Why won't my laptop boot up?

Question

I have an Asus laptop, about 2 and a half years old. It's is always plugged in so, even though i use the power cord, the battery is always fully charged. I booted up this afternoon and a few minutes later it froze completely so i had to do a hard shutdown. When i tried to boot it up again, the power light came on and the hard drive made its usual clicking sound it makes when its booting, but a couple seconds later everything shut off. A couple seconds after that the lights turned back on but the hard drive made no noise and the screen stayed black. I tried booting it a few more times and the same thing happens. Am i right to assume it's a hard drive problem since the power is fine?

Please don't tell me to reboot and go into the BIOS or try other things. Like i said, the power light comes on but nothing happens. It will NOT boot at ALL.

I've already said i can't get into the BIOS. It only tries to boot for a couple seconds (literally) and then shuts off. It doesn't stay on long enough for me to attempt to get in. The couple times it did stay on longer, it just froze a few seconds later.

Answer 1

Can you get into the BIOS? If so and there is no hard drive listed, then your drive is toast. Also a bad system board can have the same symptoms.

Answer 2

No Boot Devices found

If the System stops with 'No boot device found' error, the issue might due to any of the following:

1. Boot files of the OS is corrupted.

2. Hard Drive is damaged/not detected.

Here are the steps to troubleshoot the issue:

Step 1:

Note: In Desktop Computers it will happen if the any floppy disk or CD is inserted in the drive and set as first boot device.

Restart the NB and Reset the BIOS. Check if the Hard Drive is detected in the BIOS. If it is detected in BIOS, save changes and exit, and try booting. If it is not detected, then try HDD Test. Latest Model NBs have HDD Self Test Utility in BIOS. For the Older Models, you can use the Hitachi test Utility.

The Drive Fitness utility available at this link to test the hard drive:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

Please refer this link for the detailed instructions for downloading the Drive Fitness Utility:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/dftreadme.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

For using Bootable CD:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

NOTE: Burn the ISO image in the CD, and boot the Presario with that CD to perform the Hard Disk Test. The detailed instructions are available in the manual available at the same link. Please download it and follow the instructions.

Step 2:

If the HDD is detected fine, but the system is not booting, then try to start the NB in Safe Mode. If it boots in Safe Mode or gets up to Startup Menu Screen, try the Last Known Good Configuration and System Restore.

Step 3:

If Step 2 fails to work, try Windows XP Repair Installation. If that too fails, then perform a full system restore.
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Disk boot failure, Insert System Disk

If the System prompts "Disk boot failure, Insert System Disk" error message, the hard drive might be defective. To resolve the issue, please follow these steps:

Restart the NB and Reset the BIOS. Check if the Hard Drive is detected in the BIOS. If it is detected in BIOS, save changes and exit, and try booting. If it is not detected, then try HDD Test. Latest Model NBs have HDD Self Test Utility in BIOS. For the Older Models, you can use the Hitachi test Utility.

The Drive Fitness utility available at this link to test the hard drive:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

Please refer this link for the detailed instructions for downloading the Drive Fitness Utility:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/dftreadme.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

For using Bootable CD:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

NOTE: Burn the ISO image in the CD, and boot the Presario with that CD to perform the Hard Disk Test. The detailed instructions are available in the manual available at the same link. Please download it and follow the instructions.

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System hangs with blank screen and cursor

If the System Hangs with Blank Cursor, then the issue might due to any of the following:

1. Boot files of the OS is corrupted.

2. Hard Drive is damaged/not detected.

Here are the steps to troubleshoot the issue:

Step 1:

Restart the NB and Reset the BIOS. Check if the Hard Drive is detected in the BIOS. If it is detected in BIOS, save changes and exit, and try booting. If it is not detected, then try HDD Test. Latest Model NBs have HDD Self Test Utility in BIOS. For the Older Models, you can use the Hitachi test Utility.

The Drive Fitness utility available at this link to test the hard drive:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

Please refer this link for the detailed instructions for downloading the Drive Fitness Utility:

http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/dftreadme.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

For using Bootable CD:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

NOTE: The URL mentioned above will take you to a non HP Website. HP does not control and is not responsible for information outside of the HP Web site.

NOTE: Burn the ISO image in the CD, and boot the Presario with that CD to perform the Hard Disk Test. The detailed instructions are available in the manual available at the same link. Please download it and follow the instructions.

Step 2:

If the HDD is detected fine, but the system is not booting, then try to start the NB in Safe Mode. If it boots in Safe Mode or gets up to Startup Menu Screen, try the Last Known Good Configuration and System Restore.

Step 3:

If Step 2 fails to work, try Windows XP Repair Installation. If that too fails, then perform a full system restore.


Good Luck and Happy Browsing...............................