Possibly hard drive help needed..

[peoplepeople]

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 and whenever I turn it on the Caps Lock button blinks a few times and then the laptop shuts down. I am assuming this is a hard drive problem. Can anyone confirm what it actually is and more importantly if it is fixable. Thanks

 

[pctechmike1]

When you turn it on, is it on battery or ac?
Normally, if it's just a bad hard drive, you should at least get some BIOS text, and then an error indicating it can't find the hard drive, or a blank screen. I don't think it's a hard drive problem. When was the last time it worked? Did you have any problems before you shut it down the last time it worked?

 

[peoplepeople]

When you turn it on, is it on battery or ac?
Normally, if it's just a bad hard drive, you should at least get some BIOS text, and then an error indicating it can't find the hard drive, or a blank screen. I don't think it's a hard drive problem. When was the last time it worked? Did you have any problems before you shut it down the last time it worked?

Yea after reading this and looking around the internet i am starting to think the M$ update I just did caused this. It worked fine last night until prob 2 am and then i just went to sleep figuring it would work in the morning. Every once in a while I can get it on but then a blue screen comes saying Corrupt or Missing : \windows\system32\config\system. I havent got to that screen for quite some time now. It only does the CAPS lock blinking then turns off now.

 

[pctechmike1]

Do you see any BIOS screen at all? Although, with this model of Dell, it may be the case where the hard drive will keep the computer from booting. These types of devices can go bad, and cause problems. I have seen a hard drive keep a computer from booting before. Locate the hard drive- I'm not familure with that model- and pull it out. Common places for the hard drives are in a slide in unit on the side, front, or the worst, under the keyboard. If you can pull the hard drive, and get a BIOS screen every reboot, it is probably the hard drive.

 

[peoplepeople]

ok, i pulled it out and tried to turn it on, no bios screen. When i try to turn it on, even with the HD in the screen stays completly black, doesnt turn on at all.

 

[peoplepeople]

update, i got it to work, i did a system restore back to a few days ago. now it did it again. any ideas?