Help, computer wont post

[gizbug]

Was running Windows XP SP2. Got a blue screen, something with a sys... file
Was performing a physical memory dump. Accidently shut down the machine. Now when I start up the machine, I get a blank screen (monitor still has power), no beeps, and the hard drive light stays lite up, and nothing happens. No idea what happened. Any suggestions or things to try???

 

[Seekermeister]

The only thing t hat I can think of, is to treat it the way that i would if there were no BSOD or shutdown involved. The full process of elimination is to first check the power supply with a tester. If good, remove the motherboard with the CPU w/HSF. Lay it on a nonconductive surface, install the video card and one stick of ram, connect it to the PS and monitor and short across the power pins on the motherboard. If it still doesn't post, swap monitor, video card and ram, if possible with known good items. If nothing works yet, then the motherboard is the problem.

EDIT: This is assuming that the screen is black from power on. If black after the bios screens, then it is more likely a OS problem...try running chkdsk /f from the recovery console.

 

[gizbug]

Wondering if something happened to the HD?

I swapped the HD cable, and it loaded up, but stopped at Verifying DMI on boot
I rebooted, and same issue now. Wondering if installing a new HD will solve the issue (making me want to go buy a mac...........)

 

[gizbug]

bump

 

[PianoMan]

Your computer was running fine before the BSOD, correct? How old is the computer and hard drive? Do you remember what name the offending system file was?

Could be a number of things, but if you have a HD available somewhere, you could swap it out and see if that's the problem. The BIOS screen still identified it at boot, right?

PM

 

[gizbug]

I got it to post, it loaded into xp, then just shut down. It was a sys somthing dot something file. Not sure which it was. I am trying to clear the cmos now, and will try to boot up without any hds attached.
It is a gigabyte 8inxp Motherboard, so its got a few years on it. I have a brand new HD that i haven't installed yet. Not sure if its the hd, if the computer isn't evening beeping / posting on bootup. It did once today, and above I explained what happened. since then, nothing. Want to get in and back my stuff up.

 

[dev0lution]

Will it boot from your OS cd? If so, might want to spend some time in the recovery console running chkdsk or swapping out the HDD as others mentioned...

 

[ElTee]

I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago. System crashed and upon reboot I heard the fans working, monitor light came on and then went off again and nothing happend. It turned out both the mainboard and the CPU nedded to be replaced.