How to Fix Your Own Computer, Will Not Boot, Hardware Issues

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by fliptop 04/20/2010

If you're not having power problems, maybe you're having problems getting the computer to boot up. By "boot up" we mean getting past the BIOS screen and actually booting your operating system. Since there are many, many reasons a particular system won't boot up, and most are specific to a particular operating system, we'll examine any hardware problems that may cause this situation. We'll troubleshoot O/S specific boot-up problems later.

Problem - Computer turns on but will not boot up due to what may be a hardware issue

The computer may power up correctly and perform all the necessary BIOS tests, but after that nothing happens, leaving a blank screen or possibly an error message. It won't boot up to your installed operating system.

Possible causes

This problem may be caused by several hardware issues:

• Your hard drive is bad or disconnected.
• Your RAM is bad.
• Your computer is capable of booting to media other than the hard drive, and that media is present but malfunctioning.
• Your computer has bad peripherals connected to it, either directly to the motherboard or using external ports.

Possible Solutions

1. Test your hard drive - Ninety-nine times out of 100 boot problems due to malfunctioning hardware are caused by a bad hard drive. From your toolkit choose the SeaTools for DOS CD. Put it in the CD/DVD drive and reboot the computer. NOTE: You may have to go into your computer's BIOS settings and modify it so the system boots to the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive. Consult your motherboard's documentation for this procedure.

   After booting up SeaTools, choose your hard drive and click Test->Long Test. It may take an hour or more to thoroughly examine your hard drive. Here are some possible test results and what to do:

   • Passed: - All test were successful, and your hard drive is safe for use. Continue on to "Test your RAM" below.
   • Drive has been Overtemp: - Before the test even starts, you get a warning indicating the drive has evidence of reaching a high internal temperature. You may proceed with the tests if you'd like, but the hard drive needs to be replaced anyway.
   • Drive has bad sectors: - The test completes, indicating the drive has bad sectors. Replace the drive.
   • Tests crash with errors: - If the test won't complete and crashes unpredictably or locks up, the problem may be not only the hard drive but also the hard drive controller, usually built-in to the motherboard. More testing is required, so try plugging the hard drive into another computer and run the test again.

   Having problems using the "SeaTools for DOS" CD? We've found that sometimes, for whatever reason, the SeaTools for DOS CD locks up before you can even get to the screen to run the diagnostic tests. Either the mouse and keyboard become locked up, or the mouse moves in an unpredictable manner over the screen. Usually this happens with certain Dell computers that have their own diagnostic utilities built into the BIOS. If this is the case, use the BIOS utilities to test your hard drive. Consult your computer documentation for more information.

   Other times this problem can be overcome by using the "SeaTools for DOS" utility on the Ultimate Boot CD. Try booting to that CD instead, choose Hard Drive Tools->Diagnostic Tools->Seagate and try running the long test again. You'll need to press the "L" key to run the long test as this utility won't work with the mouse. Refer to the possible outcomes above for what to do next.

   If your hard drive tests bad, you should replace it as soon as possible. In our experience, not passing the SeaTools diagnostic tests is a sign of impending doom. You can try cloning the drive, or recovering your data and doing a clean installation on a new drive. Both of these topics will be covered in another blog entry.

2. Test your RAM. - We've found that boot problems are sometimes caused by bad RAM. Boot to the Ultimate Boot CD and choose Mainboard Tools->Memory Tests->Memtest86+. Let the test run for 2 passes. Memory errors will appear in the bottom portion of the screen. If there's errors, it may be because the motherboard is bad too. Replace the RAM and run the tests again. If you're still seeing errors, even with brand-new RAM, your motherboard is likely bad and needs to be replaced. Note that, on occasion, you may purchase RAM that's bad even when brand new. Although this may cause confusion, we've experienced this problem very rarely. Feel free to check your RAM in another computer if this situation comes up.

3. Check for other boot media in the computer. - Most computers are configured to boot to other devices, like a floppy drive, USB drive, a CD/DVD or even over the network. Go into your computer's BIOS and look at the 'boot devices' option to make sure it's trying everything in the correct order. We usually set ours up to boot to CD/DVD 1st, then hard drive, then "other" devices like floppy, USB, and network.

   If your computer is configured to boot to the CD/DVD 1st, check your drive to see if there's a CD/DVD in there that it's trying to boot to. If so, remove it and try booting to your hard drive. Do the same if any boot devices that come before your hard drive may have media in them the computer is trying to boot to.

4. Remove all but the essential peripherals. - Rarely, we've had computers that had good hard drives and RAM but wouldn't boot because the CD/DVD drive or some other peripheral was bad. To check for this, unplug everything from the computer (even the keyboard and mouse) and everything from the motherboard except the CPU, RAM and hard drive. This includes all front-panel switches and LEDs, external USB ports, etc. Try to boot the computer by shorting the "power switch" pins on the motherboard. If the computer boots up, then try connecting each device/external port one at a time and rebooting until you find the one part that causes it to not boot.

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