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Solve : Computer will not start!?

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Hello. I returned home from work yesterday to find that my computer (windows XP) had a blank screen with only a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Ever since then, it will not start or do anything, but return to that sreen with the blinking cursor.

Any ideas what is wrong? Can I fix it? Is all of my information of the hard DRIVE lost?!?

Any help would be great! Thanks!Your data is porbably not lost.
When you first turn on your computer try and get into the BIOS. NORMALLY by tapping and F-key or Del but every computer is different. If you can get in then check to make sure there is not BIOS level password set. If you cannot get to the BIOS try to get to a recovery drive. normally it will tell you how to get to it at the same time as the BIOS. If you cannot get your computer to start at all and cant get it past this you may need to do a CMOS wipe which and unexperienced user should not do without experienced supervision. If you do KNOW a little about hardware and how to install Hard Drives try putting your harddrive into a different computer and getting the information off of it that way. before you try taking out your hard drive or wiping CMOS try making a boot disc.
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download
that is where you can download a boot disc creator that will make your OPERATING system runable from a CD. when you make this boot disc turn on your damaged computer put this disc in then restart your computer then barts OS should run from the cd. you can access your hard drive that way to check if your hard drive is ok if it is ok you probably have a mother board error or incompatibility which you should take to a repair shop about.restart press f8 rapidly when or if you to the screen that says safe mode etc GO down to last known good configuration and try that.Quote from: darkfire on August 01, 2007, 02:21:44 AM

Your data is porbably not lost.
When you first turn on your computer try and get into the BIOS. normally by tapping and F-key or Del but every computer is different. If you can get in then check to make sure there is not BIOS level password set. If you cannot get to the BIOS try to get to a recovery drive. normally it will tell you how to get to it at the same time as the BIOS. If you cannot get your computer to start at all and cant get it past this you may need to do a CMOS wipe which and unexperienced user should not do without experienced supervision. If you do know a little about hardware and how to install Hard Drives try putting your harddrive into a different computer and getting the information off of it that way. before you try taking out your hard drive or wiping CMOS try making a boot disc.
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download
that is where you can download a boot disc creator that will make your operating system runable from a CD. when you make this boot disc turn on your damaged computer put this disc in then restart your computer then barts OS should run from the cd. you can access your hard drive that way to check if your hard drive is ok if it is ok you probably have a mother board error or incompatibility which you should take to a repair shop about.

Not sure what you mean here...he has a machine that won't boot and you're sending him into setup and then telling him to wipe his CMOS...
That's probably the last thing i would have someone try to recover from an unbootable drive.

There isn't a CMOS password issue either because he would have a password prompt onscreen if this were the case.

And lastly all of a sudden it may be a motherboard incompatibility...not likely on a machine that had been working fine.

Please give it some thought before throwing out suggestionsThanks for the advice. I was told by a friend to take the hard drive out and put it into a usb converter and see if the data is still good by plugging it into my labtop. Good idea?Actually if the drive is exhibiting any problems at all it's best to hook it up internally jumpered as a slave drive to try and rescue the data.
USB connections can be finicky at times and a troubled drive just multiplies the issues.

The jumpers to set it as slave are by the power/IDE connectors.
If the jumper settings are not listed on top of the drive visit the drive manuf. site for diagrams.

Obviously you want to do this in a known good working machine preferably with a burner so you can save your data.

After that post back and we'll walk you thru possibly fixing that drive if it's still serviceable.

But again at this point let's focus on retrieving your data...Update: Attached this drive as a slave to another computer and it seems to be fine. Must be the motherboard of the old computer. Guess I'll be doing some shopping now!

Thanks for the help.You have checked the data only.

May some problem with OS, did you check the safe mode option & last good configuration I agree, sometimes pressing f8 and choosing the last know configuration that worked does the trick. It's helped me many times.OMG had same prob a while ogo your systeem ram has crashed and all the data is scrambled get new ram and reintall windowsQuote from: seanbond on August 12, 2007, 06:53:31 AM
OMG had same prob a while ogo your systeem ram has crashed and all the data is scrambled get new ram and reintall windows

HuH ? ? ?

Usually RAM errors result only in:
Your computer not starting up at all
Or
Blue Screen of Death (or other variant errors)

Though, I do believe that a reinstall of Windows can solve anything..it is the ram i had to replace it and do a clean install and all my data was goneQuote from: seanbond on August 20, 2007, 02:55:51 PM
it is the ram i had to replace it and do a clean install and all my data was gone
...
How would a RAM error result in this?
I think what you had was something different, but that can be decided later.
The issue seems to be resolved for now, are you sure you know what RAM is?


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