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First, reboot. This magic cure often fixes temporary problems, or at least will give you a chance to pay careful attention to error messages on screen. If you see errors during the POST phase of booting (before the operating system loads), use the pause key to halt while you write down error messages. If The operating system is starting, don't dismiss any error or warning dialogs before you write down their contents for further study.

 Boot Problems
 Look for the simple things first:

1. Is there power at the wall plug and out of the surge protector? Is the power cord plugged securely into the outlet & PC?
2. When you push the power button, do you hear the power supply fan or any clicks etc?
3. Do the keyboard LEDs flicker or light up?
4. Does anything appear on the monitor?
5. Do you hear any beeps?
6. Is your hard drive properly connected?

• 1 is yes, but 2-4 are no - you may have a bad power supply or motherboard. Substituting a known good one may be the easiest test.
• 2, 3 are yes, but 4 is no - check your monitor cable connections. If that doesn't work, substitute a good monitor and retest.
• 3 is yes, but system won't boot - check if CPU is loose in the socket on the motherboard.
• 4 is no, check monitor power & data cables for secure connections. Check to be sure the brightness adjustment is not set too low.
• 4 is yes - note any error messages and check them here for interpretation. The video is tested after the motherboard, CPU, and BIOS, so an onscreen error message is usually not as serious as one that is reported with beep codes.
• 5 is yes - note the number and type (one long, 2 short for example). Check BIOS codes for the meaning of the beep codes.
  1 short beep is normal, 2 or more usually indicates a problem. If you don't find a clue in the chart of codes, you might try opening up the PC case and reseating the expansion cards in their slots on the motherboard. Also, do the same with the RAM modules. Ground yourself before touching anything inside the computer case to avoid static electricity damage. You can do this by first touching any non-painted metallic surface inside the case.
• 6 - If you are unsure, look at this guide.
• "non-system disk" or "disk boot" error - check that you have not left a floppy disk in the drive. If not, try booting from a boot disk (floppy or CD/DVD - if you don't have one, make it on another working PC), and try to access the hard drive. Type C:, then hit enter, type dir then hit enter. This will usually show the files on the hard drive. If no directory listing is produced, you may have a hard drive problem, a virus or a misconfiguration in the BIOS.

 See also this article: What to do when the screen goes blank

 Computer Boots But Windows Won't Load

Make sure you haven't left a floppy disk in the drive (if you still have one). If you are running Windows XP, reboot, then press F8 as soon as you see Starting Windows or hear the single beep. This should get you to the Windows Advanced Options menu. Try these steps one at a time to see which one works (reboot each time):

1. Select the Last Known Good Configuration item from the menu and press Enter
2. Choose Safe Mode, then Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools-System Restore-Next. Follow the Wizard
3. You might also try the System File Checker, by running sfc at the command prompt (Start->Run, then type cmd and press Enter)
4. For Stop Errors, see here or here

If these don't work, or if you can't even get to the Advanced Options Menu, you can boot from the Windows XP installation CD and try to use the Recovery Console to repair Windows. More advanced users might try the "rebuild" command, or XP's No-Reformat, Nondestructive Total-Rebuild Option. If that fails you might need to do an in-place upgrade - reinstalling Windows in the same folder as the original.
The surest (and sometimes only) way to get Windows operating correctly again is to do a clean install. If you have a full backup, you may want to do that instead, bearing in mind that you will lose any updates, software installations, settings and data created since the backup was performed.

  Windows Starts But With Errors

• Search Google, Forums, Newsgroups, Microsoft Knowledge Base, etc.
• Why there is no master list of Windows error messages
• If the problem is a missing dll file, look here
• When should you reinstall Windows?

  Windows Runs, But With Problems

• Do a full virus scan, after updating your virus definitions.
  We like Kaspersky Antivirus
• Run an anti-spyware utility. Better yet, run two of them so what one misses the other catches. Update them first as well.
• Check for disk errors with Scandisk or another utility, defrag your hard drive with Diskkeeper or Windows Defrag.
• Intermittent freezes, unexplained errors in programs or random reboots - check your memory with Memtest86+. Many of the Live Linux CD's, like Knoppix also have this utility as a boot option, besides being an indispensable tool in their own right.
• See Best Practices for other information to help your PC running smooth and safe.

You might also have a look at:

• Our Search Page
• Windows Annoyances - Troubleshooting
• What to Do When Things Go Wrong
• Help Yourself - Troubleshooting Techniques, Links & Services
• "Driver Education" - device drivers
• See also sections on our Tips & Links Pages too.

More to come! This is only the first page planed for this section, and we are presently in the process of rebuilding our site, so please bookmark it and check back often.

Note: Items marked with require Acrobat or another pdf reader.

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