All right, lets say you’ve thought it over and can’t think of anything you have done that would affect the computer. Furthermore you have tried all the simple solutions you can think of – and they didn’t work. What now?
You just made a list of possible causes, now make a list of the exact symptoms. Where and how does the computer stop? Do you hear any sounds from the hard drive? Watch the hard drive indicator. This is where you become the detective. Consider the facts, not your worse fears. Many times the answer to the problem is spelled out right in front of us, by text on our computer screen – but we just start swapping hard drives anyway. Pay attention to what is on the screen and where the computer is in the boot process at the time it fails. Then write out the symptoms on a sheet of paper. Such a list might look like:
Symptoms
Computer stops just before loading Windows
I can hear the hard drive start and run during the boot process
I can hear the read/write head on the hard drive right before the computer stops
There is a beep, indicating the motherboard self test passed
The computer has a C:> on the screen when it stops.
Second, look over your list of possible causes once more
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF WINDOWS NOT LOADING:
The motherboard is bad – problem with the hard drive controller
The hard drive is bad
The data / boot sector / the Windows program on the hard drive is bad
The connector to the hard drive is bad
The BIOS is set to not boot from the hard drive
The BIOS battery had failed, settings have been lost or scrambled
There is a bootable or semi-bootable CD in the CD drive
There is a bootable floppy
There is just one time glitch in the computer boot process
All right, now you would consider all the possible problems and symptoms together. Spend a few minutes reviewing the symptoms and possible causes and think out a possible answer. Think like a detective….
The computer beeps, so you know the self test was completed and the motherboard is probably all right. You heard the hard drive spin, and saw the light turn on at boot, but it stops when it was time to load Windows. You note the last thing that appears on the screen is “C:>”. You also hear the read/write head on the hard drive moving around at the point when Windows usually starts to load. This tells you that the hard drive is probably working. And it appears the compute is trying to access the C drive to load Windows.
The fact the computer stops at “C:>” tells you it was looking for an OS on the C drive, but can’t find it. A good guess would be that the boot sector or data on the hard drive is damaged. At this point you would want to run a diagnostic or repair disk and check the C drive. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then swapping the hard drive with one from a good computer is a good next step. You might find the hard drive has a problem, with its control electronics, or the controller on the motherboard has a problem.
Swapping Components
Swapping out components between computers as a means of troubleshooting isn’t necessarily a bad idea. It can help you isolate a problem fast. However, as I demonstrated in the example at the start of this article it can lead to bad conclusions, or mistakes that could cause further damage to the computer. You should first think out the problem then start swapping components. However, after doing the above troubleshooting procedures, if you still can’t locate the problem, swapping components can be a helpful way to find a solution.
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