Computer Help Please!!!

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

I recently bought a refurbished compaq. It has a windows xp operating system and was doing very nicely. Recently, it stopped booting up completely. I would see the normal compaq splash screen, but then instead of the windows xp loading screen coming on, I would get a blank screen and a blinking cursor int he upper left hand corner. I reformatted my hard drive and the problem still persists. The only way the computer boots up is if I leave the recovery disk in the cd-rom drive and boot from that. And that still isn't foolproof because the computer doesn't boot up every time doing that. Any idea on what could be causing this? I realize I can send it back to compaq, but I would prefer not to be without the computer for weeks at a time.

[MizzouRah]

Try unplugging anything you have plugged into the USB ports, then turn it on.


Todd

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

No dice :-(

Now my computer won't boot up again, looks like I will have to call the "friendly, knowledgeable" people at compaq.

Thanks for trying to help!

[Desnudo]

No dice :-(

Now my computer won't boot up again, looks like I will have to call the "friendly, knowledgeable" people at compaq.

Thanks for trying to help!

Possibly the problem?

SYMPTOMS
When you start your computer, you may see a blank screen with a white dot in the upper-left corner of the screen.
CAUSE
This issue may occur if you are using an Accelerated Graphic Port (AGP) video adapter but your AGP slot has not been configured to accept the video adapter.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810092

[MizzouRah]

Can you boot into safe mode? Hit the [F8] key after your turn your pc on.


Todd

[DanGarion]

Can you get to the BIOS?