We had a bad storm last night, I shut down my comp in anticipation for the worst, I had a few other electrical devices running from the same power source as my comp so I know there was no surge. This morning I went to tuen my computer back on and I get to the Windows XP load screen, but then when the screen goes blank to bring up the blue "welcome" screen, nothing happens. The "welcome" screen never appears and it sounds like my hard drive stops reading. I've checked the system BIOS and it recognizes both disk drives and both hard drives, I checked the system messages upon startup and it tells me that both hard drives are present and "ok". I have no idea what's up with it, any suggestions?
Did you unplug your computer? When your computer is just 'Off' the power supply is still supplying power to the motherboard. In your Bios setup, can you see what voltage is being supplied to the system? If it is more than about 10% off, you may need a new power supply.
Go into BIOS settings, if you have it put the XP CD in the CD or DVD drive, set the BIOS to boot from the CD device, power off the computer, power the PC back on, do a repair if given the option. Otherwise boot the PC and go to the built in Repair/reload partition on the hard drive. You may be able to press F10 when you see the first text or graphic on the screen when you see the PC manufactures name or a BIOS message displayed. There may be some other key stroke command needed, check the owner's manual or with tech support. Let's hope isn't the following issue: If you did not pull the MODEM/Phone cable or DSL/Cable MODEM cable you could pick up a surge from 50 miles away, even greater distances are possible, from your house. A buried or open phone line running to an un-attached garage could pick up the spike locally. The house's electrical ground could be faulty and let such a spike into the house as well. A lightning ground strike can induce 300 volts, and possibly more, into a cable or telephone system. It is like an EMP strikes from Mother Nature. The spike will only last for split second. The lights won't flicker and fridge won't miss a beat, but the PC will get gutted. The protection devices on their (cable or phone) systems can still let spikes into your home. I have seen PCs in the depot or customer returns section with the motherboard cooked where the built in MODEM or network card was located or the slot fried where a card was inserted. Others main boards showed no external signs of damage but started having odd problems that builds up to crash the system. I would check the regional storm reports and inspect all returns with suspected storm damage for the records. My old Electronics instructor, was a retired Goodyear Electrical engineer, spoke of such things from experience. Good luck! One can only hope it may be something simple and unrelated to the storm. (Formerly a COMPAQ service dispatcher & field service/customer helpdesk engineer for a North American account.)
I would suggest basics first before trying a cd based repair. Hanging on boot up the way you describe could be many things. Maybe your operating system is installing service packs, or spy ware, it can be common for clean up utilities to work at startup also. You may consider giving your computer a good solid half hour or hour just to see if the screen ever does come up. If that doesnt work. Try booting into SAFE MODE. Tap F8 as the computer is turned on. (Keep tapping) It should drop you into a multiple choice boot screen BEFORE windows begins to load. (If windows begins to load you missed it.) Choose SAFE MODE. This is a diagnostic version of windows that is very basic. Crappy graphics and limited options so dont freak out because it looks horror able. I would try using system restore to roll back to an earlier time. Once restored or running, go to ewido.com and use their free internet anti spy scan. Its free and a great product. Also Trend Microsystems has a free anti virus called house calls. Its also webpage based and runs from the internet like ewido. Both great free tools to double check for viruses KIM If you need help with the "System restore" utility, or arnt sure where it is, just ask.
