PC won't boot up

So, I’ve been dealing with this high-end PC that’s been getting progressively slower and more sluggish over the years, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, it just refuses to boot up entirely. Now, when I hit the power button, I get that standard single beep, but that’s it—nothing else happens, just a completely black screen on my monitor.
I'm trying to figure out what the hell is actually going on here and if there's any way I can fix this mess myself without calling a technician.

It could be anything from the RAM to the power supply or even the motherboard. If you don't have any spare parts lying around at home to test with—which, let's be honest, most of us don't—you might just want to drop it off at a local repair shop.

Let’s be real—if you just sat there watching a perfectly good PC get slower and slower until it finally kicked the bucket, there isn't much you could have done yourself. Honestly, the smartest move would have been exactly what Larry Ortiz5 suggested—just take it to a repair shop...

Did you manage to get it fixed?
It’s most likely that your motherboard gave out on you.

So, I have a bit of a situation on my hands... Before the season kicked off, I was planning to grab an external hard drive to back up all those important folders. My laptop has been acting up lately—it’s having some major power issues where it won't charge the battery, and honestly, it barely functions without being plugged in constantly. Anyway, I ended up leaving the drive sitting untouched for about two months. I went to plug it in today, hoping to finally get organized, but it just won't boot up at all. It's not like I have critical business documents on there, but I do have a bunch of photos that aren't backed up on any thumb drives or cloud storage, and I really want to get to them. Does anyone know how I might be able to recover those?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Mega using Reddit

Have you ever tried turning on your laptop without the battery—just running it directly off the power adapter?

If you happen to have a multimeter lying around, you might want to check the voltage on your power adapter. It should be pushing out a steady 19V—or whatever is specified on the label, anyway. If the voltage starts dipping, then yeah, you definitely need a new charger.



Alternatively—and this is often easier—you can just pull the hard drive out, plug it into a desktop PC, and move your files over that way.



To get that hard drive out of your laptop, you'll just need to pop off the bottom panel—look for the one marked "HDD" or featuring a little icon of a drive. Just to be safe, I'd recommend pulling the battery first, even if it’s likely already dead. Once you unscrew everything holding it in place, just unplug those two cables. Keep in mind that the drive from a laptop is going to be smaller than the ones you find in a standard desktop tower, but don't worry—the connectors are compatible. You can hook it up to your computer just like they show in the video. Oh, and make sure the desktop is unplugged from the wall before you start! You don't even have to install it inside the case; you can just let it sit on your desk while you work, though try not to fiddle with it too much (especially while it's spinning).

If it won't charge with the battery in or out, there are only two possibilities:

Broken charger. They aren't exactly breaking the bank, though.
Faulty charging port. Sometimes you get a terminal failure that just isn't worth the headache because the port is usually soldered directly onto the motherboard. If the connector is ripped right off, you're basically looking at a paperweight. There's not much you can do at that point.

It would be helpful if you actually specified which laptop model you're using. Some models pop open pretty easily—like Jonathan Mendoza17 mentioned—while others are a total nightmare to get into. Also, you really need to check if the device is still under warranty. If it is, don't touch a single thing, or you'll end up voiding that coverage entirely. Honestly, if you aren't sure or can't pull off what Jonathan Mendoza17 is suggesting, just take it to a repair shop. They'll handle it.

First step: if you know someone running the same laptop, see if you can borrow their charger. Try to get the battery topped off and see if the thing will actually boot. Just make sure the charger is an exact match so you don't end up frying the motherboard.

Thanks so much to everyone for the help and all those solid tips. The warranty actually expired at the start of the year.
I ended up picking up a brand-new charger earlier this year because the cable on my old one was starting to fray. I’ve already tried charging it both ways—with the battery in and without it—but absolutely nothing happens. We're going to try that suggestion about disconnecting it from the laptop internals next; I'm really hoping we can pull it off.

Sent from my GT-I9195 via Reddit

Don't hold your breath, it just has to work. Your hard drive is still untouched inside the laptop... It’s just a shame if we can't get the machine running again...

Austin Mendoza35 said:So, I’ve got this really solid PC, right? But lately, it’s just been getting slower and slower, and then suddenly, until just recently, it flat-out refused to boot up. Like, when I hit the power button, I hear that standard little beep sound from the tower, but then nothing—just a total black screen on my monitor.
I was wondering if anyone knows what might be wrong or if there's any way I could actually fix it myself?

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

Let me know which one of those fits your situation, and maybe we can figure out what to do next...