Fixing friend's laptop (need help)

I'm pretty bad at this stuff, but maybe it's your graphics card? :P

Can you enter safe mode?

if anything but windows works, than most likely problem is windows itself. as minanu wrote (again citing him, damn), try safe mode or any way maybe to get to system recovery?
maybe try launching livecd for any Linux distro? if it will launch, than fix windows somehow or reinstall?

Does it POST with no errors? And when you do the recovery, does it complete all the way? Could be a hard drive problem.

if you have Windows 7 DVD .. then format it .

My first guess the hard drive has a problem and can't start the Windows boot. If you start it from CD can you access any files from the HD?
What kind of HD does it have? Every HD manufacturer has its own HD test program. I suggest download the right one and run it from a CD or memstick.

I don't really know much but these forums are pretty helpful.

Look in the bios. Is the harddrive being seen/recognized?

Unplug the harddrive cables & plug them back in (reseat the wires). Do the same for the cable (not powercable) where it plugs into the motherboard.

Power back up the computer and see if the same problem occurs.

While your in there, take a can of compressed air and blow any/all dust out of it. If you decide to open up the computer, do the dust blowing first.

It's impossible to tell from your description what is wrong with the laptop, there is literally 100s of problems that could cause it.. So you will never get a satisfying answer..

If you dont know how to fix laptops, go to someone who does :)

[edit]
i guess ill add something a little more constructive cause... why not.

If you can run a recovery from the cd, and you get into the windows based portion of the setup the basic functionality of the system is still working, and so should safe mode..

It could still be a memory, processor, video, harddrive, mainboard issue
First i'd check the bios to see if the boot order is correct, and there are no strange settings, you edited the settings to boot from the cd, so make sure everything is set correctly (making errors here will cause your system to hang on a blank screen)

Then i would download and run a bootable hardware test program, there are lots of those around the net.

If nothing is found then I'd switch the Hard disk and see if that helps, if not switch memory and see if that helps, if none of these help then there is really nothing you can do without asking professional help..

(on a side note i would like to say Packard Bell notebooks aren't know for their build quality so if the owner didnt do anything strange to the pc a hardware error seems most likely, harddisk/mainboard would be my educated guess)

Good Luck

Check the harddrive's S.M.A.R.T. state, hoping for not to have bad sectors on it:
boot up an Ubuntu LiveCD, and use Disks (palimpsest) to check it.

Have you tried taking the battery out and starting it with purely the wall charger ? My laptop had a similar problem and i diagnosed it like this. Btw i have no idea what the battery has to do with the screen , but it somehow fixed mine!

I had a similar problem with my HP G42-340. Windows 7 wasn't booting. So I contacted HP support to send recovery CDs, but it didn't work. I solved the problem downloading an ISO and reinstalling the OS.

since you cant enter safe mode seems like a problem with the OS. but is the graphics card nvidia? and if so did you have nvidia system tools and attempted to overclock? this causes bluescreen on some graphics cards but thats as far as i know for a desktop not sure if a laptop would end up the same way

well it could be looking for a second monitor, is their a function key combo that cycles through monitors/projectors. Bios would display on the laptops screen until windows takes over, then would black screen. If you can not find a function key combo that works then hook the laptop up to an external monitor and see if you can get to the desktop.

first rule of being a computer fixer.

dont offer to fix peoples computers when you have NO clue how to fix one.

offering to fix someones computer then go online to try and find the issue, is disgusting. you should be ashamed of yourself v__v

Well... maybe something wrong with the RAM?
I doubt it's the HDD because you said it doesn't work from the cd either. so my best guess is RAM :I

i'm thinking PSU or HDD malfunction or defective

boot into bios, make your dvd drive 1st boot device, save and restart, pop in your windows disc and format

Sounds to me like it's either a faulty OS system install or you're hard drive's going bad. So here's what I suggest. Go to this link and follow the directions on reinstalling you're Windows 7 system. Link is a really handy guide on reinstalling Win 7 without the disk and it's provided to you by PC World. If you try this and are still experiencing problems it is most likely a faulty hard drive at which point buy a new laptop hard drive and repeat the steps above.

I wish you the best of luck friend!

Well it's one of two things:

1. Windows installation/HD is fuxxored
2. System itself is fuxxored

As you said you've already done memtest, so I'd recommend burning say, Ubuntu onto a CD or flash drive, then booting from that. No errors, then it's your HD or Windows installation.

"Have you tried turning it off and back on again"

Sounds like you need to re-install the OS.

My Sisters laptop had somewhat similar problem, it was a faulty ram stick. I pulled it out and the computer worked again, if a bit slow from losing half its ram. If the laptop has 2 2gb sticks, test both one at a time in each ram bay.

If it's something messed up with the boot of Win7, I remember doing something like this, F8 once you start the PC (you might need to hit it a few times), and it should bring up bootloader or something like that, where you can select Windows 7, but there is also "advanced options" or something like that, there should be an option for using last successful boot settings, try that.

this is why everyone should learn how to use linux and unetbootin I would pop in a linux live usb just to see what happens.