My computer doesn’t turn on

When you turn on the computer, there is no power. No lights come on – nothing happens.

What to look for:

Make sure that the computer and the monitor are turned on (there will be a light on in the power button).

Check the cables attached to the back of your computer. Make sure the power cable is securely plugged into the computer. If it is only the monitor that will not power up, make sure that the power cable to the monitor is securely plugged into the back of the monitor.

Check the other end of the power cables to make sure that they are plugged securely into a wall outlet or power surge protector. Make sure that power surge protector is turned on and working. If it looks good try different outlet (sometimes a surge strip will have good and bad outlets)

If you have checked all of the above, and there is still no power to your computer or your monitor, call your computer technician. Explain the steps you have taken to try to eliminate the problem.

The Light On The Monitor Comes On, But There Is Nothing Showing On The Screen

What to look for:

Check the cable that runs from the back of the monitor to the computer. Make sure it is securely connected to the computer, and that the screws are tightened.

Visually verifying the connection only where it connects to the wall is not good enough! Cords that appear plugged in are often loose. Make sure to push the power plug firmly into the power socket.

If you have checked this, call your computer technician. Explain that you have checked the cable.

The computer starts up in "safe mode"

At times your computer could develop a problem which causes it to boot up in what is called "safe mode". The easiest way to try to solve this problem is to run a "scandisk".

1. Click on Start, My Computer

2. Right click on Local Drive (C), Properties, Tools tab, Error checking

3. Check  "Automatically fix errors" and “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors”

4. In order for scandisk to run you will be required to reboot your computer. After the process is completed reboot the computer again and see if this fixed the problem.

5. After restarting the computer, click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Disk Defragmenter. If you receive the message "You don't need to defragment this drive now", continue with the process anyway.

5. When Disk Defragmenter is finished, reboot your computer to see if this fixed the problem.

6. If the computer still starts up in safe mode, you need to contact a computer technician.

The computer locks up / freezes

If you encounter a hang, do not get frustrated and immediately turn off your computer. This action will almost always result in the loss of all unsaved work and could even damage your critical Windows files. Often you can still access the Close Program dialog box, which allows you to shut down the unresponsive program to return control of the computer to Windows XP and at least save your work.

If the computer is frozen and will not respond to any commands, it may be necessary to press Ctrl + Alt + Del (all three keys at the same time) and bring up the Task List by clicking on Task Manager button. Select any program that says "Not responding" and click the End Task button. Repeat until all non-responding tasks are ended. If this does not work, turn the computer off, wait several seconds, turn the computer back on.

Reboot it. A majority of problems that occur while you are using your computer can be fixed by rebooting. Applications sometimes don’t release memory like they should when they are finished. The end result is your computer locks up. When you reboot, memory registers are cleared and most everything is reset. This fixes a lot of problems.

Note: It doesn't hurt a computer to leave it running all the time. However, using the computer for long periods of time causes small problems that can build into larger ones. When Windows reboots, it fixes most of these small problems. Therefore, restarting the computer periodically while working can help reduce the risk of glitches.