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I have an old HP that I used to use before I got a sweet new laptop. I haven't used it in a few years. It is a nice computer because I upgraded it a few times before I got my new computer.

I wanted to roll it out again and use it as a secondary pc but when I turned it on I couldn't load past the bios screen. All I get at the boot menu is a blinking cursor. I have an ubuntu disk that I am sure works but the computer won't let me install it or boot at all. Bios is not my thing. What is going on here?

I think your computer just crap the bed, i dont think there is anything you can do to fix that, maybe try and restore the whole thing??

Are you sure you have not priorized the Boot Order wrong in BIOS because that may be the problem as it is trying to boot from another device which does not contain any bootable media or is not even plugged in. Another option could be that you cords are not well plugged, so i suggest checking them too.

You could try downloading ultimatebootcd on your laptop and put it on a cd.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

This boots from your cd drive and is independent of any OS.
It's all on the cd and you can test all your hardware and memory

If you cant boot ultimate boot cd its your power supply.

Sound like you Boot order is messed up. Standard Boot order is the following:
1. Primary HDD
2. Disk Drive
3. USB Drive
4. Floppy Drive
I would suggest checking if these are in the proper order and reporting back if the problem persists.

(01-16-2011, 09:06 PM)ⓢⓤⓕⓕⓘⓒⓔ Wrote: [ -> ]Sound like you Boot order is messed up. Standard Boot order is the following:
1. Primary HDD
2. Disk Drive
3. USB Drive
4. Floppy Drive
I would suggest checking if these are in the proper order and reporting back if the problem persists.

No no, Boot order only affects the bootup speed, unless you have another hard drive that comes first priority before the one that contains your OS, and it's trying to find something that isn't there.

This is 100% a BIOS issue though, what version of BIOS do you have, I would suggest checking that out, since it might not be up to date. But that would be your last option, you should never update your BIOS until you know that you've tried everything else, you dont fix the BIOS that way until you know that it will solve the issue, trust me.

Otherwise, make sure that your BIOS setting is the right one, check whether it's set to RAID or the other option, depending on what type of hard drive you have.

a black screen like that usually indicates a BIOS problem, from my experience, i've dealt with this more than enough times. I'm very familiar with the BIOS settings on my computer so for me it's easy to fix that.

I would need some information first though before I could determine what you should do, as well as a screen shot of your BIOS setup.

(01-16-2011, 08:01 PM)Untouch Wrote: [ -> ]You could try downloading ultimatebootcd on your laptop and put it on a cd.
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

This boots from your cd drive and is independent of any OS.
It's all on the cd and you can test all your hardware and memory

If you cant boot ultimate boot cd its your power supply.

that would be good for the memory and hardware tests like you've mentioned, but if he hasn't ran it for a while I dont think it would be a memory issue. Power box or hardware could be possibilities though.

If it's an HP though, do you have a recovery disk or anything that came with your computer? You should have options on that CD that will let you decide to run a few tests. Those CD's aren't entirely meant for system recovery.

Another thing, if it hasn't been used in a while I would check to see if your computer is clean. Carefully remove the casing on the tower and see if there's any dust in around your motherboard and your RAM slots.

If you experience any beeping noises on startup, i've found out that it's usually an indication of a RAM problem. I'm fairly familiar with this type of stuff, so if we can narrow the source of problems down to a minimum I can try my best to determine whats going on. Hopefully this will help.

1. I cleaned out the inside of the PC and it's all dust free now.
2. Checked every wire and every RAM slot and they're all good.


Here are the screenshots:


It was so long ago I don't remember but I might have formatted the HDD on this computer but I should still get a boot menu regardless shouldn't I?

Hmm, it could be due to a damaged or corrupt Hard Drive. That could be why it's freezing on that screen. Try replacing the Hard Drive in the computer.

Quote:No no, Boot order only affects the bootup speed, unless you have another hard drive that comes first priority before the one that contains your OS, and it's trying to find something that isn't there.

Not necessarily. I've had computers that started on USB and never booted from the HDD.
I had to change the order to boot from the HDD.
So my best in this situation would be if it's an older it may not boot past the first; of course newer computers go through all of them.

Now like you said I have to agree it may be a corrupt or damaged HDD.
You can always get a pretty decent one for under $50.
If you do decide to get a new one I would suggest Newegg after you figure out the interface (i.e. the connection type)

(01-17-2011, 08:53 PM)ⓢⓤⓕⓕⓘⓒⓔ Wrote: [ -> ]Not necessarily. I've had computers that started on USB and never booted from the HDD.
I had to change the order to boot from the HDD.
So my best in this situation would be if it's an older it may not boot past the first; of course newer computers go through all of them.

Now like you said I have to agree it may be a corrupt or damaged HDD.
You can always get a pretty decent one for under $50.
If you do decide to get a new one I would suggest Newegg after you figure out the interface (i.e. the connection type)

Most people nowadays don't use any older than XP because of it's lack of support from Microsoft. I highly doubt people use machines like Windows 95, 98, or Windows 2000 anymore, but you may find the odd one.

That was just one of my guesses. You can do lots of things from your BIOS.

Back to the original issue, i'm pretty certain that it's a hard drive problem in this case. The one suggested is a fairly decent HD, but before you get what he suggested, make sure that your Motherboard supports it. It's a SATA HD. I have a Western Digital one and I think they are fairly nice too.