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Serious XP Booting Issue. Can't figure out how to fix.

M

ManDeJapan

Senior member
Dear Techies,

I've been having this problem for quite some time now, but I'm just beginning to realize what it may be related too. Sometimes when my computer tries to boot up, it freezes in a black screen right after the windows xp splash screen. What I used to do when I had that problem, was go into my computer and remove my soundblaster audigy platinum soundcard from the pci slot and then restart the computer, at which point it would start properly. (of course this was after trying to fix the problem through many different options at first such as safe mode, rebooting to windows last good configuration, etc) None of those worked.

Since removing this soundcard from the pci slot always tended to solve the problem, I decided to get a new soundcard hoping that I wouldn't have that boot up problem anymore. I bought the audigy extigy with the usb port soundcard because I was thinking...well if I do have the problem, it'll be much easier for me to just unplug the usb port plug for the external soundcard and restart the computer. Unfortunately I did continue to have the same problem and when I tried unplugging the soundcard that didn't solve the problem.

What did solve the problem though was that I removed the ethernet card from the pci slot. At that point I was pretty confident that there may be some configuration with the pci slots that I have set incorrectly. At a later time though, the problem happened again and I had to unplug the ethernet card as well as unplug the power to my pioneer cd-rw drive to solve the problem. Then at another time when I got the boot up problem, I decided to try and just unplug the power for the cd-rw drive and that also worked (a couple of days ago that didn't work).


I have an Epox 8k7a+ motherboard with 512mb ddr ram and two western digital 40gb hard drives hooked up.
My motherboard has 7 pci slots and I'm using the first one (top one) for my video card right now and the 3rd one for my ethernet card.

Do you guys have any suggestions or ideas as to what the problem may be or how I can solve it? It may be some setting in the bios or something to do with pci slot configuration, but I'm not really sure what to do. Please help if you have any suggestions. This rebooting is really taking up a lot of my time. 🙂 I appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Mike
 
1: Look up your motherboard on their web site and get the latest BIOS and associated installation program and update your BIOS.
2: While there, get the latest drivers for you motherboard and install them.
3: Also, while there, check out which slots are shared with which other slots and make sure this is not causing a hidden conflict.

4: Check your voltage output(s) in CMOS Setup and make sure they are in line with what they should be. In any case, consider upgrading your Power Supply as that is a likely suspect when disabling items helps a no-start problem that is not resolved with driver updates.

 
Originally posted by: SwampsterFL
1: Look up your motherboard on their web site and get the latest BIOS and associated installation program and update your BIOS.
2: While there, get the latest drivers for you motherboard and install them.
3: Also, while there, check out which slots are shared with which other slots and make sure this is not causing a hidden conflict.

4: Check your voltage output(s) in CMOS Setup and make sure they are in line with what they should be. In any case, consider upgrading your Power Supply as that is a likely suspect when disabling items helps a no-start problem that is not resolved with driver updates.
Click to expand...

I did all of these things except I couldn't find info about "slots and hidden conflicts".
I've still been having this problem and the only solution that seems to work most of the time is unplugging one of the cards from a pci slot like the 3com ethernet card I have. Currently I am using:
Top Slot: Video Card
3rd Slot: Ethernet Card

And that's it. I'm guessing that this problem is related to the other issue I've posted about installing a new hard drive that won't boot either. Anyone ever have similar problems or have any possible idea of what could be causing this freeze up during the booting process?

Thanks,
Mike

Other related post is installation of new 160gb hd boot issue
 
If you think it is a resource or driver conflict, boot in safe mode and see if it does it.
Also, take a look in the event viewer.

I wonder why I goes away as soon as you open it up and mess around.
What happens if you turn the power switch off and cycle the power, then turn the power switch back on and try to boot?
Could moving the computer around be causing a poor connection to make contact? Try taking the RAM out at reinstalling it.

The randomness of it has me thinking it isn't a windows issue, or a hardware problem with any of the items you have connected to it. I would be trying to narrow it down to Mainboard, RAM, maybe something to do where it's located...take a step back and see if there's anything we can't see. It's doesn't have magnets all over the case, or is sitting next to a 500 watt speaker or something? It doesn't happen right after electrical storms, does it? How about brown outs? Do the lights ever dim in the house?

I hope you figure it out. That'd be driving me insane... 😉
 
I'm not too sure about your exact setup, etc. But seeing as you have a t-bird it is possible that you have a motherboard with either a 686B South Bridge and/or built in sound capabilities?


686B South Bridge:
Once upon a time the 686B south bridge was not compatable with Sound blaster cards, atleast during windows install... Bios/firmware upgrades fixed the problem.

Built in sound (onboard sound):
Make sure it is disabled. If it is on, then that easily could be your problem.
 
How do I know if I have the 686B Southbridge in my mobo? I think I see that mine says AC97 or something like that. I used to have serious issue with that back when I had the soundblaster platinum card so I think I did disable it.

Should I disable the AC97 onboard soundcard or legacy stuff through the bios? I know my mobo has an onboard soundcard. What do you think I should do and how should I go about it doing it?

Thanks wjsulliv.

Also SpookyFish, I don't think I have any serious magnets around my computer, but I will check on the memory connections. It's just weird how what it takes usually to get it to work is to disconnect and then reconnect one of the cards in a pci slot. Thanks for all of your help too!
 
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