So I press the button,computer starts up,open Firefox,start something else and the screen freezes.I wait for 2/3 min,nothing.So I go back to the on button and hold it in to turn the machine off.I wait for 2 min.,turn machine on again and only have a screen that says Compaq,Intell inside,esc,f10 etc. at the bottom.Control/alt/delete does not work.Left computer on for 3 hours,nothing happened(I thought it might be confused,like me).HELP

 

Sounds suspiciously like a hard disk failure. The screen that does show, is it the BIOS setup screen? If so, you can take a look and see if the PC thinks it has a hard drive.

Another thought, try to start the PC in safe mode, see here:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

 

It could also be a power supply failure. The power supply directs power to your different components, HD, disc drive(s), etc, but your computer will still power up even if it is bad. Very easy to check, just plug a new one in. They are generally less than 50 bucks, depending upon what type the manufacturer used.

 

Also, depending on the age of the computer, sometimes components can come loose. If you are alright with getting inside the computer, open the side panel and re-seat all components. Make sure that you ground yourself before getting in there. Don't want to fry a memory module or something because of static discharge. Check the memory, video card, processor and all connections to hard drives, CD/DVD drives, etc... Good luck.

 

I agree with the marine. We purchased as brand new HP last year. Great for about a month then the system became very unstable. Lots of Blue Screens of Death, rebooting contantly, screen freezing. Did several system restores, reinstalled all software, reset the CMOS, etc. I read a blurb on the www about loose memory modules causing some of the issues I had. Confirmed the blurb with an IT friend. I took out all modules (4, 1 GIG sims), installed one at a time, rebooting each time, exercise the system (get memeory usage up to 90%-100%) then shut down and start over on the next sim. Turns out that one of them must have wiggled loose. Its been an awsome system ever since.

 

as a note to Solar's experience, one of your memory modules could be bad

it happens to us at work once a year or so, a box starts locking up.

swap out RAM, works great again.

do what Solar did and let us know,
then do the other cards like USMC said.

 

That was also what my friend was having me check for. He said Vista, which is what I am running, is not as forgiving as XP when it comes to a bad simm. XP supposedly will ignore the bad portion of a simm, use what is available and move on while Vista on the other hand will freak out because 1 byte out of a 1 gig simm wont cooperate. I think it was designed by women...

 

Thanks all for your replies.At my wits end,I said to myself,self just one more time.So,I pressed the button and the darned thing started up.Now I am afraid to turn it off.I took an outboard drive and copied everything everything I could think of to the other drive and have left it on.I can't complain too much as this is a $350.00 Compaq Presaro factory re-furb.that never really given me a problem before and is 4 1/2 years old.Once again,thanks for the input,great folks here.

 

I second the hard drive suspicious. Typically when a machine freezes on a post screen it has completed the post and is looking for a boot method, failing to see and or read from the drive. Letting it "cool down" may get you some more time or power cycling many times may get it to boot again.

Download hdtune (free program) and run a quick disk check. Takes just a few minutes. Any red dots at all and you know your problem. Some will say its acceptable or say check-disk fixes them, but thats like reprogrammin your cars computer when you have broken ring lands or a pitted cylinder head. Nothing fixes physical damage except replacement.

 

Grantx5 & Timmay2,well I followed your suggestions and.....the thinge you had me download showed "ok" in all catagories with no red boxes in all the green boxes.Can I turn it off now or keep it on until.......?

 

I'd keep my fingers crossed, and keep everything backed up daily.
Hard drives aren't real expensive, you might just get a bigger one, do a fresh reinstall of windows, and be good for a while longer.

 

I got it...

...Mac...

 

Ok,alright,you win I am going to purchase a new hard drive.I went to "Geeks.com"and looked.What is the diff.,or do I really care about a SATA or an IDE drive,a Seagate Barracuda or a Hitachi Deskstar?My machine is a Compaq Presaro SR1020v with a Samsung sp0802n drive.What do you guys suggest?

 

I bought a 500gb sata drive the other day for 44 bucks,free shipping.Look on pricewatch.com for some good deals.Of course if you need an enhanced IDE drive (PATA) then a SATA drive will not work for you.
I am going to use it as an external drive for back ups when working on customers computers.You can buy the SATA/USB adapters for about 15 bucks.I have found that so far the SATA drives are cheaper.Ron G