Computer won't boot, but hard drive works when docked to laptop

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  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
       #1

    Computer won't boot, but hard drive works when docked to laptop


    My computer won't boot. I took it to Geek Squad just this week and they said it's not a hardware problem and that it boots fine in safe mode. Now that I have it home it won't boot at all, which is what it was doing before I took it to them (I have no idea how they got it to boot). Sometimes when I power it on it immediately powers off. Most of the time the power stays on, but nothing happens (i.e., I can hear the fans turn on, or the drive spin for a couple seconds, but nothing happens on the monitor, which is on and works. I know this because I've connected the monitor to my laptop and it works fine). So I'm unable to do anything with the function keys. I've tried booting from the Windows 7 CD, a repair disk, and a bootable hardware diagnostic tools CD and nothing happens (i.e., the monitor remains black). So I can't even run a system restore. However, I took the hard drive (WD10EADS) out of the computer, and using a docking station connected it to my laptop. That worked fine and I was able to see all the files on the hard drive. Is it possible for me to fix the hard drive while it's docked to my laptop? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #2

    I'd like to know what's wrong with the computer and how to make it boot again. Of course I'd rather not erase everything on the hard drive (I know that, if need be, I can use the docking station, my laptop, and a new hard drive to back everything up). Thanks!
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3,056
    Windows 10
       #3

    Hello :).
    What you're describing doesn't sound like a problem with the hard-drive nor the OS.
    It sounds like a stick of RAM isn't seated properly.
    Take out all the sticks and look in the slots for any dust or other obstructions, if dust is present you can carefully
    clean it with a can of compressed air, if you don't see anything re-seat the cards back in the slots.
    If the PC boots than great (I would run memtest86+ just incase), if it doesn't run the PC with one stick of ram only.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2,409
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit/Windows 8 64-bit/Win7 Pro64-bit
       #4

    It might be a problem with your motherboard because it did not boot from the cd. Do you get the HP splash screen when you turn the computer on? If you don't get anything onscreen at all, I think the only solution would be to get a new motherboard or buy a new computer.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,409
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit/Windows 8 64-bit/Win7 Pro64-bit
       #5

    YoYo155 said:
    Hello :).
    What you're describing doesn't sound like a problem with the hard-drive nor the OS.
    It sounds like a stick of RAM isn't seated properly.
    Take out all the sticks and look in the slots for any dust or other obstructions, if dust is present you can carefully
    clean it with a can of compressed air, if you don't see anything re-seat the cards back in the slots.
    If the PC boots than great (I would run memtest86+ just incase), if it doesn't run the PC with one stick of ram only.
    Or it might be the gpu. Does the computer have dedicated graphics? If it is the gpu that's not working, try switching to the interegated graphics. (Unless you are using interegated graphics. But just like what YoYo said, its definitely not the hard drive.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    The computer does have dedicated graphics, ATI Radeon HD 4350 graphics card. I don't get the HP splash screen when I turn the computer on (the monitor remains dark).
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 3,056
    Windows 10
       #7

    For some reason I though it's a laptop ..
    Well in that case run the PC with the bare minimum of components i.e a single stick of RAM, using the integrated graphics,
    re-seating all the cables, unplug the front panel USB and audio as well as the power and reset button as they might
    be jammed.

    Let us know !
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    If the problem was with the motherboard wouldn't the Geek Squad have discovered that when they checked the hardware? Also, any thoughts on how the Geek Squad got it to boot in safe mode? After I brought it home, there was one occasion when it actually did boot up, to the point where it showed the user accounts on the computer, but then it froze. Since then, it hasn't booted up again.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2,409
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit/Windows 8 64-bit/Win7 Pro64-bit
       #9

    If it does work, then it's definitly the graphics card thats not working. This happened to me before on my Dell pc and it was fixed by simply changing to interegated graphics.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 2,409
    Windows 7 Professional 32-bit/Windows 8 64-bit/Win7 Pro64-bit
       #10

    nch819 said:
    If the problem was with the motherboard wouldn't the Geek Squad have discovered that when they checked the hardware? Also, any thoughts on how the Geek Squad got it to boot in safe mode? After I brought it home, there was one occasion when it actually did boot up, to the point where it showed the user accounts on the computer, but then it froze. Since then, it hasn't booted up again.
    Maybe the problem got worse afterwards.
      My Computer


 
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