windows not booting up

I have an Packard Bell laptop that is seven years old.I have been having trouble lately with it trying to boot up but not doing so. I have had to shut it down using the power button.It usually starts the second time.

I have quite a few films on an external hard drive. When i tried to play one, it came up with a message, the file was corupt, i tried another, with the same answer.I thought i would run my antivirus, and malware bites to see if that would help, but neither one would start.

I left it untill the next day but then it wouldn't even try to start.So i cant get into anything to try. Someone said it might be my hard disc. Will i have to take it in to be repaired or has it died. If so is there any way of recovering all my stuff. Thank you.

When you say it is not booting up, what occurs when you push the power button? Does the screen turn at all and freeze, maybe the hard drive spins for a moment or does the computer stay entirely dead?

If it was becoming a gradual issue from trouble booting up to totally dead that can usually indicate a hardware issue, it may also just be a simple loose connection however so it is not time to panic yet!

Thank you. When i press the power button nothing happens at all. As i said in my post, over a couple of months it used to say windows is starting up, but that was as far as it got, so then i had to press the power button to switch it of but now nothing.

If their's not a single LED lighting up or anything for even a split second I would personally investigate the power source to the laptop at first as it can be the cheapest to repair since it is a common issue with most laptops.

I have an Packard Bell laptop that is seven years old.

However, if it's seven years old it is probably using a motherboard without the solid-cap capacitors so it may be a distinct possibility that a capacitor has blown. Before taking it into the shop and spending $150 for them to look at it, it may be worth getting a small philips head screw driver and look under any easilly removable covers on the underside for any leaking, blown, or bulging capacitors.

They will look something like this