Comp won't start

I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or a software issue, but I will start here and repost if someone tells me otherwise.
When we go to start up the computer it begins to boot up and then just shuts down and the screen goes blank. The only thing we can do is hold down the power button to get the PC to shut down so we can try to restart again. Sometime that happens 3 or 4 times until it decides to work. Even if we try last known good configuration at start up it doesn't work all the time.
Any help is appreciated.

 

If this is a pre-built PC, like a Dell, HP, Gateway, etc., please post the make and model. If not a pre-built, please try to provide the make and model of the primary components (motherboard, CPU, video card, power supply, etc). So, without knowing any of this stuff, I can suggest a couple things: try booting to a CD, any bootable CD will be OK. You can use your Windows install CD, or a 'live' Linux CD like Knoppix, or a PE-based disc like a Barts CD or the UBCD4Win, or kill 2 birds with one stone and boot to a hard drive diagnostic CD and run the extended tests on your hard drive. You can download the diagnostic from your hard drive maker's web site for free. Anyway- booting successfully to a CD can tell us if the problem is the hard drive or somewhere else. You can also boot to a memory diagnostic CD and run the extended tests to check the memory integrity (I like using this one). So, please provide the PC info I asked for above, and then try some of these other things and let us know how it goes.... good luck!!
:-D

[dlb]

 

I have a Dell Dimension 4600.
Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002, Service pack 2

With out sounding too helpless I don't know how to boot to a CD. Would I be able to use the windows CD that came with the computer? it's pretty old. If I can't find it any other ideas?

 

@ granpepe: please start your own thread. Tagging on to someone else's thread only confuses the situation for both the original thread starter and those helping.

@ merlin101: to boot to a CD, power on the PC, and press F12 a few times and you should get a 'boot devices menu'. You can then select what device you want to boot from by using the arrow keys, and you'd put a bootable disc in the CD drive and then select the CD drive from the menu and press Enter. You could use the Windows disc that came with the PC to perform a repair of Windows. But first, I think you should try to see if there's a blue screen error (known as BSOD for Blue Screen Of Death); to find this out, start pressing F8 repeatedly right after the Dell logo screen goes away. You will then get a boot options menu; select "Disable automatic restart upon system failure" and press Enter. If there's an error, the PC will stop on it so you can write down the info provided, like the error number (they look like STOP:0x0000007F), an error message if there is one (a common one is IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL), and any files listed (a common one is win32k.sys). If there is no error, try booting in safe mode; press F8 for the boot options menu and select Safe Mode at the top and press Enter. Once in safe mode, go to the Event Viewer (right click My Computer > Manage > Event Viewer > System) and look for any errors listed that occurred at the same approximate time as the PC problems, and then post the details of these errors. I also strongly suggest the hard drive diagnostic I mentioned in the first post. Visit your hard drive maker's web site and download their free diagnostic tool. Create the diagnostic disc as described at the hard drive maker's web site, then boot to it as I described here. Run the extended in-depth advanced tests and make sure the hard drive is healthy. If the drive is dying, then all this other stuff would be a waste of time.

 

Ran the hard drive diagnostic, 1 error came up that was repaired. I also got the following attached errors when I rebooted.