I have a very old Compaq computer. When I start it up, the screen goes black, what should I do?

Question

My computer is really old. It's a Compaq with Windows ME. When I turn it on the Compaq screen comes up like it usually does and then after that a black screen comes up with a flashing white line and nothing happens. Well I finally pressed one of the function keys when the Compaq screen was up (I think it was F11) and this blue screen came up. At the top of the screen it said:

ROM PCI / ISA BIOS (2A5IMG09)

CMOS SETUP UTILITY

AWARD SOFTWARE, INC.

Then it gave me some options -

STANDARD CMDS SETUP

BIOS FEATURE SETUP

PMP / PCI CONFIGURATION

INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS

LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS

PASSWORD SETTING

SAVE AND EXIT SETUP

EXIT WITHOUT SAVING

I went into each of these options, but I didn't have a clue what I was supposed to do, so I hit exit and the black screen with the line came up again. *sigh*

I'm really confused. If someone could explain to me in regular people terms what I should do about my computer it would be great b/c I tried reading some other answers on here for people who had similar problems and they were saying things and I had absolutely NO idea what they meant.

Thanks in advance!!

Oh and I forgot to mention. I moved the computer out of my room to my dining room to work on it b/c there was more space there. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the outlets in my bedroom, and thats why it wasn't working, but I tried it at another outlet in my room and that didn't work either. I don't know if that helps, but I thought that I should add that in.

this question is long, so thanks for reading it if you did :-)

Answer 1

Get rid of it.

Answer 2

this happened to me also what you need to do is if you have any USB thingys plugged in take thhem out and turn it on

Answer 3

i odnt know but if does that how did u ask this question?

Answer 4

get a new computer! lol

Answer 5

have compaq replace it for free after the hassle you went thru

Answer 6

buy a new computer da it's too old the computer can not handle it anymore so buy a new one:)

Answer 7

When the compaq sing comes up pess f2 and itll be recover mode and it'll delete unused folders and data which should help.  

Answer 8

well my mom has a compaq ..and it does that...press f2

Answer 9

ok that was a lot to read so i didnt read it all, sorry.

try turning it off and then turning it back on, when you turn it back on, press the F8 key until it comes up to a menu.  on that menu you may have some options, you want to either "START IN SAFE MODE WITH NETWORKING" or "RESTORE TO LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION".

if it doesnt let you do that, see if you can take it somewhere to have it formatted.  good luck!

Answer 10

probably get a new computer...

Answer 11

I think the best idea would probably take it to a computer store like Best Buy or something and get them to check it out. If you fiddle around with the computer you could have something happen that could further damage it.

Answer 12

Your pixels died out you need a new computer. If you go to a computer shop they should sell some for a good price.