PC won't boot past BIOS

[Kreek]

So for a couple of days now, whenever I power on my PC, it will randomly get stuck booting up. The BIOS screen will flash and everything will go fine, but after the BIOS screen, there's just a continuous black screen. Nothing happens. But the thing is... It seems to be completely random. I can power off my PC and then try again, and it will boot just fine. It may take a couple of tries, but it will boot up eventually. I've had no other issues besides that, and this just started a couple of days ago. Was hoping you guys might know a little more about this than me.

It's a custom build from two years ago.
i5 2500k (stock)
gtx 560ti
1TB HDD
Windows 8
AsRock Extreme 3 Gen 3 Mobo
8 gigs of RAM

Thanks guys!

[Cilraaz]

If I had to throw out a blind guess, I'd say that it sounds like a failing hard drive. The black screen after the BIOS is when the computer is trying to access the boot device and load into your OS. Like I said, though, that's just a blind guess.

[Kreek]

That's what I was thinking too. I'm going to try booting to a second HDD, just to see what it does.

[GGA1759]

When the screen is black is the monitor light on? Or is the monitor showing no signal from the video card?
For example, when my monitor is on and receiving a signal the power light is blue, but when the monitor is on and there is no video signal the light is orange(ish).
If there is no video signal coming from the computer, it could be a video card issue.
When was the last time the computer was cleaned of dust?
When was the last time the computer was updated with current drivers?

[Kreek]

I think I found the issue guys. I had cleaned the system of dust a couple of days ago and apparently the sata cable got loose. I fiddled around with it and tried booting the PC and it worked. I tried booting it 15 times, and it booted successfully all 15, whereas before it would've maybe 3/15 times. Thanks for your help guys! I'm going to let it run a while then try booting it again to make sure it's good to go.

[Cilraaz]

I think I found the issue guys. I had cleaned the system of dust a couple of days ago and apparently the sata cable got loose. I fiddled around with it and tried booting the PC and it worked. I tried booting it 15 times, and it booted successfully all 15, whereas before it would've maybe 3/15 times. Thanks for your help guys! I'm going to let it run a while then try booting it again to make sure it's good to go.

Glad that you likely found the problem AND that it was nothing major.

[Vermicious]

Loose lips sink ships... it would seem that loose cables sink pc's