Easiest way to defeat stored energy; Turn PC completely off, to include the main breaker on ths PSU. Unplug the cord at the PSU, and flip the power swicth, if you have a remote power button, press it also. You should hear a minor electrical discharge from any of the fans. Now you can drop the battery for no less than 1 minute, preferably 2-3, and BIOS will be reset.

FYI, MOST major brands have a special first block ROM, when the system is powered this block is recognized, it then runs the display out cmd, and presto, instant propritary logo on ones monitor. OS may not load, but hey, at least you know what brand you have!

[wellard]

Hang on....

My computer does nothing for a full ten minutes on start up. It *apears* to freeze but I tracked it down to a sound card conflict. No problem just start the computer and go for a walk for a while just try it