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PC Posts fine, but won't boot

H

HepDude

Senior member
Hello,

My son's PC all of a sudden won't boot.

It posts fine all the way through the PNP configuration screen, and just where it should clear the screen and start Windows, nothing happens.

I've switched between several boot devices (floppy, CDROM, and HD) and none are actually read. For example, the floppy light or the HD light comes on, and stays on, and that's all.

I'm hoping someone has seen this before... Thanks!
 
so you cant even boot to dos from a floppy?

have you tried resetting the cmos?
you also may want to run memtest86 on your ram
 
I've now twice had it partially boot - all the way to putting up the Windows Wallpaper, but then fail to do the start menu, etc.

Before and since those two times, it continues to fail to boot (I've tried many of the usual things, ie removing all unnecessary boards, changing the IDE cable, clearing the CMOS, etc.).
 
What version of Windows are you running? Sounds to me as if either your MBR is corrupt (can be fixed with fdisk /mbr command) or your Windows became corrupt. If you have 2000/XP you may try and boot to installation CD-ROM and run repair.
 
Either corruption on maybe even bad spots on the harddrive...Can you boot to safe mode? Have you tried to run scandisk?
 
I don't think it is an MBR or Hard Disk problem, because when I disconnect the hard drive and boot to bootable CD-ROM, I still get the problem of where it just hangs without booting most of the time.

Remember that out of trying it dozens of times, it has only booted 2 or 3 times (and two of those times the hard drive was connected and that is when it only got as far as the wallpaper screen).
 
I have seen this before. In fact, it has happened to me on several occasions. When it does it once or twice and then works fine, its usually just a windows foul up. But when it does it constantly like you are describing, well, the last time that happened to me the hard drive cylinders were shot and I needed a new hard drive. Now I'm not saying that this is necessarilly the case. But, if I were you, I would try swapping out the hard drive and see what happens.
 
But, the same problem happens when I boot to CD-ROM - it gets partway and then freezes.

Other times, it fails to boot at all.
 
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