I am trying to fix an HP computer that won't come up now after we lost power. It comes up to the window with the option to boot normally or from safe mode but neither will bring the system up. What do I do now? How can I find out what is wrong with it?

Although this a troubleshooting guide for a new build, much of it would apply in your case. You will likely need spare parts to test with. First off, your hard drive is suspect. Also you may need other spare parts like RAM, video card (if your system has a video card installed), MB, PSU, etc. I would start by trying a new hard drive since you can boot to BIOS.

http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Troub [...] ild?t=anon

i got the link and appreciate your help. It wouldn't even come up with the recovery disk so I didn't know what else to do. I know nowdays it's about as cheap to buy a new one than pay to have one fixed.....thanks again....teresa

Does your HP have the option to restore the system to factory default? maybe one of the function keys gives the option (or check your documentation). If this is the case you may be able to do that as a last resort.

Before doing that I'd try a bootable linux distro to enable you to backup your docs/pics etc. so you don't lose anything.

Karl

We have the recovery disk but it starts loading and acts like its going to work but then just gets stuck there....never made it to disk 2....I'm not so worried about the pics/files....have most of them already on disk but need to get this computer up and running....both of my printers are hooked to it.

Well, your CPU and RAM seem to be working. The system hangs when you try to run the recovery CD. The recovery CD tries to access the system information on the hard drive and the system freezes up. My guess would be your hard drive has failed, just my opinion. It could be some other problem certainly.

That sounds about right to me. It was pulled up without a surge protector and the power went out three times in a row....live down in palm bay florida where all the fires have been.....don't know if it's worth it to buy a new hard drive or not.....can u run restore disk on a new hard drive to install the operating system again.....they don't give you the real "operating system" cd's any longer......they should....

My guess is similar to Badge's, that the hard drive got corrupted and is now useless. Something similar happened to my son's old HP.

This is how I dealt with the problem. I bought a small hard dick and installed the OS on it. Then I moved the jumpers on the original hard disk to turn it into a slave and designated it as a second drive in the BIOS. The computer than fired up and he was able to access the original hard drive (now D: drive) and do back ups of everything he wanted to keep. The original disk is still functioning as a D: drive, but everything is regularly backed up in case of complete failure.

If you present C: drive is SATA, you can still designate it as a secondary drive in the BIOS, with the new drive as the primary drive.

Can you try resetting the CMOS jumper. Or default the BIOS? I would do that first. Yes, if you happen to have a spare HD, you could install it and try and load the system disk and see if that does solve the problem (potential bad HD). I would look in the manual and try and find the instructions for resetting the CMOS jumper first. Be sure to remove the MB battery and unplug the power supply from the wall when you reset the jumper. Default the BIOS this way.

You should be able to run your restore on a new harddrive, the recovery disk simply has all the software and drivers on it, so you dont have to search the web forever and a day. Also some stuff they dont even offer online anymore, and you have to send in a prepaid envelope for them to send you the drivers you need.

I'd reinstall the OS. If you've got a lot of data on that drive hook it up to another computer and try that.

Hell, a clean OS install will make it run faster than the day you bought it from HP.

Thank you all....I don't know how to reset the CMOS jumper or default the BIOS....could you explain that to me.....what drivers......

A solution that I use for friends of mine:

open window, preferably 2nd story or higher
unplug all cables from PC
throw PC out window
problem solved

I would try a different HD to start with. Also, model number of the PC would be cool as well. Can give a better answer that way.

Go online to your HP prodcut page and download your computer's user's manual. The procedure for resetting the CMOS jumper will be explained there. The other thing you can try if you have another hard drive is to unplug your hard drive and simply plug in the new drive and try and run the system CD.

Unplug the computer and pull the battery out of the motherboard, you'll get the same effect.

Thank you....I will try that and everything else that yall suggested......yall are really great and I am really going to like this site.....

Have a nice weekend....

Glad we could be of assistance!

you have been ... thanks

I once time had a boot sector on my HD fail and even when I would stick in a boot cd of any type it would load the cd and then the screen would just go blank. I then poped in a spare HD fired up the cd and bam it worked and windows installed on the spare HD. After that I was able to use recovery tools on the original HD and fix the boot sectors.

I don't know if it is any close to what is happening to you but, I thought I would just put my 2 cents out there.

I don't think it's a bad hard drive, I just think his Windows installation got corrupted.