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A Dead Computer Means to the POST
When you turn on your computer and absolutely nothing happens something happens to you—panic. This is always a bad situation because like your TV or phone, when you turn it on you want it to go on. So, here are a few things to check before you go nuts.
Does the computer have power coming in?
Even though this sounds painfully obvious, it really should be checked. Is your laptop battery dead and you are not plugged in to AC? Is the outlet your desktop is attached still working? Check the wall switch. Is the power supply working? Check the PS fan to see if it is turning. Check the power cable. I have personally seen these go bad for no apparent reason whatsoever. Is the monitor on? You won’t see a screen if the monitor is dead. Check all the connections and cables. Even though you know nothing has changed, my cat has changed things for me. If all these trouble shooting techniques don’t show the problem, you may have a dead computer. But, if it comes on and you hear beeps or see an odd black and white screen, then read on.
To the POST
When you first turn on your computer it runs a series of tests to make sure it is ready to boot the operating system. This is called the Power On Self Test or POST. A computer that fails POST has a hardware problem.
If your computer doesn’t come up and doesn’t beep and you have trouble shot as previously outlined, then it has hardware problems. If you hear two or more beeps where you usually only hear one, then your computer may have a power supply or video system problem.
Otherwise, the computer will display a splash screen. POST errors after that point will be displayed on the monitor. What to do from there depends on the error displayed. You may get some cryptic text messages like “Resource allocation conflict on motherboard”. Gee, thanks for that.
There are couple things you can do from there. You can try to enter the system setup program and determine the issue. Often, errors encountered during POST are flagged in the Setup program. Or, at least there is information about it. Caution though, entering the Setup program can be dangerous so make sure you have a good idea what you are doing before you do it.
The second is to take the computer to a tech or contact the manufacturer. Hopefully, the tech support won’t tell you to clean your monitor screen and get out your restore disks and actually try to help you.
If your computer won’t boot, it’s a pain. I hope it is always something simple and remember not to panic. Always check the most obvious things first.