Need help! Computer won't boot up!

[sanka]

Today, when I came home from school, I turned on my computer, only to find that it wouldn't start up. The computer turns on, technically. There are fans running and everything, but nothing shows up on the screen!
here is what I tried:

First, I thought it was the video card, so I made sure that was connected tightly. But then i realized that the mouse lights weren't turning on, whihc means I wasn't getting into the OS.

Second, I reseated my RAM. No luck.

Third, I purposefully unseated my RAM and then turned the computer on to see if it had any beeps. It beeped, so I put my RAM back in. Except this time everything booted up fine. I was like, "sweet!" I let it boot up, it went into GRUB and I selected XP, and then it wouldn't load XP! it said some file was missing! I pressed enter and the computer restarted, but this time it didn't boot up again.

So, finally. I turned on my computer and let it set for a while. Then, I pressed enter. If the OS was really running and the screen wasn't just showing it, the computer would have restarted, but it didn't.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS WRONG!

 

[Raffaz]

What file was missing? You also mention GRUB, so have you got a linux OS on there aswell?

 

[freestyler105]

Reset the CMOS first of all to clear any lingering errors that no longer exist.

Run memtest to make sure the memory isn't bad.
http://www.memtest.org/

Are you getting any beep codes?

 

[sanka]

I'm sorry, I don't remember the file, and I can't get that screen up again. And yes, I am dual booting ubuntu.

I can't run memtest unless the thing boots. D:

Clearing the CMOS seems good, do I just remove the battery to do that?

 

[freestyler105]

Oh, okay...

Refer to your motherboard manual. There's two ways to do it - you can either do it with a jumper on the motherboard or remove the battery for a few minutes.

 

[sanka]

I removed the battery. I'll look into the manual to see how long I have to wait. If not I'll just wait like ~30 minutes.

 

[Raffaz]

A few mins will do, make sure the PC isnt plugged into the mains aswell otherwise it will still be getting power.

 

[sanka]

Woot! Everything is fine now! I have to re-OC but I'll do that later. Thanks Raffaz and freestyler!

 

[freestyler105]

Thought that might be it...because you kept getting a bunch of different errors and nothing seemed to really be wrong.