What's wrong with my laptop?

Hey, I know this probably isn't the best forum in the world for this question but I have no computer at the moment and I'm too tired to search for other forums. My computer was running fine before and then I got the blue screen of death and it turned off before I could get the error message. It has power now but just doesn't do anything but show a black screen.

I took the the hdd out and turned it on, took the ram out and tried to hit the bios key, still nothing. I suspect it's the harddrive but before I run off and purchase a new one I want to have some ideas of what else it could be.

I'm pretty keen to get it fixed before it's mid semester and I have heaps of assignments to do. It's pretty difficult to drive to the uni to do them cause it's 45 min away. Anyway enough of my 1st world problems. Anyone have any ideas?

cheers

Before you go out and buy new hardware unnecessarily, have you tried doing a repair with your Windows disk?

you might also try to reset the bios to default. maybe something screwed up there

Well it just a blue screen error, probably to do with the memory or any related hardware.. see a technician and probably taking the hardware out and putting it back will solve the problem else you might need a replacement.

Taking out the hard drive and trying to power it on was a good first step.

With the RAM though, here is the thing: the computer needs at least some RAM in order to do anything, even go to BIOS setup screen. So, if you take out all of the RAM, well, a black screen with nothing is to be expected, actually.

What you really need to do to test the RAM is this: if you have multiple sticks, take all of them out first, the try each stick by itself and see what happens (place it in either DIMM slot 0 or A, depending on your manufacturer). If still no luck, then try borrowing a stick from a computer that you know is in working condition and see what happens. If everything seems to work in that case, the you know that you have to suck it up and go buy some new memory.

However, if after all of that you still are no closer to figuring things out, well, then the problem may be beyond your capabilities to rectify. Consider sending it back to the manufacturer for service. ESPECIALLY if it is one of the new-ish Samsung Ultrabooks.... If it is one of those, you have probably somehow corrupted your NVRAM because of Samsung's buggy UEFI implementation, and your machine is very much a brick until you can send it back to them for service.

In ~80% of PC failures I witnessed, it was the power supply to blame.
Try to insert another power supply if you have one.

I will try the ram individually. I don't have a spake power supply cUse it's a laptop and I couldn't even tell you what that looks like? I think it's the HDD cause there is some dumb picture on the front that I think is supposed to be a storage symbol an the light above it is off.

I nearly have have a degree in ICT so not being able to figure it out is embarrassing. Does anyone know if any 3.5 inch hard drive will fit any laptop?

Do you see the bios when you turn the computer on? If not then it is most likely the video card.

Edit:
And since it's laptop it's most likely the mainboard. Prepare to buy a new computer.

Jeff Bezos said:

I don't have a spake power supply cUse it's a laptop and I couldn't even tell you what that looks like?

Click to expand...

You didnt mention it was a laptop. Its definitely not the power supply then.
Edit: You did in the title, my bad.

It could be the battery. Try taking out the battery and running it on cable only. Another thing - run memtest to see if you have any faulty RAM sticks.

It's getting power an how do you suppose I run memtest? That light is the HDD light an it should flash but it's solid off.

What exactly happens when you press the power button? Anything at all?

timmey said:

What exactly happens when you press the power button? Anything at all?

Click to expand...

Can you please answer to this question so we can see what exactly is happening out there? Please mention the led lights that stay on/blinking and also tell how many beep codes you hear if any..

Yeah the power light comes on and the hard drive makes some noise but then nothing. The power light is the only LED on an 0 beeps.

99% it's the motherboard. Are you able to plugin your harddrive into another computer so you can see if it's working and at least create a backup?

Jeff Bezos said:

Yeah the power light comes on and the hard drive makes some noise but then nothing. The power light is the only LED on an 0 beeps.

Click to expand...

Is the CPU fan spinning?

look like a ram issue.

but it could be windows/hard drive too.

FBGuru said:

Is the CPU fan spinning?

Click to expand...

If the hard drive makes noise it's obvious that the fans are working.

It would be the hard drive's fault if the OS was not starting. If the screen does not even show the bios then it is the motherboard's fault. The price for a new motherboard is close to a price for a new laptop.

You are giving us only partial information, and many people here aren't helping.

With blue screens, it is usually a hardware failure or a memory error. If it is a hard drive error, pulling the harddrive and turning it on will tell you. If the computer boots (The point above about putting the memory back is critical, without it you have a paperweight) and goes thru the POST (power on self test) it will stop at the point it cannot find hard drive and tell you this.

If the laptop will boot like this the hard drive is the problem. If your laptop still blue screens, you probably have a memory malfunction. This bad memory can be the memory stick, the video memory, or the chip cache. The odds are against the cache chip or video mem having probs. Suspect the RAM

Almost all quality laptops have a test partition, and you can enter it thru the boot screen by pressing tha appropriate key. This test partition will test the entire laptop and tell you the results. If your computer has one, use it. It will not hurt anything if you have the hard drive out. If the hard drive is still in the laptop, dont do any write tests.

If this testing does not show a problem, put the hard drive in and try to boot. If it blue screens, write down the error. If it is an "Unrecoverable boot volume" you might be able to fix it by running checkdisk.

Even if the hard drive causes a blue screen the data is probably still be there. It is imperative that you hook this hard drive to a different computer and copy all the stuff you need. Remember to go into each users account and grab the "Program data" folder if you have win7.

You can hook the hard drive to any computer via USB with an adapter that you can get for $10.

You also said the hard drive is making noise. If you are hearing a whirring noise, all is probably ok, but if it if clicking, it is either dead or dying. Grab anything you can get off it now if it is clicking and you still can.

If it is clicking and you cannot get anything off it, wrap it in foil and put it into the freezer for two hours. The cold will cause the metal to contract, and it will "tighten" the drive. If the read/write heads are misaligned slightly (which may be causing the clicking), this will usually pull them back into place.

The harder the clicking if it is present, the worse off your data is.

IF there is dust buildup on the Motherboard where memory connects, or in other connections, it can cause blue screens too.

Long shot, but does your laptop have a removable video card?