Start-up Problems

[NintendoMan07]

Ok, I am surfing the Web from my Wii right now because my laptop, as of recently, fails to start up.

I'll press the power button, and all the lights come on, but only for about 30 seconds. After that, the lights cut off for a second, and then come back on for another 30 seconds. And it repeats this until I hit the power button again.

My laptop is a Compaq Presario running Windows Vista. Is this a simple problem to fix or am I going to have to have an expert work on it?

If this kind of problem has been addressed before, could someone provide a link? The search function turned up nothing for me.

 

[Sensai]

Hm...

Running off of battery power or off a wall jack? How long have you left it to repeat itself? Have you recently plugged in anything (monitor, specifically)?

 

[AltF4]

If it were a Desktop I'd tell you to pull out the BIOS battery to reset the CMOS, but that may prove difficult for a laptop.

 

[NintendoMan07]

Hm...

Running off of battery power or off a wall jack? How long have you left it to repeat itself? Have you recently plugged in anything (monitor, specifically)?

First, I always keep it plugged in, so it's never running off of battery power alone. The charger is plugged into a power strip, and everything else on the strip still works. Second, I've let it do this for awhile sometimes before interrupting it, 2 hours at most. Third, I haven't added anything new, so all I have plugged in are the printer, battery charger, ethernet cable, and USB drive for an external mouse.

I guess I should also mention that there's nothing on the monitor the whole time this is happening.

EDIT: It looks like some of the parts are accessible w/ a screwdriver, so it might be worth a shot, if I knew what SYMBOL to look for. Also if my terminology is screwed up, I apologise. I'm not technologically savvy for a computer science major.