Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Blank Screen When Up!

by Sep 29, 2012 7:11PM PDT

Can somebody help me please. I'm not a computer newbie so i know what I'm doing. anyway Ive had this problem for a while but have sometimes manged to get my computer working again. when i boot up my computer it either goes blank and gets really loud, or goes into/or through bios then goes blank and gets really loud. Ive tried taking the battery out and moving the jumper to clear bios and then get to maintenance (this has sometimes worked). Now when i try it, it makes no difference. also it stopped picking up my hard drives but i manged to get it to pick up 1 of the 2. please help.

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details
- Collapse -
Answer
Re: error
by Former Forum moderator Sep 29, 2012 7:22PM PDT

You don't tell if it can run flawlessly (including accessing all your files on the hard disks) from a Linux Live CD/DVD.
- If it can't it's a hardware issue that needs repair.
- If it can it's a Windows issue, and the easiest way to solve that in such cases is a clean install.

Kees

- Collapse -
Not Possible
by doodyguy Sep 29, 2012 7:31PM PDT

I cant even get past the bios. even if i set it to boot from disk it wont, itll jus gimme a blank screen. wont even boot onto hard drive nor anything else. jus goes into bios and then jus goes blank and speeds up its fans

- Collapse -
Re: blank screen.
by Kees_B Former Forum moderator Sep 29, 2012 7:38PM PDT

So you diagnosed the problem. It's the first "if". If it can't boot from a Linux disk it's a hardware issue that needs repair.

Now find a repair shop and ask for a quote. Be sure you don't pay more than the machine is worth. Compare with second hand price of a comparable machine. Might be free on freecycle if it's 5 years old. Then even paying one buck is too much.

But if it's a 1 year old $1500 PC, a new motherboard might well be worth the expense, if it can use the same CPU and the same RAM. That would be maybe $200 or $250, including the work, if you can reinstall Windows yourself (more if it's a different motherboard and the recovery disks won't accept it; then add $200 for a retail version of Windows).

Kees

- Collapse -
not an option
by doodyguy Sep 29, 2012 7:49PM PDT

this is a 8 yr old computer running p4 im tlking about. ithink i might jus try removing the parts and see wat may be causing the problem. thanks for ur help anyway.

Back to Computer Help forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info