Computer Repair Help

Name: Bill Phillips

Turn it on, the screen runs for 20 sec. and freezes.

It’s a good possibility that your CPU’s heatsink has come undone or loose. Once the processor gets past a certian temperature then it no longer functions properly and it will cause all kinds of errors; most commonly what your describing. However, the BIOS should turn off the computer when it detects temps too high, so perhaps that is not the issue.

Disconnect everything extra hooked up to the computer. EG: Printers, your iPod, webcams, etc. Sometimes a USB device (especially ones with storage capacity) interferes with the boot process because the BIOS sees that device and tries to boot from it.

I’ve even had an HP printer cause a machine to hang while booting. You’d turn on the computer, and it’d hang after several seconds just as it was about to load Windows XP. If you unplugged the printer’s cord, then it would resume booting as if nothing had happened.