Computer hangs

[Danny Khong_1]

Hi People,
My pavilon 8863 just hangs with the HP logo display. The CD, mouse and the keyboard light a few times and then off. The 1.44 and the HDD does not even light up. The problem occurs very often. Have to wait for a few days then the PC works again but fails on the next switching on. Tried the RAM's connection but to no effect. Tried putting a bootable CD (1.44 no use) also no effect just stop after a few blinks. The HDD looks fine during those times when the PC managed to turn on but is it at fault randomly? Everything was fine if the PC managed to work. Please any advise. Thank you in advance.

[Allan Bowman]

Since it works after being off for a few days, it sounds like you have a heat related problem. Have you checked that the fan(s) are working and the airflow is not blocked? Another thing to look at could be the power supply - it may be on its way out.

Allan

** points are always welcome **

[Guy Humphreys]

Danny, I am not sure if this is a heat problem, normally CPUS cool down after a few minutes or so not days. When the PC is on how long does it last before it hangs?

I would also disconnect any superflous peripherals you have attached to see if it is any of them as well. Have you tried swapping out the RAM altogether?

cheers
G

[Stuart Whitby]

If it works again after some time, then it's either capacitor or heat related, and capacitor is pretty unlikely. Try removing the battery entirely and see if that makes a difference to the length of time it takes before it will come up again (doubtful, but worth a shot if it's charging some rogue capacitor).

Have you tried hitting it? Seriously - I had a similar problem at one point. Took my laptop, slammed it face down on the bed (was in a hotel room at the time), slammed it face up on the bed, then plugged it in again and it worked no problem until it was time for a replacement.

If this works entirely until you power down and switch on again, I'd recommend not shutting it down. Unless you need to move it, of course, and if it's a laptop, you've still got a decent chance that you won't need to shut down.

[Danny Khong_1]

Hi Guys,

Thanks a lot with your valued suggestions. The hanging is immediate upon switching on. Initially there is a blinking white underline cursor in black background then the CD blinks a few times then the HP logo display and then dead. Both 1.44 and HDD do not lighting up. I said a few days later it MAY work and that can be 7 or more days but if one to few days the same fault will happen. So wait as many days as I can as I have a second same model desktop PC to use. Had tried with another RAM from the 2nd PC - no result. The fan runs well and it is not hot at all. Is it the HDD unable to boot up? Will try the button battery. Will post whatever the outcome on this thread after trying all your suggestions.
By the way why the system gives me a red star when I am not an expert in this line? Again very much appreciate all your help. Please if you have more, post it.

Thank you very much
P.S. will give points later

[Ronald Postma · Accepted solution]

Hi Danny,
Irritating problem, it is hard to get your finger on the problem.
It my be an idea to run some diagnostics on your hardware, see what brand of HD you have in your system and surf to the manufacturer site and search for a testtool.

Futher when you open the case, clean the fans, try to blow as much dust out of the system as possibel. Look if you see any capasiters are damaged (are brown, or look different from others) If there are brown capasiters you have a faulty motherboard and it has to be replaced.

Have you tried bios reset? Remove the button-like battary from the motherboard and leave it out for 10 minutes. also disconnect the powercabel from the wall. Afterwards put the battary back. If theire realy is an hardware error, bios reset might result in that the logo may not appear at all.

Another thing you can try to run POST with the minimal hardware (POST is the part of the pc startup before windows loads) This means the only things that have to be connected to the motherboard are:
- memory
- processor anc cooler
- videocard
- powersupply
monitor and keyboard should also be connected to the pc, other hardware should be disconnected. printers, mouse, scanners, Harddisks, floppy drives, networkcards (if they are not onboard)

If you can go through the POST, you will get a message that no OS is found or disk boot failure and you can try adding hardware again and see where the problems appears again, add them one by one, start with HD and mouse if you can into windows.

If still no go, try to reset the Bios, remove the button-like battary again like discribed earlier.

Hope this can help you troubelshoot the problem, but it is possibel some hardware just died.

Have a nice day,
HTH, Ronald

[Helge Asmus]

already had this sort of problems a while ago on some PC's.
As a hint, I found these problems:
1 - Bad grounding on the PC or monitor side or on connected printers may cause the graphics card or peripheral interfaces to hang.
2 - a faulty reset circuit or otherwise slowly dying power supply that behaves like it's overloaded may lead to an unpredictable start of the system; this can be caused by a bad cap or a bad connection inside the p/s or a faulty power connector to the main board.
3 - a hard disk controller or cdrom controller or a loose power connection to these devices can cause the main board's bus to hang.
You wrote you have the same model twice, so you have the opportunity to exchange hard drives, cd drives, cards and the power supply between the two. This should be the easiest way to pinpoint the problem.
Hope this helps.
Helge Asmus.