Laptop wont boot into Windows XP.

[dogert]

I left my computer running overnight and when I went to use it in the morning the screen was blank, the fans were still running. I held down the power button but that didn't turn it off so I unplugged the battery. When i restarted it the BIOS screen showed up then it just sat at a blank screen with a little blinking line at the top corner of the screen like dos. I restarted the computer and tried to boot it into safe mode but it stopped loading at mup.sys. I tried to repair it with the windows disk but it also froze when it says starting windows. I switched out the hard drive and still had the same problem with the other hard drive. I haven't added any new hardware for a long time so I am not sure whats gone bad. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Laptop specs:
HP Pavilion zv6107
AMD Mobile Sempron 3200+ 1.8 GHz
1.5 GB DDR SDRAM
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M
80gb Hard Drive
Windows XP Home SP2

 

[cprince]

I think that your hard drive is failing or something else is wrong with your system. Are the fans running at maximum speed(real loud)? If so, you should clean the heatsink because your CPU is overheating.

 

[dogert]

The fans don't always run on maximum. Could it be dead cpu? It seems weird that i would partially work and then just stop. It seems like it can do easy stuff but then when it needs to work it just stops.

 

[cprince]

Originally posted by: dogert
The fans don't always run on maximum. Could it be dead cpu? It seems weird that i would partially work and then just stop. It seems like it can do easy stuff but then when it needs to work it just stops.

So, it'll run at light load, but when the CPU is at 100% load, it freezes? If this is so, then I think that the CPU is overheating. It's difficult the see the dirt from the outside, but all the dirty stuff accumulate on the inside near the fan. HP has service manual posted for most of its laptop. Use the service manual to open the case and clean the CPU fan. You should reapply thermal compound when you put everything back together. Be careful!!!

 

[dogert]

I cleaned out the dust from the heatsink, but could the cpu really overheat in 15 seconds? Something is just not letting the computer start windows. So do you think the problem is the processor? This laptop uses regular amd processors so I could get one pretty cheap.

 

[cprince]

Originally posted by: dogert
I cleaned out the dust from the heatsink, but could the cpu really overheat in 15 seconds? Something is just not letting the computer start windows. So do you think the problem is the processor? This laptop uses regular amd processors so I could get one pretty cheap.

The CPU could overheat in less than 15 seconds. However, I don't think that the processor is dead. It might be overheated, though. If you have a dead processor, your system would not turn on at all much less trying to boot windows. Have you tried a different Windows CD? Maybe your current CD is bad.

 

[dogert]

Yeah, i tried a different windows disk, and I also tried to install linux but it didn't work either. I am running out of ideas.

 

[cprince]

Something is seriously wrong with your hardware then. When you cleaned the CPU heatsink, did you take everything out completely and cleaned the CPU heatsink/fan from the inside out. Dirt accumulate on the inside of the heatsink near where the fan is located. Also, check for memory problem by running memtest86.

 

[dogert]

Yeah I cleaned out the heatsink pretty good. There was quite a bit of stuff in there. I ran memtest and it passed, I also ran some hard drive tests and they were all fine. It kinda seems like the computer cant communicate with the hard drive but then I wonder how it is able to run tests on it. I am thinking something maybe burned out on my motherboard because all the components seem to work fine.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: dogert
I tried to repair it with the windows disk but it also froze when it says starting windows. I switched out the hard drive and still had the same problem with the other hard drive.

How long did you let it sit there? Both new and old HDD's pause at the same screen? I've seen some pc's halt at "setup is starting windows" for 5 minutes before you have the option to press "R" for the recovery console.

What HDD tests did you run? Did you try F10 to run the built-in HP HDD diags?
Since you can pass Memtest your cpu, motherboard, and memory are functional.

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/67125/

 

[dogert]

Yeah same thing for both drives. I let it sit there on the windows setup for 20 minutes and it didn't do a thing. I ran the hp drive test, and I downloaded some ultimate boot disk thing that had various testing programs and all of them that I ran came out fine. This is one crazy problem!