HP trying to talk me through a computer repair

[tugon (imported)]

My computer screen went black and now refuses to restart. I called HP and Benjamin has been trying to talk me through all the steps. When he asked me to take the side off the tower I asked him to call back tonight. I needed to take to my bed. Too much tech talk wore me out.

I would prefer a hot nerd in bow tie come to the apartment and fix it without worrying my pretty little head. Sadly it seems I am going to have to learn the innards of my computer. It will be like opening Pandora's box and who knows what might fly out. I think it might be time to pay a young man to come to the apartment. I am not too proud to pay for it.

I have great mechanical skills and have modified my turntable, fixed cars and other repairs. Electronics I expect to be trouble free. I barely understand how to use a computer let alone fix one. Oh the anxiety.

Luckily I have my iPhone so I can still post my struggles. By tomorrow I am sure my computer will be operational or I will be shopping for a new part. Or I will be hiding under my quilt while someone fixes it.

Any suggestions how to fix a computer with a black screen with a flashing bar in the upper left corner. It starts to load but stops and goes to that screen. Our initial test shows the drives are working. Oh I just need to hug my dog.

[A-1 (imported)]

My computer screen went black and now refuses to restart. I called HP and Benjamin has been trying to talk me through all the steps. When he asked me to take the side off the tower I asked him to call back tonight. I needed to take to my bed. Too much tech talk wore me out.

I would prefer a hot nerd in bow tie come to the apartment and fix it without worrying my pretty little head. Sadly it seems I am going to have to learn the innards of my computer. It will be like opening Pandora's box and who knows what might fly out. I think it might be time to pay a young man to come to the apartment. I am not too proud to pay for it.

I have great mechanical skills and have modified my turntable, fixed cars and other repairs. Electronics I expect to be trouble free. I barely understand how to use a computer let alone fix one. Oh the anxiety.

Luckily I have my iPhone so I can still post my struggles. By tomorrow I am sure my computer will be operational or I will be shopping for a new part. Or I will be hiding under my quilt while someone fixes it.

Any suggestions how to fix a computer with a black screen with a flashing bar in the upper left corner. It starts to load but stops and goes to that screen. Our initial test shows the drives are working. Oh I just need to hug my dog.

Take 300 bucks, go to Walmart and buy a 300 dollar replacement. You will be money ahead in the long run, unless you know for a fact that your computer nerd will put out for you...

[tugon (imported)]

Take 300 bucks, go to Walmart and buy a 300 dollar replacement. You will be money ahead in the long run, unless you know for a fact that your computer nerd will put out for you...

Sir I am offended by your suggestion. I do not shop at Wal Mart.

[Dave (imported)]

...

..

. It will be like opening Pandora's box and who knows what might fly out. I think it might be time to pay a young man to come to the apartment. I am not too proud to pay for it.

...

Oh I just need to hug my dog.

Beware of the 50,000 hidden dead and zombified cockroaches hiding in the power supply.

Also, your computer was built over the unmarked graveyard of a neanderthal massacre and the ghosts are going to sneak out of the machine if you don't close the box up right away.

Nothing more to worry about. Unless your dog's hair falls out (sheds). The computer's already affecting it... poor thing.

Hey, I just want to take away that nervous feeling you have, yanno...

[tugon (imported)]

Beware of the 50,000 hidden dead and zombified cockroaches hiding in the power supply.

Also, your computer was built over the unmarked graveyard of a neanderthal massacre and the ghosts are going to sneak out of the machine if you don't close the box up right away.

Nothing more to worry about. Unless your dog's hair falls out (sheds). The computer's already affecting it... poor thing.

Hey, I just want to take away that nervous feeling you have, yanno...

Dave as scary as that sounds it is not as scary as shopping at Wal Mart.

[artisticlicense (imported)]

Having a black screen on startup is a common symptom for most problems.

Check monitor plugs? Loose, damaged, or not in the right place? Some folks use their PC to run their Flat screens, and/or move them around the house frequently.

What operating system are you using? (XP, Vista, WIN-7) I have an XP Bible.

Did the PC recently go through a software update / install while trying to 'shut down'? Sometimes the installation and removal of files causes shut-downs, or corrupts the hard drive. Especially if you are using certain security protocols during the process. (ZoneAlarm is bad about that.) I have lost my operating system from updating sequencing before. It's why I don't store anything on the PC hard drive any more.

When was the last time it worked well? What is the LAST thing you see before the screen goes black? (little flashing cursor in the upper-left corner?)

Do you hear any beeps when the screen goes black? How many? You can restart it again, and again, until you are sure. It won't hurt it any more than it is already.

Can you restart and operate in 'Safe Mode'? If you can, go back to the last good start-up. Then run diagnostics.

You could have a bad video card. Restart and press F8. This will take you to the menu where you can choose to "enable" VGA mode.

Or, while in the start menu, try changing your boot priority to 'boot from the optical drive first', and place your windows cd or another bootable cd in the drive. Choose NOT to boot from cd. This will give you a chance to see if your pc POSTed successfully while waiting for you to respond when prompted to boot from the cd. If you run through all of that successfully, and then the blank screen comes back, it could be your windows installation or your hard disk.

Try running the repair installation option from your windows cd. If this fails to run (files will not be loaded on disk) then you have a hard drive problem.

If you are using XP, put your XP disk into your CD drive and restart your system. This will start the XP installation process. When you come to the screen that asks if you want to install XP or if you would like to “Repair” XP, choose "Repair". This will open the repair console command prompt. At the prompt, type: chkdsk /r. (There is a space between the k and the /. Now hit “Enter”. The repair should now start. Allow it to run until it stops. This can take some time, so be patient. Your Documents are usually safe with 'Repair'.

If you store all your DOCs and photos off the PC, on portable drives, and you have copies of 3rd-party software added to your machine, how about re-installing the operating system? Tedious, but if your system is kept 'simple', it is good to do so occasionally. Of course, you have to wade through new updates.

PS; A-1's $300 will go a LONG way at TigerDirect (http://www.tigerdirect.com/) . . .

[tugon (imported)]

Thanks Artisticlicense for all your suggestions. I am operating Windiws 7 that came installed with the computer. I did make back-up discs. This may be a learning experience for me.

[artisticlicense (imported)]

Did you buy a new unit or refurbished unit? (mine is a refurb from TigerDirect). The OS comes pre-installed. Mine would not recognize the DVD player (I have a registry fix for that if you want). Mine came with CDs, but I still backed it up after set up. WIN-7 is easier than XP to navigate, but it's still time tedious. Try the start-up with your home-made restoration CD already in the tray, but don't do anything. Wait to see if a white & black screen appears asking you whether you want to start Normal, or Safe Mode.

[tugon (imported)]

I just spent an hour with my hands in my computer. I need a new hard drive as does my computer. Time to install a new terabyte hard drive. I guess I can go bigger but not smaller. I have calls out to my tech savvy friends. Time to shop for a hard drive. Now would be a good time to have a computer to research drives.

[tugon (imported)]

I am checking out Tiger Direct and wondered if there is an internal hard drive that is better than others?