Computer won't launch, need help

[SebastienSam]

Hi,

Yesterday, while I was browsing the web on my desktop computer, my monitor suddenly turned black and wouldn't wake up (message saying the monitor went to sleep).

Here are the symptoms:
-Monitor goes to sleep and won't wake up.
-Mouse and keyboard aren't responding (no caps/num light)
-I can hear the fans running (I can hear them, but i don't know if they're running "fast" as I've never paid attention to them before)
-I can open and close my CD drive.
-The power light on my tower turns blue when I try to launch it (which is normal... blue color when it's on, and no color when it's off) and remains blue after everything freezes.
-Right now, when I try to restart the computer, I hear the usual hardware booting sounds, but it freezes immediately when I'm on the blue hp startup screen (with only "F10=setup"... I don't have all the other options) and keyboards/mouse not working... but I can hear my computer is powered up. Monitor doesn't go to sleep, but can't do anything anyways.


I have a ~3 year old HP pavillon desktop computer. Since the purchase, I've had several problems, including a problematic wireless network card and power supply (I had to replace those 2). I've had some periods of crashes in the past which I've fixed. However, it's the first time that I can't even launch the computer to try and find the problem and fix it.

I've read many threads with the exact same problem, but the Original Posters never posted what solved their problem. The solutions proposed were very varied, but I don't have the knowledge/experience/money to try everything on my own.

Prior to this problem, my computer had been working fine for about a year (with some network problems, but I don't think it's connected to the current problem).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edit: so i tried several other things:

1. I have turned off my plug socket, then turned it back on, and tried to start my computer. It launched fine, but after I logged in, monitor turned black again and same problem as before.

2. I tried plugging my plug socket into another plug hole and computer launched with 1 short beep, a message about refreshing memory and BIOS (not sure... everything went fast) then I chose "launch windows as normal". After I logged in, I had a sudden crash with a blue screen message that the computer had been shutdown to prevent damage to my hardware (MEMORY_MANAGEMENT). Screen back to black, and I'm afraid to try anything else now because it could cause permanent damage? Really desperate on this one, as I have no backup of my files

I suspect it's a power supply or a memory problem, but it could also be a motherboard, bios, GPU problem... How can I know what causes this?
And how to solve a memory problem?

 

[unoriginal1]

What OS?
Sounds like a bug in the sleep mode... I'd suggest changing your power options to now allow it to go into hibernate/sleep mode. Make it go to a blank screen saver instead and see if your able to wake up with mouse/keyboard then.

Do your event logs say anything?
Run a diagnostics on your hdd and see if any errors come up. Concerns me that after a restart your getting a freeze on the loading screen... Might have some hard drive issues.

What is the model # of your Hp Pavillon so we can look it up and see if there were any known issues.
Make sure the inside is dust free, good cable management / air flow. Have you checked the temps? (highly unlikely this has anything to do with the issue but still something work checking)

Thats about all I can think of for now.

 

[SebastienSam]

What OS?
Sounds like a bug in the sleep mode... I'd suggest changing your power options to now allow it to go into hibernate/sleep mode. Make it go to a blank screen saver instead and see if your able to wake up with mouse/keyboard then.

Do your event logs say anything?
Run a diagnostics on your hdd and see if any errors come up. Concerns me that after a restart your getting a freeze on the loading screen... Might have some hard drive issues.

What is the model # of your Hp Pavillon so we can look it up and see if there were any known issues.
Make sure the inside is dust free, good cable management / air flow. Have you checked the temps? (highly unlikely this has anything to do with the issue but still something work checking)

Thats about all I can think of for now.

Thank you for your reply!

OS is Windows 7.

Actually I've updated my first post, and I have received a Blue Screen of Death saying "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT", so I'm pretty sure now it has to do with my memory. I'm not very knowledgeable about computer hardware, so I'm guessing it's a problem with my RAM sticks? Could this RAM problem be caused by a power supply problem also? Because I find it weird that my computer acts differently depending on which plug hole I plug it in.

I don't think I can do anything software wise as I cannot stay logged in long enough to do anything (I get this memory crash quite fast, or the sleep mode thingy).

I doubt it's a temperature problem, as I have my A/C next to it. The interior is probably really dirty as I've never really cleaned it, but could it cause a problem like that? My old 12 years old PC has never been cleaned and it's still working "fine" (real slow, but it works).

 

[smorizio]

Most hp logo hangs can be caused by the hard drive or mb sAta or IDE ports going bad. The quick test is take power off of the hard drive..the system should post now to a black screen with message no boot device found.
Plug your drive back in and feel it to see if it spinning...most drives will spin up down up down when the controller goes poof or not move at all.

 

[SebastienSam]

Most hp logo hangs can be caused by the hard drive or mb sAta or IDE ports going bad. The quick test is take power off of the hard drive..the system should post now to a black screen with message no boot device found.
Plug your drive back in and feel it to see if it spinning...most drives will spin up down up down when the controller goes poof or not move at all.

Thank you so much for your help!

If I get a BSOD saying "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT", could this confirm that the problem is related to my Hard Drive (that's the memory of my computer right?)? Or would it be RAM related?

Also, since I plugged my computer into another plug hole, I can launch windows fine, but it crashes shortly after logging in, with the memory management screen. Is this a hint for something else? (since it doesn't hang at the hp screen anymore)

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions before trying moving parts... I'm not experienced at all with opening computers and touching parts inside, still scared to break something, unless it can really solve the problem!

 

[unoriginal1]

Most hp logo hangs can be caused by the hard drive or mb sAta or IDE ports going bad. The quick test is take power off of the hard drive..the system should post now to a black screen with message no boot device found.
Plug your drive back in and feel it to see if it spinning...most drives will spin up down up down when the controller goes poof or not move at all.

Thank you so much for your help!

If I get a BSOD saying "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT", could this confirm that the problem is related to my Hard Drive (that's the memory of my computer right?)? Or would it be RAM related?

Also, since I plugged my computer into another plug hole, I can launch windows fine, but it crashes shortly after logging in, with the memory management screen. Is this a hint for something else? (since it doesn't hang at the hp screen anymore)

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions before trying moving parts... I'm not experienced at all with opening computers and touching parts inside, still scared to break something, unless it can really solve the problem!

For the memory issues run Memtest. That will help you find out which stick of RAM has gone bad. (probably the issue)

memtest86.com run one stick at a time.

 

[SebastienSam]

Most hp logo hangs can be caused by the hard drive or mb sAta or IDE ports going bad. The quick test is take power off of the hard drive..the system should post now to a black screen with message no boot device found.
Plug your drive back in and feel it to see if it spinning...most drives will spin up down up down when the controller goes poof or not move at all.

Thank you so much for your help!

If I get a BSOD saying "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT", could this confirm that the problem is related to my Hard Drive (that's the memory of my computer right?)? Or would it be RAM related?

Also, since I plugged my computer into another plug hole, I can launch windows fine, but it crashes shortly after logging in, with the memory management screen. Is this a hint for something else? (since it doesn't hang at the hp screen anymore)

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions before trying moving parts... I'm not experienced at all with opening computers and touching parts inside, still scared to break something, unless it can really solve the problem!

For the memory issues run Memtest. That will help you find out which stick of RAM has gone bad. (probably the issue)

memtest86.com run one stick at a time.

Alright, I tried replacing all my RAM sticks, and it hasn't solved the problem, so it's probably not RAM-related. I've also cleaned up the dust with some compressed air. Still unable to function normally.

As I keep trying to boot my computer, the results are always different. Sometimes, I can launch windows and log in before it stops working (monitor to permanent sleep and no keyboard/mouse). Other times, it will get stuck on the blue HP screen at launch (keyboard/mouse not working) but the monitor won't shut down by itself. Once, I booted the computer, then a few seconds later it just shut down completely (no power). I just tried again, and I only got a black screen with a blinking line in the top left corner. Again and I got a advanced boot screen, chose safe mode with network and it got stuck during loading and a thin red rectangle/red ligne appeared at the top.

With that in mind, would you say that it's a problem with my hard drive or has it to do with my power supply?(or even my motherboard..) What could possibly lead to so many different scenarios?

Edit: I just tried again and nothing happened but a continuous beep like you would get when you hold a key down. Had to shut down the computer to stop the beep.

 

[TenPc]

The issue is the sleep or hibernate option, you need to disable them both in Power optins, only set to sleep manually with a mouse click. While browsing or being idle on the PC, the OS does not register any cpu usage and promptly puts the PC to sleep.

 

[smorizio]

Try booting from hirem boot cd and run seatools and wd too,s to test your hard drive. There also mini xp boot on the cd to see if your windoWs is damaged or there a hardware issue.

 

[SebastienSam]

Try booting from hirem boot cd and run seatools and wd too,s to test your hard drive. There also mini xp boot on the cd to see if your windoWs is damaged or there a hardware issue.

I just ran a Short Drive Self Test with Seatools for windows and I passed the test. I'm currently running a long generic test, but it's going to take about 4 hours. Is the short drive test reliable enough though?

After countless reboots, I finally got a system recovery message and I used the repair tool that showed up. After rebooting my computer, I could log in, so I immediately closed all unnecessary applications to free some RAM (in hope that the crashes will stop happening) and be able to run some hardware tests.

Right now, I've been able to download and run Seatools without anything bad happening. I'll keep you guys updated if I find anything or if my problem is solved.

Again, thank you all so much for all your help, I can't express how much I appreciate it.

Update: Long Generic test passed. I'll see if I can test my motherboard and my power supply.

 

[TenPc]

Disable sleep & hibernation mode, set monitor and hdd to NEVER.

What are your PC specs, make & Model?

It could be that your video card is failing or the PSU is under-powered.
The fan on the video card might be clogged with dust, the ventilation space where the PC is situated might be inadequate, the hardware might not have proper air flow....

 

[SebastienSam]

Disable sleep & hibernation mode, set monitor and hdd to NEVER.

What are your PC specs, make & Model?

It could be that your video card is failing or the PSU is under-powered.
The fan on the video card might be clogged with dust, the ventilation space where the PC is situated might be inadequate, the hardware might not have proper air flow....

My computer is this one:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02544708&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=4269976

I had to change the wireless card for an ASUS wireless card and the 250W power supply for a ~360W power supply, because they weren't working properly.

As for my problem, I am starting to think it is due to an automatic windows update... Since yesterday, I had 2 repair tools pop up after several crashes. 1st one was yesterday around 7pm, and computer worked fine afterwards till about 1 am (I went to sleep without shutting down the computer, and when I woke up the next day, computer wouldn't wake up and the launching problems were back integrally). I then proceeded to keep booting up the computer (which crashed incessantly, a different thing happening every time), till I got the repair tool option again, and computer is back to working okay. I don't know when the automatic updates are scheduled, but I'm pretty sure they're between 2 and 4 am.

Is there a way I can find if my computer updated at the time it crashed? It would enable me to simply disable this update.

However, I am still unsure if it could simply be caused by a faulty motherboard. RAM and Hard drive have been found to be okay. It's between the motherboard (which apparently can't be tested via programs?), the power supply (which I'm not ballsy enough to test by myself), and maybe my BIOS (which I'm scared to try and mess with).

 

[TenPc]

250 watt PSU? that might be fine without additional hardware that you may have replaced and the PC was a server but for anything else, I'd have gone for at least 620 watts psu. I doubt that even a 360 watt PSU would be up to the job unless you don't have a video card, are still using the original 6gb of ram.

If you got an external hdd or ipghone or ther device connected to the usb, remove it. Only connect it when you actually need to use them.

If you are not using the 15-in-1 sdram card device, disconnect it from the motherboard, it's uses vital resources that you really don't have any to spare.