Have you tried replacing the CMOS battery? It's an old computer, and they can die after just a few years. The BIOS will detect the drive fine, but after you shut down for any period of time the settings will be lost and it could cause the symptoms you describe. If the PC is plugged into a power strip, don't shut the strip down. Plug the PC into the wall so the source of power to the battery won't be lost. That might temporarily help, but replacing the battery is a cheap fix to try (like $6 at Walmart).
Also try booting into Safe Mode by tapping F8 during boot. When it froze after you installed XP it could be that you've got a bad device driver. Safe Mode will only load necessary drivers - so give it a shot to find what device is bad maybe. Also, it sure sounds like you could have something loose. I know you checked the cables. But try re-seating any PCI cards and double-checking cable connections. Another thing is heat. Are the fans all clear of dust (especially the CPU fan)? Heat can randomly cause freeze ups like you describe, but if all fans are working it might not be a heat issue. Good luck, Donk On 9/29/2010 12:55 PM, kevin19_89 wrote: > its an older computer, i built for my grandma, and she doesnt know much > about computers. she called me and said that her computer wouldnt come on. i > go up there and when she presses power the HP logo comes up then it goes on > and the screen is black with a white dot flashing top left corner. > > i noticed then her hard drive wasnt being detected so i replaced her hard > drive and got xp installed and then i got her logged in. i restarted it and > then it froze when loading at the xp screen (just kept going over and over > and not going to login screen). i restarted again and it just gives me a > black screen with a white dash or dot flashing top left corner of her monitor > again and wont go past there. > > i checked her ram to make sure it was good, hard drive was a spare one so > it was working. CMOS detects it right, i know i can format and read and write > to it so its good. i know a power supply will screw around with you and make > you think its something else and put another power supply in it same thing. > wont boot up. what else would yall think it could possibly be? > > (checked jumpers made sure data cable was in good cd roms are set on seperate > cable and it is set as single drive.) > > > > ------------------------------------ > > If you have any questions or problems with any aspect of this site, please > feel free to contact me directly [email protected] Please do not post > personal issues directly to the group. > > To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to > [email protected] > > Thank you for using A-1 Computer TechYahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > Internal Virus Database is out of date. > Checked by AVG - www.avg.com > Version: 8.5.426 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3130 - Release Date: 09/12/10 > 06:34:00 > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ If you have any questions or problems with any aspect of this site, please feel free to contact me directly [email protected] Please do not post personal issues directly to the group. To unsubscribe from this list, send an email to [email protected] Thank you for using A-1 Computer TechYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-1-Computer_Tech/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-1-Computer_Tech/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
