Letter H scrolling down the left side of the screen after POST

[Milkman00]

I have been doing computer stuff for a long time, and this is a first for me.

I have a Toshiba laptop. It goes through all of the BIOS tests and when it starts to boot off of the hard drive, it scrolls the letter H in the left column until the end of time.

I have tried to boot to a memtest CD, and a Ultimate Boot CD, but unfortuantely the memtest locks up within 2 seconds of starting to run, and UBCD doesn't make it much past the boot selection screen.

I found ONE instance of someone else having this problem on Google, and he said it was his CPU. I found that rather hard to believe, but at this point I really didn't know what else it could be. I replaced the CPU and the problem is still there. I would appreciate any other ideas. The only other thing I can think of is that:

• The used CPU that I purchased has the same exact problem (unlikely)
• System board needs to be replaced.

What do you guys think?

 

[Ketchup]

If memtest is locking up, are you sure it's not a RAM issue? Albeit an odd one. If it starts with the hard drive load, almost sounds more like a virus though.

 

[John Connor]

Motherboard.

 

[xgsound]

If there is more than one memory stick you could try them one at a time, and exchange positions, to see if symptoms change. It would be nice (and lucky) to only need a memory stick.

Jim

 

[John Connor]

Milkman00, remove the RAM, Hard drive and optical drive. Remove the CMOS battery for five minutes then replace. See if you can boot without the peripherals.

 

[Milkman00]

I feel real stupid...

The problem was memory. It just didn't feel like a memory problem AT ALL. Did the stick elimination, and that was the problem.

VERY weird. Anyway thanks all for the help!

 

[xgsound]

It looks like you did get lucky! When I remember, I usually start troubleshooting with a memory check because it uses so little other resources and gives me one good starting point. Good news.

Jim