PC won't start up properly

rosy

Over the last few days my PC has sat "dead" when it is turned on - if you then switch it off and back on again several times it will eventually start up but the monitor has a pattern of coloured pixels on it, not the usual Intel Pentium / windows logo. This lasts for several minutes. Once it reaches my log on screen the monitor suddenly appears as normal and the PC lets me do everything as usual. However, every time I restart the computer now it seems to be going through more and more false starts and taking longer to display any kind of correct screen, and I'm concerned that the next time it just might not let me in at all. I've thought about just keeping it on all the time, but I do need to restart it to install anti virus updates etc. Any ideas what could be wrong and how I could fix it? Thanks.

albertross_2

Difficult to diagnose this as it could be just about anything. The fact that it works after it has been switched on for a while, suggests a heat related/dry joint problem.

Suggest you reseat the RAM sticks. UNPLUG FROM THE MAINS!

(touch the metal chassis to earth yourself first, as they are sensitive to static), and check that the CPU is pushed in properly. If it is an AMD, home build, sometimes a lack of heatsink paste between the heatsink and processor can cause strange booting symptoms

I doubt that it is disk related, but running a quick scandisk on the drive wouldn't do any harm

meadowcat

Is there any chance it could be your monitor that is faulty? Maybe you could try the system on a different monitor just to rule it out.

charlieheard

I had something similar a while back, and it turned out that the monitor cable was very loose in the back of the PC. Pushed it in and it worked fine.

Try unplugging the monitor cable and power leads and plugging them back in, making sure that any screw are tightened up properly. If that doesn't work, try the other connections - do them one at a time so that you can remember where to put them all back...

pchelpman

You say the PC is dead when you switch on .... can you see the hard drive indicator light flickering on the PC casing? if so chances are it's booting up OK but you just can't se it. Maybe - as others have implied - your monitor is the "dead" (or dying) piece of your kit not the PC itself.

However, if you can't see any flickering lights on the casing or other signs of life your PC may indeed be dying.

Back up everything first if this is the case.

As albertorss says it may be your RAM (or PSU) need replacing. Could be anything.

Any more specific signs of your trouble could help further diagnosis.

rosy

Thanks to you all for your help. I didn't feel confident enough to replace the RAM myself, and it is still under guarantee so I probably shouldn't attempt it anyway, but I did check out the monitor and it's not that ( also the modem lights don't come on when the PC is acting up so I have assumed it must be the PC ). Having tried ten times ( over an hour's worth of time ) this morning to get the PC going, it got started eventually. I then phoned the Medion helpline and they said (after half an hour of waiting at expensive phone rate for a technician) I'd probably have to wipe everything and get it back to the factory state, but to try switching it off at the rear of the computer first to get rid of the static as that might be the cause of it. Before I switch the computer off and spend yet more time trying to start it, does anyone else know if these are reasonable suggestions?

albertross_2

From what you have told us, it sounds more like a hardware problem than software (but I could be wrong), so wiping the hard disk (which is a common helpdesk response to anything they can't diagnose, or can't be bothered to diagnose), wouldn't make any difference. And you would obviously lose all your data.

If you can, as others have suggested, backup any data to a usb pen, or CD/DVD, just in case it is HD related..

If it is still under warranty, can't you get them to fix it? If you have to send it off, I'd backup your data, as they have a habit of coming back with a wiped hard disk.

You are going to have to switch it off at the mains at some point, so their unplug suggestion is going to get tested then..

scheming_gypsy

rosy wrote:

Over the last few days my PC has sat "dead" when it is turned on - if you then switch it off and back on again several times it will eventually start up but the monitor has a pattern of coloured pixels on it, not the usual Intel Pentium / windows logo. This lasts for several minutes. Once it reaches my log on screen the monitor suddenly appears as normal and the PC lets me do everything as usual. .

sounds like your video card is fudged to me

charlieheard

It sounds as though it is something very low-level within the PC. Before the operating system (i.e. Windows) is able to start, the PC has to work out where everything is, and how to access it.

The very first startup screen is the BIOS (Basic Input Output System), which does these low-level checks so that Windows can work. It sounds as if it might be having problems loading the BIOS, which could be due to all sorts of things - usually hardware problems:

• motherboard battery dead
• loose or poor connections on the motherboard
• boot sector of the disk is damaged
• short-circuit somewhere
• loose or poor connections on the memory or expansion cards

Whatever the reason, it shouldn't be doing this, so back it up and get someone to fix it