Windows crashes intermittently at the splash screen

[Icepick]

I could use some help with trouble shooting my PC. I have an intermittent problem where Windows XP PRO crashes on the splash screen while loading. What I mean is that when I either do a cold boot or a warm restart the blue bar on the Windows splash screen stops moving and it will just hang there. Then if I warm reset it sometimes Windows will finish loading and sometimes it won't. The fact that I can get into Windows 75% of the time has me stumped.

At first I thought it was due to my overclock but, I reset all hardware to stock speeds in BIOS so there's no more overclock. Then I thought there might be a driver problem since the PC always posts but hangs while Windows is loading on the Windows splash screen. So last night I formatted my SATA hard drive (connected to SATA port 3 on my mobo) and reinstalled Windows.

During the new driver install process I'd restart the computer as instructed by the driver install programs and again, it would hang while loading Windows. So the problem persists even with a fresh install.

Can anyone help me determine what the problem could be? If Windows hangs before it finishes loading is that indicative of a software or hardware problem? Here's my hardware:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Winchester, week 37 at stock speed)
Thermalright XP-90 w/Vantec Stealth
MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum
OCZ EL PC3200 2-3-2-6-1T (2x512MB)
BFG 6800GT (stock speed, 66.93 driver)
Samsung 160GB SATA
Western Digital 40GB IDE
NEC 16XDL ND-3500A DVD/RW
Matshita 4x DVD ROM
Antec SLK3700-BQE
Antec TrueBlue 480W (12V=28A)
Coolermaster Aerogate II fan controller
Sony G220R 19"
Windows XP PRO - SP2

 

[madthumbs]

Could be your ram timings.

 

[Tarrant64]

Hmm. I had a similar problem not too long ago. For some reason whenever I did a cold boot, it would hang on the install. I only seem to have the problem when moving my desktop let's say to another room, and it's been off for more than 10min or so. I'd plug it all back in and it would just hang over and over again. then maybe on the 10th try it would boot up.

I'm trying to remember exactly what the problem was. I did a system restore/repair(from the windows installation menu, second uption, not the first) and it started up again. I do believe that it is related to a driver problem. I was OC'ed as well and took everything back down to stock and it didn't help. So I don't think it's that. If you think it's the OC you can always reset your mobo(do that pin thing to reset it, should be located near the cmos battery or something, and if you can't find it it's in your mobo manual), and that will clear any settings that aren't stock.

Good luck!

 

[Icepick]

Thanks for the tips guys. Like you Tarrant64, I'm leaning towards it being a driver issue. One thing I have yet to do is upgrade to the latest nForce chipset drivers from the nvidia web site. The chipset drivers from the MSI CD are installed now. I'll do this tonight. Hopefully it will fix it.

 

[kylef]

If this is a brand new rig, it could be any number of things.

Freezes can occur from very odd culprits. For instance, I had a motherboard that did not like a specific brand of Radeon 9700 Pro and would freeze during the boot process at non-deterministic times. When I switched to another brand of 9700 Pro, the problem completely went away.

That was obviously a hardware compatibility issue... It would occasionally freeze before drivers were even being loaded.

The only way to diagnose these problems is to remove components from your system one by one until the problem goes away. You can't trust anything... not even the video card.

 

[Icepick]

WOO HOO!! After formatting the hard drive and doing a fresh install of Windows XP last night and two hours of trouble shooting tonight it's fixed! It turned out to be the POS DVD ROM I ripped out of my 7 year old Gateway computer. Once I disconnected it there were no more crashes!!!

So the root problem I think is one of three things.
1. The correct driver for the Matshita DVD ROM was not installed or
2. The drive itself is flaky or
3. The rounded IDE cable that came with the MSI motherboard is a POS.

Either way I'm just happy the problem is fixed.

Kylef, you were right on with the suggestion that it could be a hardware problem. Thanks!