powers on but wont boot up

[Jim]

Model: Sony PCG-R505EL When turning on computer will
provide a blank screen with a single blinking _
underscore. Holding power switch until shut down and
retry. Sometimes takes 30+ tries to get it to power up
normally. When shut down for restart it always powers up
right away. Help!!

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

Model: Sony PCG-R505EL When turning on computer will
provide a blank screen with a single blinking _
underscore. Holding power switch until shut down and
retry. Sometimes takes 30+ tries to get it to power up
normally. When shut down for restart it always powers up
right away. Help!!

This is off-topic for this group. If your computer won't even power on, then
it can hardly be considered a Windows issue, now can it? You might be
running Windows XP on the system in question, but your issue certainly isn't
with the OS. Suggest you contact Sony.

 

[Guest]

How to Repair the Boot Sector:
If XP won't start it may be due to a damaged boot sector or a missing or corrupt ntldr or ntdetect.com files.

To replace damaged ntldr and ntdetect.com you can copy fresh files from the XP CD using the COPY command. Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (as above). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files
COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:
COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

To repair a damaged Boot Sector at the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press Enter. Then answer "Y"

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

Sounds like your BIOS is either hosed or hard drive is on the fritz.
Either way, check the Sony web site and/or knowledge base for
corrective actions/measures.