Computer starts but won't load!

olimess · 09-10-2008, 08:49 PM

Hi everyone.

So here's my story...

My mom gave me a call and said, "Son, I need your help. My computer isn't working and I don't know what to do?!". So being the good son that I am, I quickly went over to moms house to help out.

I first started the computer and it seemed to run fine. So I ask my mom, "What supposed to be wrong?". She tells me that the computer sometimes hangs when she turns it on. Apparently it does this often. Then she tells me that on the odd time that it does start and load, she seems to get weird popups etc. while surfing the net.

Well the second problem was easy enough to diagnose ... viruses/spyware etc. But the first problem ... hmmm.

I turned off the computer and restarted it. Sure enough, the computer appeared to hang, as in the computer had power running through it but nothing appeared on the screen, not even the initial bios load screen. I tried restarting the computer several times and still the same issue. I then disconnected every thing except the keyboard, mouse and monitor from the computer. Still the same issue. I then disconnected the hard drive and this time the computer appeared to start up properly by running through the regular start up procedures except that no hard drive was found of course. I repeated this test with the hard drive connected and disconnected and saw the same result each time. For some reason, the computer did not like the hard drive.

I figure, that must be it. A hard drive problem. I was able to hookup the old hard drive to another computer and was able to create a clone of the hard drive contents onto a new hard drive. I then took this new hard drive and installed it on the computer. Bingo! Everything loaded perfectly and I look like a hero in my mom's eyes. I decide to install a couple of helpful programs for my mom including a better anti-virus program. Everything was going well. I restarted the computer twice without issue and then I needed to restart the computer one last time .... OH OH. The problem is back! What the .... I guess this wasn't a hard drive problem after all?!? What else could it be ... memory, motherboard?

I've gone from hero to goat in a matter of minutes. Does anyone have any suggestions or tests that I can perform to figure out why this problem is occuring?

I thank you and my mom thanks you.

Olimess

bcohen4 · 09-10-2008, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olimess

Hi everyone.

So here's my story...

My mom gave me a call and said, "Son, I need your help. My computer isn't working and I don't know what to do?!". So being the good son that I am, I quickly went over to moms house to help out.

I first started the computer and it seemed to run fine. So I ask my mom, "What supposed to be wrong?". She tells me that the computer sometimes hangs when she turns it on. Apparently it does this often. Then she tells me that on the odd time that it does start and load, she seems to get weird popups etc. while surfing the net.

Well the second problem was easy enough to diagnose ... viruses/spyware etc. But the first problem ... hmmm.

I turned off the computer and restarted it. Sure enough, the computer appeared to hang, as in the computer had power running through it but nothing appeared on the screen, not even the initial bios load screen. I tried restarting the computer several times and still the same issue. I then disconnected every thing except the keyboard, mouse and monitor from the computer. Still the same issue. I then disconnected the hard drive and this time the computer appeared to start up properly by running through the regular start up procedures except that no hard drive was found of course. I repeated this test with the hard drive connected and disconnected and saw the same result each time. For some reason, the computer did not like the hard drive.

I figure, that must be it. A hard drive problem. I was able to hookup the old hard drive to another computer and was able to create a clone of the hard drive contents onto a new hard drive. I then took this new hard drive and installed it on the computer. Bingo! Everything loaded perfectly and I look like a hero in my mom's eyes. I decide to install a couple of helpful programs for my mom including a better anti-virus program. Everything was going well. I restarted the computer twice without issue and then I needed to restart the computer one last time .... OH OH. The problem is back! What the .... I guess this wasn't a hard drive problem after all?!? What else could it be ... memory, motherboard?

I've gone from hero to goat in a matter of minutes. Does anyone have any suggestions or tests that I can perform to figure out why this problem is occuring?

I thank you and my mom thanks you.

Olimess

If you simply cloned the drive, you're taking those viruses and giving them to the new hdd. If the computer seems to work properly with no hdd, then I think you need to only transfer things she wants/needs to the new drive to try and get rid of the problems. try and do a system scan with your anti-virus first though to see if it can catch the problem

olimess · 09-10-2008, 09:20 PM

Thanks for the reply bcohen4.

I wasn't worried about transferring the virus to the new cloned drive since I can easily get rid of those. I actually think the virus issue is unrelated. As a matter of fact, after getting the new cloned drive installed and running, I installed BitDefender which immediately fixed the virus issues.

The original issue seemed to repeat after I cleaned the new hdd of viruses, although I don't believe this caused it.

bcohen4 · 09-10-2008, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olimess

Thanks for the reply bcohen4.

I wasn't worried about transferring the virus to the new cloned drive since I can easily get rid of those. I actually think the virus issue is unrelated. As a matter of fact, after getting the new cloned drive installed and running, I installed BitDefender which immediately fixed the virus issues.

The original issue seemed to repeat after I cleaned the new hdd of viruses, although I don't believe this caused it.

I would suggest checking the wiring and connectors, it could be a bad connector on the wiring or the motherboard.

is it a SATA connection or IDE?

09-10-2008, 08:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
olimess New Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 6	Computer starts but won't load! Hi everyone. So here's my story... My mom gave me a call and said, "Son, I need your help. My computer isn't working and I don't know what to do?!". So being the good son that I am, I quickly went over to moms house to help out. I first started the computer and it seemed to run fine. So I ask my mom, "What supposed to be wrong?". She tells me that the computer sometimes hangs when she turns it on. Apparently it does this often. Then she tells me that on the odd time that it does start and load, she seems to get weird popups etc. while surfing the net. Well the second problem was easy enough to diagnose ... viruses/spyware etc. But the first problem ... hmmm. I turned off the computer and restarted it. Sure enough, the computer appeared to hang, as in the computer had power running through it but nothing appeared on the screen, not even the initial bios load screen. I tried restarting the computer several times and still the same issue. I then disconnected every thing except the keyboard, mouse and monitor from the computer. Still the same issue. I then disconnected the hard drive and this time the computer appeared to start up properly by running through the regular start up procedures except that no hard drive was found of course. I repeated this test with the hard drive connected and disconnected and saw the same result each time. For some reason, the computer did not like the hard drive. I figure, that must be it. A hard drive problem. I was able to hookup the old hard drive to another computer and was able to create a clone of the hard drive contents onto a new hard drive. I then took this new hard drive and installed it on the computer. Bingo! Everything loaded perfectly and I look like a hero in my mom's eyes. I decide to install a couple of helpful programs for my mom including a better anti-virus program. Everything was going well. I restarted the computer twice without issue and then I needed to restart the computer one last time .... OH OH. The problem is back! What the .... I guess this wasn't a hard drive problem after all?!? What else could it be ... memory, motherboard? I've gone from hero to goat in a matter of minutes. Does anyone have any suggestions or tests that I can perform to figure out why this problem is occuring? I thank you and my mom thanks you. Olimess

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09-10-2008, 09:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
olimess New Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 6	Thanks for the reply bcohen4. I wasn't worried about transferring the virus to the new cloned drive since I can easily get rid of those. I actually think the virus issue is unrelated. As a matter of fact, after getting the new cloned drive installed and running, I installed BitDefender which immediately fixed the virus issues. The original issue seemed to repeat after I cleaned the new hdd of viruses, although I don't believe this caused it.