Help!! Boot Problem

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G

Guest

Hi,

I have been having some problems with my laptop booting. When I turn it on
all the lights come on, the fan starts and I can hear the CD drive making
it's usual noises, but the screen stays blank. I have to hold down the power
button for a while to turn it off and try again. This may happen once or
upto 20 times before windows boots. At this point it may all start normally,
I may get an appology about windows not starting properly and have to select
how I want to continue (Last Known Good Configuration' 'Start Windows
Normally' etc), or I may get a message that the hard disk needs checking.

This is an intermittent problem and I have sent the machine back to the
supplier 5 or 6 times, but they assure me there is no problem with the
machine and send it back. My last thought is that there is a problem with
Windows XP (2003 and I have all the updates I am told to install by the
little messages from microsoft) that someone can help me with before I throw
it all out the window.

Please, please, please can anyone offer any help or advice, as my supplier
is of absolutley no use. I am a self-taught user and while I am fairly
capable, go easy!!

Many thanks
 
Gill said:
Hi,

I have been having some problems with my laptop booting. When I turn
it on all the lights come on, the fan starts and I can hear the CD
drive making it's usual noises, but the screen stays blank. I have to
hold down the power
button for a while to turn it off and try again. This may happen once
or
upto 20 times before windows boots. At this point it may all start
normally, I may get an appology about windows not starting properly
and have to select how I want to continue (Last Known Good
Configuration' 'Start Windows Normally' etc), or I may get a message
that the hard disk needs checking.

This is an intermittent problem and I have sent the machine back to
the supplier 5 or 6 times, but they assure me there is no problem with
the
machine and send it back. My last thought is that there is a problem
with Windows XP (2003 and I have all the updates I am told to install
by the little messages from microsoft) that someone can help me with
before I throw it all out the window.

Please, please, please can anyone offer any help or advice, as my
supplier is of absolutley no use. I am a self-taught user and while I
am fairly capable, go easy!!

Many thanks
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but if the screen stays blank and you need to push the power
button a lot before the operating system starts, this is a hardware
problem. The power supply is bad or there could be other problems with
the motherboard. I understand that you've sent it back, but if the
machine is still under warranty then you need to get the laptop mftr.
to replace the motherboard. If you want to be absolutely sure, there
are some things you can do to test:

1. Do a clean-install of Windows, restoring the machine to factory
condition. Refer to the documentation that came with your laptop for
instructions.

2. Boot the machine with Knoppix, a Linux distro that runs from cd. If
Linux works perfectly, you know the issue is with Windows.

3. Take the machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your
local version of BigStoreUSA) for a second opinion.

From your description of the problem, I really don't think #1 and #2 are
going to be useful because it does sound like hardware.

Malke
 
This is probably so basic it was the first thing you tried, but is there any
chance it's booting up to an external video display? Laptops will give you
the option to display your video on the LCD, on a CRT, or on both
simultaneously, and some laptops will also let you output to analog video,
S-Video, etc... If your system is set to output to an external device, the
LCD may not light at all, even though Windows is booting...

Try hooking up a CRT and see if it comes on when you power the unit on. Or,
a lot of the time the laptop will have a Function key (usually labeled FN)
and a series of special functions sitting on the F-keys. By holding down
the FN key and hitting the F key marked for display options, you should be
able yo cycle through output modes and get the LCD back.

Just a thought...
 
See if a boot disk will let the machine boot.
A Dos boot disk or an XP CD will work.
You may need to change the boot order in the Bios.
If a boot disk works, then you know it is a Windows problem.
 
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