Troubleshooting a Computer that Does Not Start but Has Power

Troubleshooting a computer can be very tedious and at the same time very expensive. One of the most common computer problems is when your computer doesn't seem to start at all. Let's tackle a specific situation. What if you turn on your computer and you see the lights on your PC tower blink but it just stops there? You could hear noises but the screen is just blank and nothing comes up at all. Your monitor does not display anything at all as well.

You probably know that power may not be the problem since your DVD/CD ROM drives open up, your mouse is still lit, your motherboard's lights are on, or some other indicator that power supply isn't the issue. Here are some things that you can check to find out which among your hardware is the culprit.

Let me introduce the term POST if you are not familiar with it yet. It means Power On Self Test. Let me define it as simply as I can. This is a process when you turn on your computer. The computer will do an initial check on the hardware and the basic input output system to see if there's anything wrong with them or basically if they can be detected (for hardware). And in my years of experience, this is the most reliable way of finding out if there are hardware problems.

You see it on the screen where it shows what type of processor you have, how much memory your board is equipped with, the hard drives and optical (DVD/CD ROM) drives that you have connected, the logo of your motherboard or computer manufacturer, etc. You also hear beeps. But what should you do if your computer doesn't even do POST? The hard part here is that in a lot of cases, you don't even hear a beep. These beeps are generated by your motherboard to indicate which hardware is having problems or is malfunctioning. It has a pattern that is comprised of short and/or long beeps.

First of all, it is very much possible that there's a cable that is lose somewhere inside your PC. Try to check all connections. The power cables, IDE/SATA cables, CPU fan, video card power, USB cables, and even the small cables that connect your motherboard to your case such as the power switch, reset switch, PC speaker and LEDs. If you'd like, you can just re-seat everything by removing everything and placing it back in making sure every connection and hardware is accounted for.

The next most common problem is that your power supply may be not generating enough power for your hardware. If you have a powerful computer with the latest quad-core processor, high-end video card and multiple drives, a generic power supply will most likely fail or your powerful ones is probably failing. You may need to buy a new and/or more powerful and suitable power supply.

Your motherboard may also be damaged. This can be due to electrical problems as well or just simply defective. The next set of hardware you can check would be your hard drive, video card, processor and memory. Identifying these parts as the source of the startup problem can be quite difficult to determine at the onset of your troubleshooting. You may need to do a simple elimination process.

If you have another computer, try to use your hardware (processor, motherboard, hard drive, memory, video card, etc.) on that computer and see which will give you problems. It will most certainly be the one that's giving you a hard time starting up your computer.

As you can see, it is important to determine which hardware is malfunctioning exactly. This way, you're spending your money on the hardware that really needs to be replaced. You don't want to replace something that isn't broken or damaged in the first place. You'll just end up wasting money and having a spare hardware that you don't need and won't use.

Now, if you are not familiar with computers and are not equipped to handle hardware troubleshooting or haven't done it yourself before, you can always opt to have a technician help you out. I would suggest that you do it and have him/her guide you so that you'll learn along the way. So when this startup problem occurs, just stay calm and look at all the possible options and scenarios. Just try to prepare some cash since there is a high chance that you'll be replacing something.