Hp compaq dx2400 keeps turning on and shutting down on its own without displaying anything, not even bios setup

which operating system ??
Shut down your computer and restart it.
Watch for the Compaq logo, then press the "F1" key to enter setup.
Press the right arrow within setup to go to the Boot menu.
Press the down arrow to access the "Boot Device Priority" option.
Change the first boot device to CD-ROM by pressing the down arrow until "CD-ROM" is displayed.
Eject the CD tray and place the recovery CD that came with your computer into the tray.
If you do not have a recovery CD, you can order one directly from Hewlett Packard.
Shut down and restart the computer.
The Presario will automatically boot from the CD and begin the recovery process.
Select the operating system your computer shipped with.
Many Compaq recovery CDs support multiple operating systems, so be sure to choose the operating system your computer shipped with.
Insert the operating system CD when prompted.
Enter the license key for the operating system when prompted.
The license key is typically found on a small tag located on the top or side of the computer.

or
There are multiple instances when you would want to wipe your PC's memory clean and reset it to the factory defaults.
Called "formatting," it is often the last-ditch effort to restore a PC to functionality.
You will also have to format your PC if it gets crippled by viruses.
Although these instructions are for the Compaq Presario, the steps are essentially the same for all Windows-based PCs.
Be sure that you want to delete everything--this process is irreversible.

Back up any data that you want to keep by saving it to removable media, such as external hard drives, flash drives, DVD-R, etc.
Unplug all peripheral devices, except for the keyboard and mouse.
Turn on the computer.
As the computer is starting, repeatedly press F1 to initiate the recovery process.
When the BIOS setup screen appears, press the right arrow key to select "Boot". Press the down arrow key to select "Boot Device Priority" and press "Enter".
Press the down arrow key to select "CD-ROM" and press "+" to move it to the top of the list.
Open the CD-ROM tray, and insert the system recovery disk.
Exit the BIOS setup by pressing "F10". Be sure to select "Save Changes and Exit".
System recovery should initiate.
If it does not, and the PC loads Windows, then you have either failed to set the CD-ROM at the top of the boot priority list or you exited the BIOS setup without saving.
Press "R" to begin the recovery process.
When prompted, select "Full System Recovery".
Restart the computer when the process has completed.

There are a lot of possible reasons for this.
1. Fan is bad.
2. Motherboard has gone bad.
Do you still see the Compaq logo when you turn it on?
David

If there is a display switch in the functions on the keyboard (most likely will look like a laptop monitor or a computer monitor on the keyboard). Press the function key and the button associated with that and wait 3 to 4 seconds (you may have to press it multiple times) If you have anything in the vga slot, then it may think a monitor is plugged in and won't display the laptop screen.
If none of the above work, then maybe your computer is having a systematic failure, or the screen connector is loose.

If its a HP notebook then perform the har drive self test.
Here are the steps below.
Steps for HDD self test.

1. If the notebook computer is running solely on battery power, plug the AC adapter into the notebook.
2. Shut down the computer if it is running.
3. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
4. Press f10 when the HP/Compaq logo displays.
5. After the BIOS Setup Utility displays, use the Right Arrow key to select the Diagnostics menu.
6. Select HDD Self-Test options .
7. Press enter to display a list of HDD/Self-Test options.
8. Select Notebook Hard Drive and then press f10 to display an Estimated test time .
9. Press f10 to continue. The Hard Drive Self Test executes a Quick test , a Comprehensive test, and a SMART test.

If the hard drive fails then surely there is no option other than replacing it....
Please surely buy HP Hard drive.

Hi there,

Go into the BIOS setup (press f10 during boot process), then SYSTEM CONFIGURATION and disable SATA NATIVE SUPPORT. Try installing XP again and it should see your hard drive.

(If it will work then please vote for me).

Thanks

fails battery out so leave it out they love to short.
so when it fails test 2 is, hit the F10 or ESC key promptee
went it fails to boot, check BIOS key first, if BIOS fails.
be more clear.
what does it do when it wont turn on.
BIOS dead. screen 100% dead, and not even text
BIOS works even with HDD and DVD drive pulled.
that is the acid test on PCs.
the screen must say, hit F10? or ESC to enter setup, means HP BIOS. it must or power is no good. get a new power pack
the shut down tell me lost power, that can be the power pack 19vdc
or the jack at the mobo if failing to said pack.
try side pressure on that jack if at anytime the power button fails.

it self shuts down, I got that but lets fix , cant boot first.
that is how to fix this.
power on failures, are you saying the power key fails. some times
and the fan does not run every time.?
Also,
this old LT uses CCFL back lamps.
that love to fail. so when it shut down did the fan die.
did the HDD stop spinning ear to bottom? if not the CCFL is failing.
using and external monitor proves this every time,
do the flash light trick?
http://www.pcdied.com/monitors.html#flashlighttest

try to go to BIOS
if the pc is not allowing you to go BIOS then get a bootable cd & insert the same & boot the pc to the desktop & also open the chasis & reseat the memory sticks.

The System Event Log may become full of erroneous IPMI Events reported by the System BIOS. When this occurs, the following message may appear during Power-On Self-Test (POST) and POST cannot continue without user input:
02a2: BMC System Error Log (SEL) Full
Press F1 to Continue, Press F2 to Setup
If the above message appears during POST, perform the following steps to run BIOS setup and delete the System Event Log:

1. Boot the server and press the F10 key when prompted to run BIOS Setup.
2. Select the "Advanced" menu.
3. Scroll down to "IPMI" and press the ENTER key
4. Scroll down to the System Event Log and press the ENTER key.
5. At the "Clear System Event Log" selection, press the ENTER key to toggle between "Enable" and "Disable."
6. Select "Enable."
7. Press the F10 key to Save the changes and exit the BIOS Setup.

Sounds like your hard drive has begun to fail or has failed. Enter into your BIOS again and find the menu choice that lets you reset everything back to the defaults.

If you have the recovery CD that came with your Compaq you can try running that to see if it will mark the bad spots on the drive and allow you to continue using it.

I would recommend that you resign yourself to the fact that you will have to replace the drive soon. If there is valuable data on the drive, buy a new hard drive, install it and run the recovery CD on it. When you are able to boot up to Windows successfully, shut it down, unplug power and add the old drive as a slave to see if you can retrieve data from it.

If that does not work and the data is worth paying some serious money to retrieve, there are places that are able to retreive data even if the drive will not even spin. They are expensive!

Honest1abe

i have the same problem with mine, the compaq screen shows and beeps twice and then it says press f1 or f10 but it doesnt respond to anything i press