Computer boots, but screen stays unchanged on MSI logo

Ottobon

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Just wondering if anybody has any idea why my computer would boot but almost never gets past the initial MSI logo on my startup screen.

No idea what the problem could be, so any help would be great.

I have noticed sometimes laying the computer on its side (with video/sound cars laying on-top of the motherboard, motherboard flat on its back) it seems it will start.

Is it possibly just dust (lots of visible dust) or old age? Maybe the Power-supply is crapping out?

I may have changed something in the boot settings with a program called "Optimum XP," but that was a long time ago!

I don't know crap about computers so any real help would be great!


I hate leaving my computer on, but i think i might be until i can get some ideas as to whats wrong with my computer.


Sidenote:Theres three switches on the back of my power-supply, in order from top to bottom

A1
L2
M3

does that mean anything^^^? M3 is what its on now, not that it matters
 
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try flash ur bios, and also give your pc a good clean, and re-plug all the connectors firmly.. sometimes they just get loose or gather too much dust, can happen to old pcs. Just give it a good clean, as i doubt its a OS/BIOS problem. If it is then you need to reflash the bios and depending on how severe it is, you might have to format.

whats ur pc spec anyway? would be easier to help if you can tell us the spec.
 
That sounds like a possible HD problem.

I say this because you say it loads the Bios, then when it normally begins to load Windows it doesn't (meaning it doesn't find the HD and hence windows) and also because you said
I have noticed sometimes laying the computer on its side it seems it will start.
which points out it could possibly be the head of the disc.

Any chance the PC has been knocked about recently? Dropped or anything like that? I'm simply saying it could be a dud also.
 
if all else fails, try to repair your installation.
 
It sounds hard drive related to me too. That could be caused by either a bad connection or the hard drive itself. Watch what the IDE detection says as the computer boots up. If it's not autodetecting the HD, you've probably got a bad/loose plug somewhere. Also, listen carefully to the HD as you turn things on. Is it making noises you never noticed before? Can you even hear it spin up? That might give you some clues to the problem.
 
I'm guessing hard drive as well....
 
I'm not so sure. If the HDD turns out to be faulty there should be at least some sort of error message.

At least that was the case with the computers I owned so far. Do what has been stated obove (Set your BIOS back to fail safe settings).
I had sth. like that once which turned our to be caused by an USB device I had connected to the PC. Somehow it tried to boot of it which caused it to halt during boot.

Anyhow...Disconnect all the stuff you don't really need from your PC (Soundcard, Network card, spare HDD, TV Card etc.) And start it under the fail safe settings just with keyboard, monitor and mouse attached.
 
right now the side panel is off and its running fine for some reason.

I should elaborate that the computer actually loaded everything just fine, it got all the way to desktop and i could hear myself clicking on things (as well as the desktop opening sound) its just that the monitor would stay at the initial opening screen, and not more

My accessory drive was horrible fragmented, so i defraged that as well as my main drive, as well as ran various virus scans. Hopefully it will keep working.



I did knock it around! If i'm honest. I had a incident involving chlorine bleach mixed with oxyclean and i was having a heard time breathing (took in so much chlorine) anyways i wasn't thinking straight and i may have broken the plexiglass and cut my footup pretty bad while in my haze. However it was having issues before this.

I think for now anyways that it probably was a connection issue, as strangely putting the computer on its side (motherboard facing flat on its back) seems to work.


What is the BOIS option for not using the pretty startup screen???
 
^ Depends on the make. Look for a "splash screen", "Display Diagnostics", "Display POST" option in your BIOS; or something to that effect.
 
I'm not so sure. If the HDD turns out to be faulty there should be at least some sort of error message.

At least that was the case with the computers I owned so far.

In theory that should be the case. However, the last couple of computers I've seen with HDD problems didn't throw any errors. You can't rely on error messages to tell you if/what is wrong. My own computer was having similar problems as Ottobon's a couple of weeks ago. It would post and try to load windows and then stall. Sometimes it would boot but then only slowly. A quick hard drive swap and everything is back to normal now.
 
If you can actually get it stable in Windows long enough, download and run SpeedFan, so you can check SMART on the HDD. Run the online analysis tool, it'll tell you if anything fishy is up with the drive.

Provided your chipset is supported, you'll be able to check voltages and temperatures, as well.

SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
 
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