For a couple of months now my computer has had a hard time starting smoothly and it's just getting worse and worse. I have no idea what part of my computer is in need of replacement or repair.
When I push the power button it comes on with a high rpm sound and then (when working normally) settles down, gets very quiet and Windows starts.
Lately what happens is I push the power button and it comes on loud, fans spinning fast but then gets stuck right there and just stays like that. If I push and hold the power button til it powers off it usually doesn't turn off but tries to restart. Only it still doesn't start, it just gets stuck again with that high rpm fan sound.
After multiple tries, unplugging it and plugging it back in, doing various rain dances, etc it will start. This used to take an extra 5 or 10 minutes but now it can take an hour or two. In other words, it has gotten ridiculous.
Naturally I've just stopped shutting it off altogether to avoid the problem. But very occasionally it will freeze (crash) or a friend will unwittingly shut it off or, for example, on Christmas Day we had a storm and the power went out and it took me forever to get it back up and running.
I also can't put it into sleep mode because when it tries to wake up it gets stuck again.
I have no idea where to start and don't really want to go replacing every major part like an idiot. It's only about 2-3 years old and I have no intention of chucking it in the trash. Please help.
Some system details
HP m7330n
Vista Home Basic
DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2200 MHz 4200+
When I push the power button it comes on with a high rpm sound and then (when working normally) settles down, gets very quiet and Windows starts.
Lately what happens is I push the power button and it comes on loud, fans spinning fast but then gets stuck right there and just stays like that. If I push and hold the power button til it powers off it usually doesn't turn off but tries to restart. Only it still doesn't start, it just gets stuck again with that high rpm fan sound.
After multiple tries, unplugging it and plugging it back in, doing various rain dances, etc it will start. This used to take an extra 5 or 10 minutes but now it can take an hour or two. In other words, it has gotten ridiculous.
Naturally I've just stopped shutting it off altogether to avoid the problem. But very occasionally it will freeze (crash) or a friend will unwittingly shut it off or, for example, on Christmas Day we had a storm and the power went out and it took me forever to get it back up and running.
I also can't put it into sleep mode because when it tries to wake up it gets stuck again.
I have no idea where to start and don't really want to go replacing every major part like an idiot. It's only about 2-3 years old and I have no intention of chucking it in the trash. Please help.
Some system details
HP m7330n
Vista Home Basic
DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2200 MHz 4200+