computer will not boot

W

winterman49

New Member
My computer is an HP Pavillion 7966 - about 5-6 years old - running Windows XP. Within the last year, it had been acting increasingly slow and actually locking up on occasion. About 4 months ago I did a destructive install using the discs I purchased from HP (system recovery discs). Re-install went smoothly. All was well until about a month ago. I thought I smelled a "bad" smell (kind of a hot plastic smell) about that time and right about the same time the computer started acting flakey - locking up. Visual inspection inside the box revealed nothing. Last week it simply refused to boot up.
When I start up I get a black screen with a message saying to insert the system recovery disc and press enter. When I do this I get the message:
"No hard disc found
System recovery cannot be continued
Press any key to continue"
My first instinct is that something has gone sour on the motherboard. Is there a way to determine this?
Other possibilities? Ideas?
Thanks
 
well i would say it is your hard drive beacause of the message but then the smell seems like it could be your cpu. i would rule out the memory and psu but i would try (if you have one) replace your hard drive and reinstall windows. if you dont get a bootable cd like the windows install cd and see if it will boot. if it does it is most likely yor hard drive
 
The CPU is made outta metal and little pieces of gold... im sure the CPU wont get hot enough to melt itself... I'm thinking PSU... If the PSU failed or part of it failed one or more conenctors could be bad, making th eHDD not powering up.

PS its reformat not destructive install :D
 
Hadn't thought of the power supply, but the smell did remind me of a "transformer" kind of smell - it was really pretty faint but it's a very distinctive odor. Any way to zero in on a defective power supply? Process of elimination? I do have an empty hard drive and could put that in place and see if I could install XP to that?
 
As an update - I just replaced the lithium battery on the motherboard and everything fired right up! Go figure. I think I had actually come across that suggestion somewhere on these boards. I think I will see about replacing the PSU anyway.
 
Good! just out of curiosity, does anyone know how long the battery's last? i thought they were rechargeable, but i guess not.
 
I dont ever replace em. I just buy random ones at walmart around the same voltage and size and hope it works. I think they last around 1-2 years though
 
Think he means the BIOS battery... either the battery started leaking fluid and either start shorting some stuff or something
 
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