Computer randomly fails to boot

[ninoaoe]

Hi,
The last year my computer (Core 2 duo) sometimes fails to start and I have to restart it and try again. It always shows the system's information (ram, cpu, devices etc) but right after that it shows nothing. It becomes harder and harder to get it start. I have tried another HDD which obviously did not change a thing and of course I have reinstalled windows.

I am thinking that it's probably the motherboard. Unfortunately, I don't have spare parts to try..

Thank you in advance!

 

[ESPclipse]

It can be hard to say what may cause the issues you are experiencing, and if the device is old enough, then you may just be seeing the effects of a sort of digital entropy. Age seems to come in to play when software relies entirely on hardware, but I digress . If I were you, I would try resetting the BIOS to factory default, then repair the Windows Master Boot Record. The MBR can be rewritten in a number of ways, easiest if you have another personal computer with a means of connecting the Core 2 Duo's hard drive to said other PC. If another device is not available to you, then you can try to repair the MBR from a Windows install disk (usually labelled something like "repair boot problems"), or, my personal method of choice, repair the MBR from a Linux live installer iso. Let me know if you want to try that, if you want me to walk through it.

 

[ninoaoe]

It can be hard to say what may cause the issues you are experiencing, and if the device is old enough, then you may just be seeing the effects of a sort of digital entropy. Age seems to come in to play when software relies entirely on hardware, but I digress . If I were you, I would try resetting the BIOS to factory default, then repair the Windows Master Boot Record. The MBR can be rewritten in a number of ways, easiest if you have another personal computer with a means of connecting the Core 2 Duo's hard drive to said other PC. If another device is not available to you, then you can try to repair the MBR from a Windows install disk (usually labelled something like "repair boot problems"), or, my personal method of choice, repair the MBR from a Linux live installer iso. Let me know if you want to try that, if you want me to walk through it.

I am sorry for the delay.
I tried both of your suggestions my friend but nothing happened. Still booting whenever it feels like it.

 

[ESPclipse]

Well can you boot at all? If you can, boot to safe and run some diagnostics. If you want to, you can start a safe boot loop with:

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

and end the boot loop with:

bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot


When in safe, run a system file check with:

sfc /scannow

to check for missing/corrupt essential system files. Hopefully, if something is missing or broken then this fixes it. I would also check the system disc for errors or bad sectors with:

chkdsk /f /r

I have to say, your issue is wearing my collection of diagnostics options thin I am assuming that the system you are working on is a laptop (but correct me if I'm wrong), and if that is so, then diagnosing hardware would be fruitless. I don't really know how vigilant you are with driver updates, but I would also suggest try to install the latest drivers you can (I use update software like Driver Booster or SlimDrivers), as we don't want your system running on ancient generic drivers or drivers that don't handle their exceptions. Keep digging around the web about your issue as well; I hope that you can find some resolution soon. If not, there are a number of decent Linux distros that might just work...

 

[ninoaoe]

Well can you boot at all? If you can, boot to safe and run some diagnostics. If you want to, you can start a safe boot loop with:

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

and end the boot loop with:

bcdedit /deletevalue {default} safeboot


When in safe, run a system file check with:

sfc /scannow

to check for missing/corrupt essential system files. Hopefully, if something is missing or broken then this fixes it. I would also check the system disc for errors or bad sectors with:

chkdsk /f /r

I have to say, your issue is wearing my collection of diagnostics options thin I am assuming that the system you are working on is a laptop (but correct me if I'm wrong), and if that is so, then diagnosing hardware would be fruitless. I don't really know how vigilant you are with driver updates, but I would also suggest try to install the latest drivers you can (I use update software like Driver Booster or SlimDrivers), as we don't want your system running on ancient generic drivers or drivers that don't handle their exceptions. Keep digging around the web about your issue as well; I hope that you can find some resolution soon. If not, there are a number of decent Linux distros that might just work...

I should have given more information. I have a desktop computer. The solutions that you provide me with, are most probably not right because as I said before I have tried reinstalling windows many times and I have even tried another HDD (on Sata instead of IDE).
I believe that the problem lies within the PSU or the motherboard itself. I just don't have spare parts to try because this is a quite old computer.

Thank you again for your time!