Computer problem

[Kuro Neko]

So I have this HP Pavilion a1130n for about 4 years now. Recently, I have this problem where I'll turn on the PC, but nothing is booting, and the fans are going at this hyperspeed and won't stop. I know it's bad but, I'm forced to smack it near the back, on the top near the power supply ( the case ) and it'll start booting up fine. It occasionally does this, and I've pretty much searched everywhere for maybe a possible answer, but no luck. I'm thinking either the power supply is going, or the harddrive. I've checked to see any loose plugs, but nothing. It's also uncommonly freezing when I'm using it, and when I play stepmania, or even when I used to play WoW, it would freeze that program for 2 seconds, then resume ( for stepmania, of course that fucks up my combo ) so I'm assuming a reformat would help that. Anyone encountered similar problems know what I can do?

 

[Ashigaru]

Does the bios boot screen show or is it just a black screen when it fails to boot or does the boot screen come up and then it goes to a blank screen? And with the freezing its probably a problem with the RAM or the HDD is about to crap out. A bad HDD could also be causing it not to boot due to no HDD being detected.

 

[Kuro Neko]

Nothign shows up at all when the fans are spinning that fast. Like I said I have to smack it and after either 1 - 3 hits, it'll boot. But this is happening sometimes. Could it really be the HDD going itself? Because I'm pretty sure the RAM is fine.

 

[Ashigaru]

The average lifespan of HDD is 3-5 years so it wouldn't surprise me. Mines about 5 years old and its starting to show signs of failing.

You could try taking out the HDD and try booting it a few times. If it boots fine then its the HDD going bad.

 

[Kuro Neko]

Ah okay nice, I'll have my sister come over tomorrow to check up on this, thanks for the help. =) I was thinking of just buying a totally new computer, but I'm not sure yet .. that being a totally gaming computer itself.