text: i have a computer taht will show its start screen, then do nothing.  what is wrong? its a compaq, fans start, it shows the compaq screen and goes blank.  what do i do? if you can see the windows loading screen and as soon as it gets to the desktop it blanks out, its a video card refresh rate problem or resolution problem.  usually you monitor will say 'out of range' if that happens.  if your screen is simply going blank after the compaq spash screen, it means that your computer has sucessfully completed post (power on self test) and you probably have an ide device causing the hangup.  its hard to tell whats causing the hanging unless you start disconnecting hardware.  hook up only the hard drive (set as master) on the primary master controller with no other drives present.  also remove any uncessary pci cards.  it it boots up then, add one piece of hardware back in at a time until you resolve the problem by process of elimination.  it could also be a power supply issue but i would need more details of how the screen goes blank. for example, the monitor tube shuts off due to no signal, or there is just a black screen (meaning that the tube is actually displaying a black screen).  is there a blinking cursor at the top left corner?  etc.