Computer won't boot up

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
navycop

navycop

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
2,333
Location
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
When I turn on my PC (vista emachine) it trys to boot up the shuts down. Everything seems to be working for a minute ( the scree will come on with the bar scanning at the bottom), then the whole computer shuts off. I cann't even get into safe mode or nothing. I need your help...
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
It is only about 4yrs old (maybe). I used to get the splash screen aleast before then it would die. Now it just cuts off. A message about loading the disk and choosing language. But even with disk in it still can't get out of loop of shuting off.
 
When was the last time it booted? If you are having issues and this is not all of a sudden it could be several things.

Are you familiar with opening up the case and fiddling around? Perhaps reseating all of your cards connectors and memory chips is a good first start. Also cleaning out all of the dust and making sure your fans are not clogged.

Start simple and eliminate all of the obvious variables first.

Next step is putting in a new CMOS battery. Looks like a watch battery.

After that we get to the hard stuff.

Manny
 
It worked around the middle of march. I did change the battery even the power supply. I think it might be the CPU? I am at work now. So whatever you suggest I will try in the AM when I get home.
 
Try removing the hard drive, with the power unplugged ofcourse, blow off the terminals, then re-seat the hard drive.

Also, make sure all external hard drives, usb drives..etc are disconnected when you reboot.
 
Even if it was the cpu the last thing you would want to do is waste your money repairing it. You would be better off building your own low end system to replace it. 4 year old tech is basically worthless and e-machines were always plagued with problems. I'd take the hard drive out, if you have any data worth saving, take the e-machine out back and shoot it a few times.

Though if that's not an option I would start where Manny suggested. I would open the case up, re-seat all the hardware and I would blow out any dust in the heatsink and fans. I personally use a small air compressor every 6 months to blow out my machines. (yes, I have it filter on it to kill any moisture). You can pickup air cans though to do the job.

Once that's done give the board a good visual inspection. Lower end pre-builds save money by using low end motherboards. Pay special attention to your caps to make sure you don't have any bleeding.

Once that was done I would leave the case open and start her up. Pay attention to any 'beeping' sounds, also look to make sure your fans are moving and there is nothing blocking the blades. Depending on the bios of that machine a stuck fan or very low rpm fan could cause a shut down. If you hear a series of beeps and then it shuts down you need to look up your bios for that board and cross reference the beeping code to find the issue.

If there are no beeps and it still shuts down it could be a number of things. Bad board, not enough power getting to board, bad video card, bad ram stick. You basically have to go and eliminate one thing at a time. If you have two sticks of ram pull a stick out. Try booting with just the one.. doesn't work put it in another slot.. still doesn't' work try the other stick, rinse repeat. I would swap out video cards next, or if I had a video card in there but the motherboard also had onboard I would go into the bios set it to use onboard and pull that video card out. In the end though if something is seriously wrong unless you can find someone giving hardware away for that machine or someone dumping old tech on craigs list for super cheap it's not worth the trouble to fix.
 
Last edited:
Don't panic...all is not lost

:glasses-nerdy: Time to troubleshoot the Operating System. Since you're posting on this site you clearly have access to another machine.

  1. Go to this site http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download and download the Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS iso.
  2. Burn it to a CD with any CD burner program.
  3. With the machine powered on, put the Ubuntu CD into the CD drive.
  4. Turn the power off for 10 seconds and then back on.
  5. The machine should read and at least try to boot from the CD drive (you may get a message asking if you want to do this...YOU DO)
  6. If the machine boots to Ubuntu, then Windows has a problem.
  7. If it doesn't try to boot from the CD (watch for the light on the CD drive) but just goes back to trying to boot to Windows, then you'll need to get into the boot menu or the CMOS to change the boot order and try it again. Different machines use different procedures to get into the CMOS. I'll need more information about your equipment to help you through that process.
  8. If the machine tries to boot to Ubuntu but shuts down in the middle, then there is a hardware problem.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a heat issue where the processor is not getting cooled and your bios is set to power off to prevent damage to the device. DAMHIKT the ubuntu cd is great and when you get into the bios see what the cpu core temp is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom