How can I troubleshoot boot and shutdown problems on my old laptop?

[mech-eng]

my old laptop has broken down.there are problems with booting.when I pushed power button its led
lights light up but it doesn't boot.after a few trying it seem to boot but while booting it shuts down.
after another trying it boots at last but this time whenever I pluged out the cable it shuts down againg i.e it doesnot work with battery.I asked some people.they think that there might be problems
with advanced bios configurations.how can fix that problem.are there sources such as books aiming
computer bioses?

 

[jedishrfu]

my old laptop has broken down.there are problems with booting.when I pushed power button its led
lights light up but it doesn't boot.after a few trying it seem to boot but while booting it shuts down.
after another trying it boots at last but this time whenever I pluged out the cable it shuts down againg i.e it doesnot work with battery.I asked some people.they think that there might be problems
with advanced bios configurations.how can fix that problem.are there sources such as books aiming
computer bioses?

First, I'd get a new computer, you have a bad battery and it appears that the machine and its disks need to be warmed up before it finally boots. Why risk it rebooting when you're writing a paper or doing some important work on it?

 

[mech-eng]

First, I'd get a new computer, you have a bad battery and it appears that the machine and its disks need to be warmed up before it finally boots. Why risk it rebooting when you're writing a paper or doing some important work on it?

I don't think it is about warming up.Because it was working very well.there might be sth different. computer service said that its mainboard broken down. but I must search for solutions.do you know how can I go back to default bios configurations and and configure the page files of computer? a book telling this subjects? and meanwhile why does it colds down when I pluged out the battery and service tried another battery so battery is normal.

 

[jedishrfu]

I don't think it is about warming up.Because it was working very well.there might be sth different. computer service said that its mainboard broken down. but I must search for solutions.do you know how can I go back to default bios configurations and and configure the page files of computer? a book telling this subjects? and meanwhile why does it colds down when I pluged out the battery and service tried another battery so battery is normal.

I would search the web for info on your computer. Other users may have experienced similar issues. I wouldn't just jump in and start changing the bios settings especially on a machine that used to work just fine. Each computer model is different so you should include that in your search.

You haven't said what make or model you have nor what OS it is running. Chances are no one here will have that machine but you can still ask.

 

[SteamKing]

If your laptop is old, it could be your start/stop issue is related to cooling problems in your processor. Most of the Intel series CPUs (and probably AMD models) are designed to shut down if the core temperatures rise too high. One possible cause of overheating of the CPU could be a breakdown in the thermal interface compound applied between the processor package and the heat sink or fan used to cool the processor during operation. After several years, the thermal interface compound dries out and is no longer effective in transmitting heat from the processor to the heat sink. Most people don't encounter this problem if they upgrade to a new computer every couple of years, but it can be a problem in older systems kept in continuous operation.

 

[AlephZero]

Computer disks are mechanical devices, and they don't last for ever. This sort of intermittent problem suggests yours is close to death. If you can hear any repeated "clicking" noises while it is trying to boot from the disk, that definitely suggests it is heading for the great recycle bin in the sky.

If you have a bootable CD or DVD (e.g. the media to install a copy of your operating system, or a different OS like Linux), see if the computer will boot up and run from that, if you don't try to access its internal disk. That would tend to confirm whether or not the disk is failing.

I hope you already have a backup of any important data on there, because a legitimate data recovery company will probably charge you more than the cost of a new computer to retrieve it. The high cost is basically because they have to repair the mechanics of your disk in a clean-room environment before they can attempt to read it.

Don't be tempted to play with "free data recovery" software from the web. It's quite likely it will just do more damage.

 

[mech-eng]

now , it became worse.only led lamps lights up , it doesn't boot.

 

[Routaran]

Do you see your BIOS splash screen?
Something like this: http://goo.gl/2PfNwy

If you see something similar, that means your computer is passing all the initial tests and failing when the boot processes is being handed to the OS. This is usually indicative of a problem like OS corruption or hard drive failure.

If you are not seeing the splash screen, then the problem may be hardware related (motherboard, psu, etc)

Given that you have been playing with the BIOS settings, first step i would suggest is to Reset to BIOS defaults, generally speaking, you should never need to change any settings in the BIOS unless you're making some hardware changes on the system. Even in those cases, the BIOS generally auto-configures.
If you can see the splash screen, then it should tell you how to enter the BIOS (some keystroke like esc or F2 or something)
Once you're into the BIOS, again, it should explicitly tell you how to reset to default settings (again, another key stroke like F10 or F12 or something) once you have reset, save and exit. Test to see what happens.
I'll echo AlephZero here
If you still cannot boot from the hard drive, then try booting from a CD like your windows installation disk or a Linux liveCD
If booting from a CD works, then the problem is either the hard drive (physically defective) or data corruption. Easiest first step is to run a check disk (chkdsk) It can repair a host of problems with hard drives.
Do not use any free data recovery software, like Aleph said. It will most likely be spyware and do more damage.

Let us know what you are able to do from the above steps. It will give us an idea of what is wrong.

 

[jedishrfu]

There are also beep codes that can indicate the type of failure you experienced. These vary from machine to machine but can usually be found on the web.

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

 

[AlephZero]

The diagnostic messages (whether on screen or by beeps) during startup are notoriously unhelpful. One of the better ones was the old Microsoft DOS message: "Keyboard not connected or not working. Press F1 to continue".

If the computer can recognize that there is a hard disk connected, but the disk itself is faulty, the most likely situation is that the first command sent to the disk is "reset" or something similar. That switches the disk access light on. The computer then waits for ever for the faulty disk to send back a message saying either "OK, done that" or "Oops, failed".