Windows fails to boot...

[Andym1731]

I'm going to make a long story short here, but I have been having a problem with my computer for over a week now. It started with I could not log into various websites requiring user names and passwords like this site. I was able to do so tho, while in Safe Mode with Networking. Over the last few days tho it's gone from bad to worse as now I cannot even access either my setup(F2 key), safe mode options(F8) or boot menu (F12). And if I just start it up and let it go, it has only once out of 50 tries actually fired up Windows and didn't just hang after the initial Dell logo. If I push any key more than once during start up, I get a keyboard failure message. I had a problem with this PC over a year ago and I ended up replacing the PSU because it would freeze and shutdown. It had similar problems earlier this month, so I suspected the PSU was failing once again. But I do not know if these problems are related to a failing power supply, or that replacing the PSU again will correct this problem. Any help is appreciated!

[Paul Komski]

Are you on broadband, dial-up or what? If you can go on line OK with something like a Knoppix Live CD then that would point to an intrinsic Windows software related problem. Impending hardware failure seems more likely - but I wouldnt have put a failing PSU high up the list. Hardware related issues could include a hard drive (or other piece of hardware) beginning to fail or a run down CMOS battery. If you could boot to a floppy diskette OK and access your hot keys at startup with the hard drive removed temporarily then that would point to the hard drive as being the culprit. Etc.