How to Determine Why Your Computer Won't Start

Surely everyone has had trouble with a computer refusing to boot. While it can be a sign of a serious hardware problem, it's usually just a simple problem that you can fix yourself. With some basic troubleshooting knowledge, in most cases you'll be able to solve your Mac's startup problems as well as your Windows computer.

Windows computer does not start

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Check the power source. Make sure the power cord is securely plugged in.

Luigi Oppido

Computer Repair Technician & Owner, Pleasure Point Computers

Luigi Oppido is the owner and operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, CA. He has more than 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal and upgrades.

Luigi Oppido
Computer Repair Technician & Owner, Pleasure Point Computers

Our experts agree: First, you need to determine whether the computer is plugged in. Look for the indicator light or unplug it and test with another lighted device to make sure the power is still running. Computers are like cars - without fuel they won't run.

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Turn off the computer. Make sure all power cords are connected properly.

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Wait at least 10 seconds for the capacitor to fully discharge and turn off completely.

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Turn the computer back on. At this point, the computer has had enough time to turn off completely.

Computer freezes when starting up

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Turn off the computer again.

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Restart the device after 2 minutes.

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Select boot options.

In case the screen displays the 'Windows' logo and asks you to select a boot option, read the on-screen instructions carefully before making a selection.

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Restart the system in Safe Mode. Press F8 when the device boots. You will be placed into safe mode.

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Uninstall new software. Uninstall any software or drivers you recently installed or updated. Your problem will probably be automatically resolved.

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Turn on the computer and enter the BIOS. Find the cause of the problem. In case of overclocking, set FSB and vCore back to their original levels.

Click 'Exit and save changes' once the reset is complete.

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Open the case. To open the case, you just need to remove the screws on the back: they are located far away on the outer edge of the case.

Touch the metal part of the case before working with internal components to avoid electrostatic shock from damaging your computer.

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Remove and reinstall components.

Remove the RAM, graphics card, and cables connecting the CPU (Central Processing Unit) pins.

Remove the battery located near the bottom of the motherboard. Usually the battery is in a small bag with a lever at one end.

Wait a few minutes.

Reconnect each part.

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Plug in the power and restart the computer.

Do not perform steps 7 and 8 if you are not comfortable working with computer components. Otherwise, you might make things more confusing.

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Take the machine to a repair shop. If you're not confident with working on your computer or if you've tried every step and it still doesn't work, take your computer to a repair shop, describe the problem to the best of your ability, and let them handle it for you. .

Laptop running Windows does not start

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Check the power source.

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Check laptop charger. Make sure you are using the correct charger for your laptop.

Laptops often use 16-20V chargers. With a different voltage charger, the laptop may not be supplied with enough power to boot.

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Try using a backup charger to make sure the problem isn't from the charger you're using.

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Check laptop battery. Make sure the laptop still has battery power.

If the battery is low, plug in the charger and turn on the device.

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Turn off the laptop.

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Wait a few minutes then reboot.

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Disconnect peripheral devices. Disconnect any peripherals, including monitors, cameras, etc. From there, you can be sure that they are not the reason why the laptop cannot boot normally.

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Check if the screen is working or not. Make sure the laptop screen is still working. If the indicator light still works and you can still hear the sound of the hard drive or fan running but the screen does not display any image, the problem may actually be with the screen.

Sometimes, the screen inverter does not work, causing it to not display the image. In that case, you can replace this inverter.

Use an external monitor to check the laptop screen. Plug in the screen, turn it on, then immediately close the laptop. If the external monitor cannot connect to the device, the problem is not simply a broken screen.

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Take the machine to a repair shop. If you are not confident in operating your computer or have done all of the above steps but it still doesn't work, take your computer to a repair shop, use your ability to describe the problem and let them solve it for you. .

Mac computer won't start

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Check the power source. Make sure you are using the correct cord and charger.

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Disconnect peripheral devices.

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Check the newly installed software/hardware. Make sure your recent software and/or driver installations/updates have been performed correctly.

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Make sure the screen is still working. If your Mac is running but you can't access the screen, the problem is likely with the hardware responsible for the display or the screen itself.

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Run Disk Utility. For Macs running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later, you need to boot into OS X Recovery Mode.

Shutdown.

If the device freezes, press the power button for a few seconds. The Mac will automatically shut down.

Hold down the Command key and the R key. The system will be turned back on.

Click Disk Utility's built-in hard drive.

Click 'Verify Disk' and wait for the machine to execute the task.

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Start your Mac computer in safe mode. Turn off and restart the computer, holding down the Shift key during startup.

Hold down Shift, Command and V to enter Safe Boot and Verbose Mode (Boot mode displays details). Here, each Safe Boot step will be explained thoroughly.

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Reset SMC system manager. If the above steps don't work, you should probably reset your MAC's SMC. Apple provides detailed instructions for this task.

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Reinstall Mac OS X.

Boot in Recovery Mode and click to install Mavericks.

Next, follow the on-screen instructions until completed.

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Take the machine to a repair shop. If you are not confident with working with your computer or all of the above steps are ineffective, take your computer to a repair shop, use your ability to describe the problem and let them handle it for you.