It’s a terrible feeling. You go to turn on your computer and it either won’t power up or you’re treated to a boot menu and nothing more. It’s a paralyzing feeling, especially for those who know little about computers and find technology daunting in general. Whether your computer is prone to being on the fritz or it’s the first time you’ve ever had a problem, your instinct is the same: oh crap. If you can’t seem to boot up your computer, consider the following possible causes. It’s conceivable that the issue can be resolved on your own.
- There may be something in your drives. Booting up your system with a floppy disk or CD in one of the drives can confuse the computer and cause startup problems. The computer tries to boot from the floppy or CD, and it obviously cannot. Try removing the disks and restarting your computer.
- Hibernation mode may have frozen your system. When computers are left alone and powered on for a length of time, they often proceed to a hibernation mode. This is done to save energy. Sometimes, though, this hibernation mode can cause the computer to freeze when the user attempts to jolt it awake. Turn off the computer and try rebooting. If it still doesn’t boot, turn it back off and let the system sit in that state for a couple hours. You can also try “ctrl + alt + delete” on PCs to shut down.
- The hard drive may be malfunctioning. If, when you’re trying to start the system, you hear what sounds like crunching and spinning within your computer tower, your hard drive may be dying. Hard drives can become overworked for various reasons. If you suspect a hard drive crash, contact a professional.
- Information may be corrupting your system. Sometimes computers can’t boot because of a virus. If you do suspect a virus, turn off the computer using the “shut down” option and leave the computer be for an extended period of time. This allows the random-access memory to reset and start fresh when you do reboot the system.