For some reason, my computer won't boot properly or won't boot at all. When I turn the computer power on, the drives won't spins up, but the fans does run. However, there are no POST beeps and no display - the monitor does not power up, and my hard drive's light will only be red for about 1 second. So I have to turn all the electricity off, and then turn on my computer again, and do it for about 10-15 times, and then luckily, the hard drive's light will turn red for a time and the drives will spin this time, so I have to press the reset button like 3 or 4 times in order for me to boot to windows successufuly - Once up and running it all works fine, until it has been turned off. If I do turn if off for like couple minutes and the turn it back on, this problem won't exist, but If I do leave it off overnights, then I have to go through all that again. What do u think the problem is?
If you're not hitting the post screen consistently, I'd say it's most likely a motherboard problem, or it could be an issue with one of the cards you have plugged in. If you've got a spare video card, I'd say try using it to see if you get different behavior. Also unplug all your other PCI cards. Actually, you might as well unplug as much as possible just to see if the system consistently boots and then go from there. i.e. unplug all extraneous PCI cards, unplug HDD, ODD, only leave the video card in there and see what the results are. I'm assuming it has only started doing this recently, rather than since you've had it? Bad RAM is always a possibility, but if you're saying the system is rock solid once it starts up, then it's probably not a RAM issue. Could also be having a power supply issue, but i'd expect random lockups and general instability if that were the case.
Unplug your video card, plug it back in and see what happens. Unplug your RAM, plug it back in and see what happens.
The best thing to do other than try those things is break your computer down to the bare essentials. Just have the motherboard, processor, memory and video card in there and take everything else off. Then start up the computer and see if you get any POST beeps or boot up. Then you can start plugging things back in one by one and restarting to see if you can locate the problem.
The other day, we already test my computer out, the ram, the video card, the hard drive, but I think the only thing we left out is the motherboard and the PSU, and a lot of people told me that it might be the PSU or the motherboard problem, so I guess, indeed, it's the PSU problem.
soo...you did take it down to the bare essentials(only the video card plugged in)? and it did not work? If so, I would replace the power supply first and try again...that seems the mosst likely culprit...also...take out and reseat the video card and the RAM while you are doing it just to make sure they are all the way in.
This thread should be a sticky... Why am I getting this message when I boot up: Windows cannot find 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly and try again. To search for a file, click the start button, then click search. Also, every time I try and delete my temp internet files, the system stops responding. Is there a way to do it through DAS?
Yeah, I did take it down to the essentials. I will try the power supply as soon as possible. It's not like some of the hardware is not working, it's just that my computer can't boot up properly, or just won't boot up. Once it's up, everything is fine, the video card, the ram, and the hard drive.
Well, yours is just software problem, and software is problem means no problem. Hardware problem is different, it's a big confuse problem. If I have software problem like this, I just restore my computer to the ealier state, or just reformat it, so it's just like new again.
Oh man, I've been having the same problem since I built my computer. I have tried everything mentioned above to no avail. I thought it might have been a conflict between built in audio/video and the pci video/audio cards, but it still happens without the cards installed and I have checked and double checked the bios settings when they are installed. I'm thinking now that it must be a bad motherboard or some kind of short in the case. My solution for now: Leave it on. Seems like I never have any problems with a soft reboot, just when it (rarely) hangs so bad that I have to hit the power switch. When that happens, all bets are off and it really is like 10 or 15 tries before it will post. If anyone knows anything else to try, I would love to hear it. I'm pretty close to giving up on this motherboard/case and starting over.
We had one do that exact thing today - it had been fine for years. They came out and replaced the motherboard and all is well now.
OS? do a search and see if the system can find the file...do you have your original install disc available? you can always copy the file from your install disc to the proper location and go from there.
When my laptop did not boot up, with the exact same symptons as yours, my tech solved the problem by using a cd that compared a "Good" os to the os on the laptop. It eventually finds the missing files and then replaces them for you. That cd takes a long time to run and I don't know what they call it. But it works. Then you boot up just fine after the replacement of those files. I was thanking all of God that it worked. I think you have a software problem. I cannot fathom what happened to those critical files for boot up. I did nothing wrong. I think it was some kind of glitch with compaq's. Not even my fault. It just was. But that solved it.
Window XP...this didn't happen until I installed that damn service pack. It doesn't affect the computer at all, it's just annoying. Is there a way to delete internet files without doing the start--settings--control panel--internet options? Every time I do, my system stops responding.
Try Programs>>Accessories>>System Tools>>System Information>>Disc Cleanup(under the Tools menu) No guarantees...but another way of doing the same thing. as far as the file beng missing...there used to be a utlity called System File checker under the same menu described above...but I just checked my XP box...and it appears to have gone the way of the dinosaur....so your best bet is to do a search for the 'cmd.exe' file on your XP install disc...and then copy it to the location that Windows is looking for it at. IF you dont have the disc...let me know..Ill send you a copy of that file off of mine..
The other day, I replace my old 300w power supply with a new 350w power supply, but still no luck. Well, it's at least better than before, right now, when I turn my pc on, my cd/dvd drives will spin, and the hard drive's light will be red for about 10 seconds, but there's still no signal on the monitor, nor does it boot. So, I have to press the reset button like 4 times before I can successful boot into windows.
