weird problem

[raygunpk]

When I tried to fire up my computer today it froze on the Windows loading screen with the blue bar. I went into safe mode, which only worked after the 3rd time...managed to the a System restore back to a few days ago when I'm sure it was working fine.

I restarted and tried going back to normal windows, same frozen screen. I ran Recovery Console and did a chkdsk. When that finished it I went through the cycle again and the problem was still there.

Then I went back to safe mode, and that works but the first thing that comes up is Restoration complete.

Any clues on how to get back to normal Windows?

Thanks guys!

 

[Smilin]

...worked after the 3rd time

Hardware issue. Software boot problems will fail every time or not at all.

 

[raygunpk]

I can get into safe mode fine the last few times I have tried, but no luck with normal booting. Could it be the boot records that are damaged?

 

[lxskllr]

Try reinstalling your major drivers. Chipset, gfx, sound... and see if you can get in then.

 

[Smilin]

If it's a freeze and not a bugcheck (f8 to turn off auto reboot) is it freezing in the exact same spot every time?

You can try an msconfig clean boot which is a subset of a normal boot that is larger than the safemode subset. That will narrow it down some.

If that fails try safemode with networking (which is just a very tiny superset of safemode).

Just as an extra hint though if you are freezing during that VGA windows XP screen with the little "block bar" that is the moment in the boot process when system (start type 1) drivers and services that were loaded by ntldr are being initialized.

There are only a few start type one services and most of them are built in MS services. Not likely the culprit. There are a lot of start type 1 drivers though. Making an educated guess then disabling some of these will likely be your temporary solution.

I can't recall an easy way to list them in safemode (sorry..been a while since I was fixing dead servers for a living) but you can get a list fairly easily in recovery console with listsvc command. It will give them a start type label. Again you're looking for "system" or start type 1 drivers.

The long way is to check the registry. look in hklm\system\ccs\services. There will be a value for every service (aka driver or service) called "start". You're looking for the 1s.

Ultimately though you are still troubleshooting hardware and all this is basically to find the corresponding driver to disable for a misbehaving device. There are some other brute force methods like unplugging or removing components not essential to boot (soundcard, nic etc).

All that said, if it is NOT freezing in the same spot but varies slightly I would take a look at power. Systems that are cranky to boot but otherwise remain stable are often having undervoltage or other power problems.


k, that was wordy. Wish I was there. This is much easier to do than explain. Good luck!

 

[raygunpk]

Originally posted by: Smilin
If it's a freeze and not a bugcheck (f8 to turn off auto reboot) is it freezing in the exact same spot every time?

You can try an msconfig clean boot which is a subset of a normal boot that is larger than the safemode subset. That will narrow it down some.

If that fails try safemode with networking (which is just a very tiny superset of safemode).

Just as an extra hint though if you are freezing during that VGA windows XP screen with the little "block bar" that is the moment in the boot process when system (start type 1) drivers and services that were loaded by ntldr are being initialized.

There are only a few start type one services and most of them are built in MS services. Not likely the culprit. There are a lot of start type 1 drivers though. Making an educated guess then disabling some of these will likely be your temporary solution.

I can't recall an easy way to list them in safemode (sorry..been a while since I was fixing dead servers for a living) but you can get a list fairly easily in recovery console with listsvc command. It will give them a start type label. Again you're looking for "system" or start type 1 drivers.

The long way is to check the registry. look in hklm\system\ccs\services. There will be a value for every service (aka driver or service) called "start". You're looking for the 1s.

Ultimately though you are still troubleshooting hardware and all this is basically to find the corresponding driver to disable for a misbehaving device. There are some other brute force methods like unplugging or removing components not essential to boot (soundcard, nic etc).

All that said, if it is NOT freezing in the same spot but varies slightly I would take a look at power. Systems that are cranky to boot but otherwise remain stable are often having undervoltage or other power problems.


k, that was wordy. Wish I was there. This is much easier to do than explain. Good luck!

That's exactly where it hangs, the blue bar goes on eternally.

I went into msconfig on safe mode and did the diagnostic boot, still does not work.

I went into the boot.ini tab and checked off /sos. After loading a bunch of stuff too fast for me to see, it goes to a blue screen that tells me the Windows version, build and SP, and on the next line "2 system processors [2047MB Memory} Multiprocessor kernel.

And there is where it stops responding completely.

 

[raygunpk]

Ok I found out I have a Samsung HDD so I got the utility and booted that up. I'm doing the diagnostic scan right now and so far it has found an "Ecc error". I did a quick search and found out somebody had the exact same problem as me with Windows hanging on the loading splash screen. He said it was from a power outage, that could have happened to my computer as well...or maybe it was accidentally unplugged by somebody in the house.

He also said he fixed it through Recovery Console...now I've run chkdsk already and the same problem happened. Is there anything else I can do through there?

 

[raygunpk]

After finished scanning with the Samsung utility, I can't get into safe mode. It freezes after the line that contains ivicd.sys.

Sigh..

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: raygunpk
After finished scanning with the Samsung utility, I can't get into safe mode. It freezes after the line that contains ivicd.sys.

Sigh..

So.. not looking good bro.

Can you be more specific about the ECC error? Thats a memory error but I'm not sure what memory...system or hdd cache or what. If system, grab a stick of known good memory from another box and try a boot with it in each slot. If hdd, it's probably time to abandon that drive. Samsung may have a utility to disable onboard cache (would be slow but it would work long enough to get data). Kindof a longshot.

There are a fair number of search hits out there for ivicd.sys. It looks like a CD/DVD filter driver. It may be a red herring but it's a clue worth looking into. For brute force you could unplug your cd/dvd or disable it in bios.

Did you try stripping down to just the essentials on hardware (unplug all usb devices etc?). Check seating of cables and connectors and blast out any dustbunnies.

Then try this:
1. boot into recovery console. Run a chkdsk /r. make a note of the results. If the word unrecoverable appears anywhere it's bad. Pages and pages of corrections are bad. Anything else is good.
2. Use listsvc to find that ivicd.sys. Use the disable command to disable it. Try a boot. If no luck, try a boot into VGA mode.

If that doesn't do it, you're gonna have to start swapping some hardware components I think.

 

[raygunpk]

If I move the hard drive to another working computer, can I swap working Windows files from the good drive to the bad?

 

[raygunpk]

-Tried to do a Repair Windows installation using an original Windows cd, so it was SP1 when I had SP2. I tried a Windows XP Pro SP2 cd but there was no repair option so I went to my original, which was Home.

-Through the install there was a few errors such as COM+, directdb.dll, inetcomm.dll,msoe.dll and wab32.dll. I clicked okay with all of them and installation completed fine.

-After restarting, loading would be REALLY slow, and actually wouldn't go past the wallpaper. I checked task manager and explorer.exe isn't even there.

-Went into safe mode, which was super slow as well, and same thing with the no icons. Ran safe mode with Command prompt and opened system restore, only to find no restore points.


I am now at a loss as to what I should do. I can't even get into safe mode and check out the registry or msconfig.

 

[raygunpk]

Got my hands on a Sp3 Windows Home cd, and got it to the Installing files screen where it shows a Do you wish to install this non verified SoundMAX HD audio driver, and it freezes.

This is TERRIBLE.