# Weird Symbols when booting up! Now PC is unable to boot up! Please Help!



## landerchin (Jul 15, 2010)

*PC cannot not boot up, Weird Symbols when booting up! Please Help!*

Hi! First of all, Im from Singapore and using a HP Pavilion s380d Home PC.

Recently it has been running into a lot of problems and I restored the PC to its original factory condition using System Restore and then re-installed some basic programs like MS Office that was previously installed and it ran fine. 

However today, as I was playing Warcraft III on Garena, my PC restarted by itself and once I logged into my User account, it just hanged there and did not respond. I had no choice but to turn off the power and reboot it.

After rebooting, and showing the blue screen with the HP logo that always comes out when turning on the computer, it went to a black screen with a underscore at the top left hand corner. Then weird symbols started to run through my screen continuously. I just left it to run and after a few minutes it stopped and the screen showed the same few weird symbols and now some were orange and some were white. Ive never seen these symbols before and they looked really weird. Some were like squarish smiley faces and some looked like spades and some were just unrecognizable. 

After that, I turned off the power, made sure all my plugs were connected properly. I turned on the PC yet again and this time My CPU showed a blue light, indicating it was on, but the light on my monitor was still orange, indicating it was on but did not detect any input. I made sure everything was connected but just could not get it to work. However, I noted that my CPU produced lesser noise as it usually does when the computer is running properly. Tried turning off and on the power switch many times but my computer is still in the same state. Please Help! Im at a loss here!

(Using my old laptop to type this as my computer is totally unable to function)

I have no idea whats wrong, whether its a virus or a hardware problem or something else. Im only around 17 and really need my computer for work! Someone please help!  Would really appreciate it! Thanks! 

Specs of my Spoilt Computer:

Model No: s3680d (HP)
OS: Windows Vista 32bit
Intel Core2Duo Processor E7200 2.53GHz
3GB RAM
320GB SATA 3G Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GE 3D
NVIDIA GeForce 7100 Chipset
SuperMulti Drive with LightScribe Technology

These are all the specs I can find at the moment.. If there are any other important details needed please tell me so I can try to find it out! Thanks! Any solutions are really appreciated!


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## landerchin (Jul 15, 2010)

Someone Please Help?  Really need it!


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## speedster123 (Oct 18, 2006)

> I was playing Warcraft III on Garena, my PC restarted by itself


On an HP, this might have taken the power supply out. I would try another, with the hopes nothing else is ruined.


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## landerchin (Jul 15, 2010)

speedster123 said:


> On an HP, this might have taken the power supply out. I would try another, with the hopes nothing else is ruined.


Hmm..Ive tried using a different power supply but it still doesnt seem to work  The problem still persists. Could it be something wrong with the motherboard?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

If it was the PSU then the original may have burned it all out.


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## landerchin (Jul 15, 2010)

ebackhus said:


> If it was the PSU then the original may have burned it all out.


Is there anyway to find out what exactly is wrong with my computer?


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## head_space (Jul 19, 2010)

When faced with situations such as yours I disconnect everything from the MB except the CPU (and the power headers running to the power/reset switch on the front of the case). I even take out the RAM.

If the MB appears to be trying to boot but gives error beeps, re-connect everything one piece at a time, starting with the most necessary things such as the RAM and the video card, and try booting each time.
Make sure you remove/connect bits to the MB while the power supply is disconnected from the power outlet.

If on the other hand the MB just sits there without complaining while nothing is connected to it, it's probably dead.

Have you tried using the MB's jumper settings to reset the CMOS?


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## ben22 (Jun 6, 2010)

Have you checked your graphics card on whether the fan was spinning? actually you may want to bring your cpu down to sim lim square at bugis as there is full of computer expert there and hardware there is also quite cheap.


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