One of the most frustrating and worrying computer fault is when you cannot get your computer to start up or boot up. Symptoms of this are of course obvious and include a blank screen, a bright blue screen or your computer restating in a loop type cycle or finally a PC that is completely dead and doesn’t do anything at all.
Each of those scenerios has a possible solution or different solutions. If your computer will not boot up then you must identify what exactly is happening straight off the bat. Patience is required and it can be quite time consuming but this method is guaranteed to find out why your PC will not start up.
1. Blank Screen
When you press the power button on your PC and you can hear the machine making all sorts of noises with the lights on the computer case flashing the first cause of action is to check that the monitor power cable is plugged in and is securley connected to your PC. If you are not sure then test the monitor on another computer.
If the monitor seems to be working fine then the next step is to see whether your computer is getting to the memory check screen which displays the BIOS information. If see this screen then press F8 on your keyboard. This will take your computer to Safe Mode and the possiblity of a faulty video card (AGP or PCI).
If you cannot get into safe mode then you will need the assistance of a boot up or start up CD or floppy disk. The recommended CD boot up of choice is Ultimate Boot CD. Boot into your computer with this disk - if you are able to then the problem lies with your Windows installation or graphics card, so try reinstalling Windows again.
2. Computer Keeps Restarting
If the power switch on your PC fails to turn off your computer and it cycles into restarting all the time then you have either a faulty hard drive (disk), faulty memory or another problem within Windows OS. For memory testing use a good free memory diagnostic utlity like memtest86. If your RAM (memory) is ok then a faulty hard drive is next favourite in which case you will then need to replace this hard disk with a new one by either installing it yourself or caling out a PC technician.
If you can boot into safe mode then use a check disk utility programme - most recent versions of Windows have a in house programme tht you can use. To find this serach for system tools or check disk in your current Windows operating system and run the disk utility program.
3. Totally Dead Computer
If your PC does not even start up then your power unit may be at fault. If your computer is plugged into an extension then try a direct wall connection to eliminate a faulty extension lead. After that, disconnect all external devices like speakers and printers if it still wont start up then the chances of a faulty power unit or power supply unit unti (PSU) are very high.
Test the power unit with a vault meter and if it seems ok then you may have a faulty motherboard. At this point it’s time to seek some professional help from a qualified PC engineer.
If you would like to run some diagnositc tests on your PC then I recommend trying out FREE PC HEALTH CHECK from a Microsoft approved website.