Computer Start-up Failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kitty Vamp
  • Start date Start date
K

Kitty Vamp

The other night, there was a power failure and of course my friends
father was on their computer. They have a safety powerboard, yet now
when they try and turn their computer on it finishes the Memory Test
and then completely stops and doesn't move any further. Would this be
a hardware issue, or otherwise? Any help would do well thank you. They
are running WindowsXP Home if this is any help too.
 
If it is finishing the post and locks when windows loads, then you need to
do a repair install.
Set your bios to boot off your cd rom as the first boot device and boot with
your xp disk in the drive and do a repair install.
 
Hi, Kitty.

"Simple" power failures should not do any more harm than abruptly hitting
the power-off switch on the computer. Lightning strikes can do serious
damage to the insides of the computer. It sounds like your friend's power
failure may have been somewhere between those two extremes, so who knows
what might have happened inside the machine?

Could you be more specific as to just how far the computer gets when trying
to boot? You say it "counts the RAM", then stops. Do you see any hard
drives being recognized? Do you see the typical second screen, which lists
devices and drivers? Does the computer get far enough to begin loading
Windows? Do you see any Windows logo at all? If it doesn't get at least
this far, then, yes, it's a hardware issue; it can't be a Windows issue
because Windows never even gets a chance to make a mistake.

If you mention the make and model of the computer (or of the motherboard, if
homebuilt), then someone here might recognize it and have some suggestions.
Otherwise, about all you can do is call your favorite geek (for free?) or
computer repair shop.

RC
 
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