Computer shuts down during boot up!

[Zincq]

A friend of mine called me up yesterday asking me about a computer problem. "Ok," I thought, "It's only a routine computer checkup." So today I went over and took a look at his computer, yet I couldn't figure out what the problem was. The problem is with boot up. When starting, the computer boots up fine until it hits the Windows98 screen. You think everything is going good, and the win98 splash screen shows for about 30 seconds, then the monitors shuts off and nothing happens. The only way possible to access windows is to run in safe mode. I looked through the BIOS for any changes, but I didn't find anything wrong. Have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Trouble shoot the starting applications in msconfig. shut off anything that looks even slightly unnecessary. Or even better, shut almost all of it off and see if the system will reboot out of safe mode. Then you can add the starting applications one at a time until you run back into the problem. Then you know which one is doing it. Doesn't sound like a BIOS issue because it is getting into the start of the OS before restarting.

 

[NoreagaCNN]

Sounds like a software conflict. Yes, check msconfig and uncheck everything then try and boot like that, if it still gives problems then its a hardware conflict or PSU problem.

-Nore

 

[dkozloski]

The last time I had one of those it was video drivers. At the boot-up video mode switch it would stall to a black screen. Change the video card to Standard VGA in Safe Mode and see if it will boot. If that fixes the problem reinstall the video drivers.

 

[gsaldivar]

I agree with dkozloski - I suspect a misconfiguration/corruption of video drivers.

The system sounds like it is unsuccessfully trying to sync to an unsupported resolution.

Boot into Safe Mode and reset the display properties to 640x480 16colors (Standard VGA - as dkozloski recommended) - if you have done this correctly you should get a warning when you attempt to close the Display Properties control panel.

Reboot normally - if the system comes up - deinstall and reinstall those video drivers.

Good Luck!

 

[Bumboy]

i dunno what to do without more info so all i can say is: Pray

 

[jthsmak]

I think its a software or driver conflict. Did your friend install any new hardware/drivers or software right before this started happening? Look for anything fishy in win.ini, system.ini autoexec.bat and disable and reenable hardware devices one at a time.

 

[Musicman6425]

My second computer did that at first. It turned out to be a problem with the Mother Board. The only way that we figured it out was to start swaping parts. It wasn't the brand motherboard either because we put the exact same mother board back in. Mine was a ABIT Kt7.

Good Luck

This problem is a biach!!!