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PC shows black screen when trying start

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Hetti

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Posted January 30, 2013 at 7:08PM

My brother was watching a video clip on his 6/7 year old PC (running Win XP, the clip started buffering (I think that's the correct term) then everything went of, he tried to start the PC up again and got a series of rapid beeps about 8/10 then the black screen.

Its not the monitor ,as he connected that to a different PC and that was OK. Any suggestions appreciated as the PC he has setup now takes about a week to change pages,really painfully slow as it was a cheapie with low spec and it is also old too.

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted March 7, 2013 at 4:05PM

Unlikely that reinstalling windows will help as beeps are symptomns of a hardware problem such as memory / graphics card.

It might simply be cured by a removal and refit of both memory and graphics card as they can work loose overtime due to expansion and contraction as the machine meats up during use and cools off when shut down.

The graphics card is where your monitor cable plugs in at the back of the PC - undo cable remove side panel screws at rear and slide panel rerwards to remove - undo screw that holds graphics card down at rear of PC - disconnect any power leads that might be fitted to the card - wriggle the card slightly as you pull it up - refitting is just he opposite, making sure the card is firmly pressed into the slot.

Memory pics

How to fit a graphics card

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Chronos the 2nd

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Posted March 7, 2013 at 4:20PM

Can I add a little more to Fruit Bat's post? Most graphics card slots usually have a small catch at the rear or the slot. This will need to be moved. Unfortunately all catches are not the same. They can be pushed or pulled to the side or pushed downwards. They do not require much pressure so try each way.

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Hetti

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Posted March 7, 2013 at 4:23PM

Chronus the 2nd I will ask him when he gets in later when he described them previously he said a series of rapid beeps about ten of them,I can only speak to him on the phone that coupled with the fact neither of us know much about PCs makes this differ cult. I had thought to visit him next week to try a reinstall of windows' so maybe I could TRY to look at the memory and graphics to see if there have to be reseated.

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Ian in Northampton

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Posted March 7, 2013 at 5:11PM

As others have said: if it's beeps and a black screen, a Windows reinstall ain't gonna fix it. It's 99% certainly hardware-related.

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