Computer Wont Boot

There are a number of reasons for this, and it almost always a hardware issue. Follow on to find the scenario that is most like yours and follow the steps:

• You push the button and absolutley NOTHING happens, no power, no humming, no lights, nothing:
  
  1. Make sure there is power to the machine (is the switch turned on and the cable plugged into the power supply at the back of the machine?)
  2. If you have a spare power supply try replacing that in its place - Make sure you hook up the 20/24 pin and (usually) the 4 pin. If in doubt, replace the whole thing.
  3. If you dont have a power supply remove the front panel connectors - the cords to the power switch etc - and try triggering them by short circuiting the jumpers. If one of them fires off you have a dodgy switch, replace the case
  4. If you're still with me its time to either shell out for a new power supply, or wonder down to the local computer technician to let him/her try a new power supply.
  5. Still not working? New motherboard.
     
     
• You push the button, the box comes on, no display, it beeps or grunts.
  
  1. Reseat your RAM and Video card - take them out of their socket, give them a blow, blow out the socket and sit them back in (try a different socket with the RAM). I usually check the RAM first, then the video card, it just seems to give a faster diagnosis.
  2. Replace the RAM
  3. Replace the video card.
  4. Replace the power supply.
  5. Replace the motherboard.
     
     
• You push the button, the box comes on, no display, no beeps.
  
  1. This can be a number of things - RAM, Video Card, Power supply, Other PCI Devices, USB Devices, Motherboard and probably some more...
  2. Remove all USB devices or anything else attached and boot with only the screen and power attached to the tower. Check if that fixed it.
  3. Reseat your RAM and Video card - take them out of their socket, give them a blow, blow out the socket and sit them back in (try a different socket with the RAM). I usually check the RAM first, then the video card, it just seems to give a faster diagnosis.
  4. Remove all PCI devices.
  5. Check that the CPU is making a good connection with the socket. To do this remove the heatsink, and underneath is the CPU, unclip it and give everything a good blow off. Make sure you dont try to fire up the computer until you have properly replace the heatsink. You may want to do this step later is you have any spare parts lying around to try before as you can create bigger problems with cooling if you don't perform this step correctly
  6. Replace the power supply
  7. Replace the RAM
  8. Replace the video card
  9. Replace the motherboard
     
     
• The screen comes on, you see some sort of a BIOS screen and then the computer just freezes. Or windows just stops (not reboots, not blue screens) half way.
  
  1. Usually this is caused by a fauly USB device. Try unplugging your USB devices and rebooting.
  2. The video card may need replacing
  3. Replace the RAM
     
     
• Winows Reboots constantly, or blue screens and wont boot up in safe mode.
  
  1. Most often this is caused by a corrupted file on the system. You need to run a check disk (chkdsk /r) from the windows recovery utility located on the windows disk. 99% of the time this will work
  2. Replace the video card
  3. Replace the RAM
     
     
• Windows loads but doesn't go any further
  1. This isn't the place that i'm going to discuss this. There are so many variables here that I would almost certainly lead you astray.
     

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