Computer stops booting after BIOS page

[Deimodius]

Hi, hope someone can help, or point me in the right direction.

I have a Compaq Presario S5000NX (about 3 years old) with Win XP and 384 MB RAM.

Recently it started shutting itself down spontaneously. Screen goes black (There is _NOT_ a "no signal" message), the chip fan stops spinning, but the HDD _IS_ still spinning.

Thought it might be overheating, so opened it up, and cleaned it out with compressed air. Now computer won't boot past the BIOS page. After BIOS page, screen goes black, chip fan stops spinning, but HDD is still spinning. Heat sink is not hot.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[homer]

sounds like either a power supply issue or a motherboard issue. do u have another comp to test ur power supply on?

[panboy]

Thats been happing to my computer recently

so i decided... Damed thing is Broked i needs new one,

i have a feeling moneys is the answer. but it could just be the PSU

[GX1_Man]

How about some reading:

http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1150079662

[Dead_reckon]

How about some reading:

http://www.computerhope.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1150079662

reading is always good, but i had this problem with my ole P1 dell, north bridge was fried

[Deimodius]

Thanks for the reading, and I will see if that is the trick, but my problem is a bit different. The "black screen hang" doesn't always happen at startup. Sometimes the computer _will_ boot into windows, and it will work for a short while before the screen suddenly goes black and the chip fan stops while the HDD still spins.

If the MBR was corrupt, I assume I wouldn't be able to log in to Windows at all?

Thanks

Deimodius

[GX1_Man]

it will work for a short while before the screen suddenly goes black and the chip fan stops while the HDD still spins.

If the CPU fan is not spinning an Intel will shut itself down and an AMD will burn up. I suspect yours is an Intel based on what you are describing - it still works sometimes, so how about checking the connections to the CPU fan and possibly replacing it with a new one. They are pretty cheap, and 3 years is a long life for an HP part.