HP Pavilion dv7, about 3-4 years old. Always worked fine. A few days ago when starting it up, a loud whirring noise was emanating from the corner near the DVD drive. A screen came up saying something was wrong with the computer, and I should delete all recently installed programs. I did that, but the problem persisted the next few times I started the machine. I just tried turning on the machine, and after the first HP screen, it stays dark and nothing happens. The caps and num lock lights keep blinking. Can someone tell me what is going on?

Please request more information if necessary for diagnosis.

I don't know if this is relevant, but if I step away from my computer for a few hours I usually don't shut down, I usually put it to seep, and sometimes hibernate.

Thanks a lot.