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HELP - Machine crashed and now winXP doesn't load

Lyfer

Lyfer

Diamond Member
Last nite I was browsing the web on one of my machine and the computer just froze. I restarted and windows asked me if I would like to enter safe mode. I tried entering normally and nothing shows up, no windows screen at all (even safe mode doesn't boot up). I tried booting off WinXP oem cd and after it loads up all the drivers on the cd, it freezes at the "starting up windows" screen. I tried booting the machine with no hard disk attached and still the WInXP cd freezes at the same screen. About an two hours ago I plugged in an old 13gb HD and tried loading Win98SE, which apparently is working.



What the heck has happened? Why can't I install WinXP from the cd anymore? (BTW I tried booting off an old knoppix linux cd that I know use to work but I get a "single cpu error" which I never got before)




Thanx for any help!🙂
 
I can get even get the Windows XP boot CD to even get to the setup screen so that I can reformat. But windows 98 SE works. What gives?
 
I have 3 sticks in this machine. Tried booting with each one of them, no luck. Tried a stick from another machine, no luck.
 
did you try to boot up with a new hard drive? then maybe it will let you mess with the other one set as a slave
 
Originally posted by: wckd
did you try to boot up with a new hard drive? then maybe it will let you mess with the other one set as a slave
Click to expand...

Yes I did! I even tried booting up on the Windows XP CD with NO hard drives connected and still did no reach the the setup screen. It froze at the "Starting up windows" screen. I installed windows 98SE on another older drive and it "seems" to be working fine. I then installed my old drive back in and tried formating it with ms dos. Booted up windows xp cd and still no luck. No matter what drive I have in Windows XP will freeze at the "starting up windows" screen. Is it my board?
 
Why don't you try copying the i386 folder from your XP CD to your hard drive? Then just boot from a floppy, browse to the folder, and run setup. It might just work, who knows.

Another thing to try would be to "zap" your hard drive. Sometimes you can get a virus that stays in your hard drive even after you format. Another thing you could do would be to perform a low-level format of the drive.

Oh, and what about a BIOS flash? Maybe something became corrupted in there.
 
Originally posted by: SickBeast
Why don't you try copying the i386 folder from your XP CD to your hard drive? Then just boot from a floppy, browse to the folder, and run setup. It might just work, who knows.

Another thing to try would be to "zap" your hard drive. Sometimes you can get a virus that stays in your hard drive even after you format. Another thing you could do would be to perform a low-level format of the drive.

Oh, and what about a BIOS flash? Maybe something became corrupted in there.
Click to expand...

Thanx, I'll try that!
 
Ok I updated the bios and tried booting again off the Windows XP cd and still no luck. I also tried doing an upgrade on Windows 98SE and the screen blanks out after it asks me to reboot.


ANy other ideas? THanx!
 
Have you tried a different cable with both the HDD and the ATAPI? Maybe the ATAPI cable is the problem. and when you tried all those sticks of ram did you try them in more than 1 slot? I'd even try installing from IDE 2 in case the primary is nuked with a new cable for both the HDD and CD drives. If none of that works I'd try another PSU, and then another CD drive if possible, to make certain they aren't the problem. After that it's just the board and CPU left to point fingers at.
 
hm, now it gets difficult. you eliminated your harddrive as the problem. could be m/b, cpu, ram...psu? find another doner pc and eliminate one by one.
 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Have you tried a different cable with both the HDD and the ATAPI? Maybe the ATAPI cable is the problem. and when you tried all those sticks of ram did you try them in more than 1 slot? I'd even try installing from IDE 2 in case the primary is nuked with a new cable for both the HDD and CD drives. If none of that works I'd try another PSU, and then another CD drive if possible, to make certain they aren't the problem. After that it's just the board and CPU left to point fingers at.
Click to expand...

its the process of elimination round.. 😉 amazing what a bad secondary ide cable/drive/port can do..🙁
 
Curious.. How does one perform a Low level format to "zap" a harddrive... I was given some instructions for a "Debug" command using a Dos boot disk. Is that the same thing?
 
Update, I tried a different cable/cd drive and still no luck. I tried switching the drives from IDE1/IDE2, no luck. Windows ME is running fine on the old WinXP partition, so I am still in confusion as to why WInXP won't work.
 
Are you certain the XP CD isn't bad? This is a legit copy and not a "backup" right? Since XP requires more resources than those old OS's it would point to ram again, but you have tried 4 sticks one at a time in more than 1 slot so that can't be it unless the memory controller itself is whacked and XP's resource needs bring it's flakiness out 😕
 
I'm using the educational version of WinXP Pro that I bought from school. I tried the original OEM and the backup copy I had. So I guess its either my board or the CPU. I ran a few tests with sandra/3dmark in WinME and things seem to be running fine. I guess I'll try to find a spare board to try.
 
You have the latest bios so this problem is just completely perplexing! Do you have SP1 on that XP version? Any USB devices in use, especially a USB FDD? Those are about all I can find after a quick serach that cause this type of issue with XP. The fact the system froze and a fresh install doesn't work, but you can run a FAT32 OS and even run hardware intensive tasks like 3Dmock without issues is a hair puller!
 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
You have the latest bios so this problem is just completely perplexing! Do you have SP1 on that XP version? Any USB devices in use, especially a USB FDD? Those are about all I can find after a quick serach that cause this type of issue with XP. The fact the system froze and a fresh install doesn't work, but you can run a FAT32 OS and even run hardware intensive tasks like 3Dmock without issues is a hair puller!
Click to expand...

My Xp CD doesn't have SP1, but I don't think that'll likely fix the issue. Out of all the computer systems that I had to fix, this is prolly the hardest one of all.🙂 Wierd thing is that the computer froze when on I was on yahoo sports checking out the stats of Game 3's NBA finals. I guess even my computer was shocked at the score and froze.😀


Now I need to find a spare "working" socket A board to test. Thanx for the help!
 
No problemo brudda 🙂 I hope you get this figured out and post up the solution because I'd like to add this one to my brain pan. BTW, slipstreaming a CD with SP1 then trying the install couldn't hurt, you never know....
 
Originally posted by: cptCuervo
Curious.. How does one perform a Low level format to "zap" a harddrive... I was given some instructions for a "Debug" command using a Dos boot disk. Is that the same thing?
Click to expand...

Zap is a DOS software utility that writes zeroes to the first 128 sectors on a hard disk drive, including the Master Boot Record and the first Partition Boot Record. It can be used with both SCSI and IDE drives. ..
[l
I'm using the educational version of WinXP Pro that I bought from school. I tried the original OEM and the backup copy I had. So I guess its either my board or the CPU.
Click to expand...
they aren't the same versions..product keys are different..try what DaPunisher says..a slipstream CD..and yes 98/Me is more forgiving of hardware..
 
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