Disk boot errors and other issues during startup

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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Hi all... long time reader, first time poster. Sorry for the length of this, but my problem is ongoing and strange. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Current setup
GA-965P-DS3 rev1.3 mobo (F12 BIOS)
Core 2 Duo E6600 (was running 333x9, currently running @ stock trying to diagnose this)
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme heatsink
4GB (2x2) 800MHz 4-4-4-12 G.Skill RAM (was running 833MHz, currently running @ stock)
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB video card
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude sound card
OCZ GameXStream 700W PSU
3xSATA HDD -- 200GB Maxtor (system), 500GB Seagate, 1TB WD Green
Windows XP Pro SP3

Back story
For a couple months I've been wrestling with a system that worked fine for a year and suddenly stopped POSTing. It turned out to be a combination of problems: I had a stick of RAM go bad; the RAM is spec'd to use at least 2.0V, while my mobo's default Vdimm is 1.8V; and my heatsink (TRUE) backplate was shorting out the back of the mobo. Even though my RAM booted fine at 1.8V when I first built this rig, it would not do so any more, so I couldn't diagnose the problem by using single sticks. I bought new 1.8V RAM, did an out-of-case build with the stock heatsink and it worked. I ended up wrapping the TRUE's backplate with electrical tape and now the system POSTs with the new RAM and everything else intact.

Current issue
So I've been using this for a couple days with a mild overclock, putting it through its paces again. Temperatures have been great, and everything's been pretty stable. The only things I've done recently were install new video card and sound card drivers. However, I was running WoW yesterday and got a nasty crash that prompted a chkdsk on one of my storage volumes, but it passed and everything booted up again OK. Happened again, and this time I got the "DISK BOOT ERROR, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" BIOS message.

All three drives are detected in the BIOS, but I double checked connections anyway. I reset BIOS to fail-safe defaults and tried again, but no luck. Cleared CMOS by shorting the mobo jumper, no change. On one of my attempts, I did get a "NTLDR is missing" message. Running recovery console from the Windows XP installation disc sometimes locks up and I have to power cycle, although I managed to run chkdsk on a few volumes and it fixed some index errors. I also ran FIXBOOT and FIXMBR commands, and I didn't get the NTLDR message any more. If I have all three drives plugged in, I tend to get the following message from the XP setup disc as it's trying to load:

"Setup has either detected multiple disks in your machine that are
indestinguishable or detected raw disk(s). Setup has corrected the problem
but reboot is required. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit."

It will reboot and just say this again, so obviously setup did not correct the problem. If I only have my system drive running, I do not get this error, but sometimes the setup utility will lock up while starting or even during a chkdsk from recovery console.

After a couple rounds of this, I can sometimes get past the "DISK BOOT ERROR" and Windows will start to boot. It will go into a forced chkdsk, show no errors, and then I see a quick BSoD flash and the system reboots. I can't read the BSoD message because the reboot happens immediately. This happens whether I have one, two, or three drives running and will continue cycling like this until I stop it or I get another disk boot error.

I ran Seagate's SeaTools diagnostic utility and all three drives passed its short test, although the Seagate drive is running hot according to SMART readings.

I plugged these drives into an older machine and they were all detected and ran fine. All my files appear to be intact. This tells me:
* I may have a drive going bad, but I don't know why everything would detect and work properly on another machine.
* I may have a bad installation of XP, but I'm seeing low-level problems just trying to run Windows setup and recovery console.
* My mobo could be having some issue with the SATA controller, although again it's odd that the drives are all properly detected and I can get Windows to start booting sometimes.
* Possibly even a RAM issue. I don't really expect this new RAM to be the problem, and it just passed a single memtest86+ set anyway.

Any insight into this problem would be awesome. I've gone two months now without my main rig working and I'm really pulling my hair out on this one.
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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I can't read the BSoD message because the reboot happens immediately

Go to Computer > Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings > and uncheck "Automatically restart". That should let you read the error reporting screen.


If this was my machine, I'd start by running the long diagnostic tests on those drives. Sometimes the short tests just don't do the job. ;)
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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Originally posted by: Old Hippie
I can't read the BSoD message because the reboot happens immediately

Go to Computer > Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings > and uncheck "Automatically restart". That should let you read the error reporting screen.

I would do this, but I can't actually boot into Windows.

I'll go ahead and try the long tests from the Seagate utility. Thanks for the input.
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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I would do this, but I can't actually boot into Windows.

Sorry, I thought you could boot with only one drive.

I'm gonna call you COB (CoinOperatedBoy)....

COB, naturally this problem could involve various components, but it seems to revolve around your HDs.

I'm hoping that the long tests will be a little more conclusive about their health and we can eliminate them as a cause.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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Sorry, I thought you could boot with only one drive.

I may have been unclear -- with one drive, Windows may start to boot, but will only get so far as a forced CHKDSK. I've had this happen with all three drives present, too.
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
6,361
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Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Sorry, I thought you could boot with only one drive.

I may have been unclear -- with one drive, Windows may start to boot, but will only get so far as a forced CHKDSK. I've had this happen with all three drives present, too.

I C says the blind Old Hippie!

I'd be removing all the extra drives to TS.

I'd hope you'd at least your boot drive working before you had to resort to the complete, start with the minimum, out of the case, tear-down.

I'd be concentrating on the boot drive, giving it the extended tests, and go from there.
 

igibson

Member
Oct 4, 2007
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If I had your problem I would introduce a known good hard drive. If still no success, adjustment of the bios for sata settings (ide/ahci mode). Finally a bios reflash of either what you're using currently or preferably what the most recent version is.

Good luck!


To add: I agree completely with ripping everything out that isn't required to complete a windows setup.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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I appreciate the input from both of you.

I ran the Seagate utility long tests and the drives passed. I ran chkdsk from the recovery console on the WinXP install disc on every volume I could, then I attempted to repair the Windows installation on my system drive. It appears to have worked and I can now boot into XP, but I still have some testing to do and some backups to run in case the drive is going bad.

Still not sure what caused my initial problem, so I'm not out of the woods yet. Again, thanks for the help.

Edit: Oh, and now I have Windows Genuine Advantage complaining. Which is odd, because this is definitely a legitimate copy of Windows that I got from a school MSDN program. Hmm.
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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Oh, and now I have Windows Genuine Advantage complaining.

You'll have to reinstall all of your updates and make your Windows genuine....again.

Like you said, the initial problem is still a mystery but I have no doubt it will rear it's ugly little head again.

PS. Seems my WHS box decided it needs a chkdsk run this morning. I'm wondering if what your box had is contagious! :laugh:
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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PS. Seems my WHS box decided it needs a chkdsk run this morning. I'm wondering if what your box had is contagious! :laugh:

Hope not! Sorry if I infected you. :brokenheart:

Just a thought -- could my RAM have caused my problem if it were overclocked and not receiving enough voltage? I think when I was trying to OC a little higher, I might have pushed it up to DDR2 875 at stock timings. I fed it a little extra voltage and it booted OK. I didn't run memtest86+ immediately, but I tried some gaming and that's roughly when I experienced my first crash. Could unstable RAM have corrupted my file system to the point where an XP reinstall was necessary?

I've heard that G.Skill RAM is tightly binned and some of their sticks are not likely to OC well. I might not be used to that, coming from a pair of their older Micron D9s that scale remarkably.
 

RebateMonger

Elite Member
Dec 24, 2005
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Originally posted by: CoinOperatedBoy
Could unstable RAM have corrupted my file system to the point where an XP reinstall was necessary?
It could either corrupt your hard drive or your Windows Registry, both of which can damage Windows.
 

Old Hippie

Diamond Member
Oct 8, 2005
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Just a thought -- could my RAM have caused my problem if it were overclocked and not receiving enough voltage?

Absolutely.

I didn't want to involve too many things at once, so I suggested the HD troubleshooting first.

We were going to get to the RAM testing if the HD fix didn't work.

You may have found your initial problem. ;)


Hope not! Sorry if I infected you.

It's looking like I had my WHS system drive start to go woonky. I swapped drives but it won't let me do a repair install which means it all has to be redone.

Isn't that special?

I've had this WHS box for @ 2 weeks and it's just informed me that I have to call to re-register because I've done it too many times. What's that tell ya? :laugh:
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
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We were going to get to the RAM testing if the HD fix didn't work.

You may have found your initial problem. ;)

I suspected this when I tried ramping up my FSB again and started getting a strange beep from my case speaker* on reboot. It was a struggling, distorted single beep followed by a normal successful POST beep. I couldn't find any information on a beep code like this. The system would boot into Windows regardless, but I got rid of the odd beep by bumping up my Vdimm slightly. So if my RAM was underfed, maybe that's what borked everything while I was gaming. I'll run a more lengthy battery of memtest86+ with my current voltages and see if it craps out, but I seem to be stable now.

I wouldn't hesitate to blame my mobo, but the RAM seems to be the likely culprit at this point. My board has been sketchy ever since I got it and this model has several well-documented issues. It checked out fine during a recent RMA attempt though.

*What's with the trend of not including case speakers with cases any more? My Antec P180B is awesome, but has no case speaker. And my mobo doesn't come with a builtin speaker either, so I had to get a cheap little piezo buzzer from eBay.


It's looking like I had my WHS system drive start to go woonky. I swapped drives but it won't let me do a repair install which means it all has to be redone.

Isn't that special?

I've had this WHS box for @ 2 weeks and it's just informed me that I have to call to re-register because I've done it too many times. What's that tell ya? :laugh:

That hurts. You're leaning toward hardware failure? If it's the drive and not your RAM, I don't think you caught it from me. ;)