My computer is not booting. What can I do to troubleshoot this?
If your PC is not booting up/starting, here are some things to check.
– Is it plugged in?
– Is the power switch on the back turned on?
– Do you hear fans spinning inside? If not the power supply may be faulty or something inside may be unplugged. If fans are not spinning, then problem is hardware related.
NOT Booting – Blank Screen
– Unplug all peripherals from the PC except for the monitor, a keyboard and
the mouse (the mouse is optional.) and try booting.
– Check if the RAM is bad.
– Turn off the PC and open it up. Leave it plugged in and the mouse, keyboard, and monitor still plugged in.
– Remove all but 1 stick of RAM and try starting the PC.
– Continue attempting to boot with 1 stick at a time. If it boots ok then the problem is bad RAM. If all RAM sticks fail to boot the PC then the problem may be a bad video card.
– Check the Video Card.
– Try plugging the monitor into another computer. This will make sure the monitor is not bad. If it works on another PC, suspect the video card.
– Try booting into Safe Mode. Check your motherboard manual for how to do this. (Try F8 for most PC computers).
– Once in Safe mode, try adjusting the screen resolution or refresh rate to see if that fixes it.
NOT Booting – Screen Hangs/stops
– Unplug all peripherals from the PC except for the monitor, a keyboard and the mouse (the mouse is optional.) and try booting.
– If unplugging a peripheral allows it to boot that means a driver is not loaded for something. Try booting after reconnecting one peripheral at a time.
– Listen for any Beep Codes that the computer may give. Sometimes this series of beeps will help indicate what the problem may be. These codes can be found in the motherboard manual or online.
– Does Windows display an error msg. or missing file? If it is missing a boot file or System 32 file, try repairing the operating system.
– Try booting into Safe Mode. Check your motherboard manual for how to do this. (Try F8 for some computers).
– Check if the RAM is bad.
– See above for instructions on how to check RAM.
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