6 replies to this topic

[Titanium Justice]

Ive been having problems with my computer that i have to keep it on ALL the time(Yes an energy waster)cause if i shut it down and turn it back on it wont always turn on only at a random time so i have to keep shuting it on and off on and off just to turn it on.sometimes it takes an hour for it to work it just p!$$e$ me off
i would love to know how to fix this my dad would also like to know.

Note:(if you say new computer then its no im not getting a new computer till at least christmas)

[Saffith]

When it fails to turn on, what exactly does it do? Does it start to come on, then shut off right away? That's what it sounds like, at least...

This could be caused by any number of things, unfortunately. I'd say the motherboard and the power supply are the most likely suspects, but it could theoretically be almost any part.
See if there are any sort of hardware monitors in the BIOS. If you don't know how to get there, you probably just hit delete when the system is just starting up, though it's one of the F keys on some systems. If you can find out the voltages and temperatures, that would help identify the problem.

[Ben]

It's almost guaranteed to be an IDE controller problem. For one, take any and all disks out of the floppy and disc drives before booting, and for two, go to a command prompt and type "chkdsk C: \f" minus the quotes. It could be that there's a hard disk problem. Which is likely if you're on a Windows 98 machine - the average lifespan of a hard disk is about 6-7 years and yours is probably overdue.

There is a small chance that it is a heat problem. But right after startup things shouldn't be all that warm, unless you had JUST turned it off.

[Titanium Justice]

Well if it dosnt start up its still in the boot state and it says something link this
----------------------------------------------------
Failed cant get boot record from floppy

press any key
-------------------------
and if you keep pressing a key that just keeps coming up

i realy dont want to play russian roulette with my computer anymore

[Ben]

If there's a floppy in the floppy drive, eject it and reboot.

[Titanium Justice]

I never have any disks in the drives when i start up my PC its basicaly asking for a boot record even tough it dosnt need it so what i need to know is how do i get my computer to start normaly every single time i turn it on.

[Ben]

Then it's as I said. Something is wrong with the hard drive controller, or the hard drive itself.

Go to Start -> Run ...

Then in the box, type "cmd" and hit Enter.

In the prompt, type "chkdsk C: \f" (on Windows 98, you might be able to just run ScanDisk instead.)

The system should automatically fix hard disk errors that it finds.