Can't Start Computer; Doesn't even Bootup., Urgent! Please help!

One of the computers I use, a 3 year old hp is suddenly not turning on. I doesn't even show the boot screen. All it does is beep and beep every 4 or 5 seconds. I have tried to reinstall the XP pro operating system to get the files off the hard drive, but I can't even make the computer reach the boot up screen. Once it made it there, and I put the XP pro cd into the cd drive, and tried to reinstall. It didn't reinstall very far. Within 5 minutes it was not moving and beeping again. I can get onto the internet via my toshiba laptop, but all of my files are on the HP.

Please advise on what to do!!

thanks

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The beeping it's making is likely an error code being produced by the motherboard. There is some sort of major hardware problem. Unfortunately those kinds of error codes aren't very much standardized so your best bet would be to find out from HP what they mean for your model.

My guesses: maybe it's a CPU fan or power supply issue. Those parts have the highest rate of failure and if you had a faulty CPU fan it often would produce those kinds of beeps. Try to turn on your PC with the case open and watch the CPU fan to see if it spins. If it does then that probably isn't it. If your fan doesn't even try to spin then it's likely something else such as the power supply.

How ya doing, buddy?

If you have access to another computer, you could take out the hard drive, plug it into another computer, and try to transfer the files. Then from there you could burn the data onto a CD or DVD and then put the discs into your laptop to copy the files.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

But how is it the power supply? Can someone explain. I mean I see lights on the tower when I press the power switch.

Kalekkan, I will try your suggestiona and turn on the computer with the case off and see if the fan turns on or not. I do have access to another desktop computer beside the laptop.

Would it be a good idea to buy a external case to plug the hard drives into it?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Where the hard drives are located in realtion to the computer doesn't really matter much, so long as they are plugged in to the motherboard.

Try the CPU fan thing, but more importantly get your data secured. Do you know how to take a hard drive out? You will need to plug that hard drive into a computer that is working correctly (Make sure you have your jumper set to "slave") Then just copy the data off the hard drive to the working computers hard drive.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I have checked out the cpu, and it is spinning. How do I check if the cpu is malfunctioning? Is there a tell tale sign?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You don't by any chance have a spare CPU lying around do you? If you do you may want to try swapping it out (Just make sure your temporary CPU is compatible with your motherboard of course).

Otherwise, to check if it's a hardware problem, good ol' trial and error would be the best way to find it. Start by removing all but one stick of memory and trying to boot. If the computer still doesn't boot, move that same stick to a different slot and retry. If it still doesn't work, try a different stick and repeat the whole process. Do this for all your hardware (You will need a replacement for the CPU and Video Card, something cheap) Eventually, if your computer boots after you've removed say your stick of RAM, then you know the problem is that specific piece of RAM and you can then move on to getting it replaced.

FELIPE NO

Hmm, I just remembered something. Lots of machines between 2001 and 2003 had leaking cap problems... Typical symptoms would be random shutdowns for a period and then the system would stop booting at all. A quick check you can do is to look inside your system at the motherboard and look for cylinder shape objects that stick up. There should be tons of them. Those are capacitors. The top metal portion of the caps should be a flat surface, but occasionally they are manufactured incorrectly and can turn bad.

You can bump into either bulging or leaking caps. Here is an image to help you reference:

In this small area you can see a bunch of caps. The one near the ATX power connector that has crust and stuff all on top... that's one that has blown. They leak a battery acid-like substance on the motherboard or fail to hold charges like they are supposed to and usually it's your CPU voltage that suffers. If any of the cylinders in your PC have brown crusty stuff on top, then you've got blown caps, and that means the motherboard is bad. Also, some might just be bulged, meaning they aren't flat on top.

More info and pics: http://badcaps.net/ident/

This is a VERY common problem with PC's dating back a few years and several companies have settled class action lawsuits because of this problem.

If you have bad capacitors, you might as well just pronounce the machine dead. Fixing the caps is by no means an easy task though it can be done and parts are obtainable at Radio Shack. However when you consider the labor, part costs, and risks of failure... it's worth it to buy a new motherboard.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Thanks for the help, I threw the computer in the trash (recovered the files though). And brought a new one. thanks!!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Lolz. You probably could have salvaged some parts from it at least.

There's nowhere I can't reach.