Computer Start up issue

[rory 0]

not a DVR .. but maybe someone has seen this before ..

 

PC is a fairly new build, SATA HDD, AMD 1800+, etc .. less than a year old .. I didnt build it but client is having some issues as ofa couple days ago .. basically sometimes it boots to windows, sometimes it doesnt and requires a restart a couple times before it does .. it was a clean windows XP SP2 install a month ago .. used SATA Drivers and all worked great . .. no errors of any kind.

 

Cleaned up windows completely and that is good ... dont know if it is a Mobo or HDD issue .. but dont get any HDD errors at all .. it almost looks like it goes to boot to windows but then doesnt .. like the screen flickers before it would show the XP logo .. but it just goes blank .. using CTL-ALT-DEL normally makes it boot right away .. or sometimes requires that a couple times. .

 

Any ideas? Its an Asus K7 something mobo ..

 

Thanks

Rory

[CollinR 0]

Okay when you installed the SATA drivers did you stop the XP install process by pressing F6 to do it?

 

If not you may be in for another fresh install.

 

This goes with your RAID questions, you MUST install that stuff before the OS. Kinda like the old W95/98 days, it sucks I know. I don't think there is a workaround.

 

With SATA 90% of the time it doesn't cause a problem, BUT you will not be able to achieve full throughput on that bus. This might result it lots of replies.

 

Another thing, if you don't have much Abit/Asus experience (you should get some. ) , those boards are madefor tweaking. You should verify that whomever setup the BIOS did it properly. You should have no overclocking of any of the buses until these type issues are gone.

[kensplace 0]

My girlfriends pc suffers from exactly the same problem, its got 1 80gig ide drive, ecs mobo (same one as I use with no problems) and xp1700 processor (or 1800 cant recall offhand).

 

Boots till it should get the windows screen then often just goes blank, have to restart a couple of times to get it in. Usually I find leaving it off for a few seconds longer than normal will get it in after a couple of attempts.

 

The only thing that I know of that is wrong with the pc, is the battery holder is dodgy (common fault on those mobos) and it often forgets the cmos settings, but it still does it after you enter setup and correct them.

 

I have a feeling thats the problem with hers, as when the battery was not loose, it didnt have the problem... Will have to try and prise her away from the pc sometime to see if I can fix the battery holder.

 

Check the mobo, maybe put a new battery in just out of curiousity, see if any difference. Also check the bios, make sure memory settings are not set to high.

[rory 0]

Sata Drivers were installed before windows .. had to as did not see the HDD otherwise ... it has the Sata Raid thing when you click TAB when it first boots ... though Raid isnt being used. The bios is default settings, nothing much, went through it all and is okay.

[rpogge 0]

First of all, does the mobo have onboard sata, or are you using a sata pci card? If onboard there is no reason to install sata drivers prior to windows.

 

It should see the drive if the port is enabled in the bios.

 

Thats possibly whats bunking it up. You only need to do that if you have a controller card, or raid.

 

Otherwise sounds like a bad mobo.

[rory 0]

Its on board, when you install windows it came up saying install Floppy for Sata .. as it didnt see the HDD ... after that it installed perfect .. it just started doing this now ...

[rpogge 0]

It sounds like you have just tried to "clean up windows" and not reintall or anything?

 

Run a repair on windows. boot from your xp cd as if installing, skip the first repair prompt and if you were going to install fresh, then when the second prompt comes for repair choose that. It will reinstall all of the windows system files. documents and programs should still be intact.

 

Backup important files first just in case.

 

If that doesnt work its likely hardware issues.

 

first and simplest thing to try is reseating ALL connections, power, ide, sata, ram, cards, everything.

 

second thing you can try is removing all cards and drives except for your main hardisk, and just try and boot the motherboard with proccessor, ram, and a single HD. if that works well, then start reconnecting things till you get the problem again.

 

after that you are gonna have to start swapping out hardware to find the problem.

 

motherboards rarely go bad after the first month or so, Id guess hardisk first. I would swap the power supply first as it is the easiest, then the hardisk, then as a last resort the motherboard.

Edited November 10, 2006 by Guest

[rory 0]

No .. this was a clean install a month or so ago .. everything worked fine .. until a couple days ago when it started doing this ...

[rpogge 0]

Well, Id try a windows repair. Its the easiest thing to try.

 

Its either corupt system files, or hardware failure.

 

With the amount of malware out there these days, its highly likely its the first rather than the later.

[rory 0]

I thought about malware so I did a thourough clean up .. only found some minimal adware .. but I think Ill tell him if it keeps doing it then Id need a day or 2 with it to see what the issue is ..

 

thanks to all

[CollinR 0]

Really it could be quite a few things at this point but it sounds like you have covered all your bases.

 

With SATA 90% of the time it doesn't cause a problem, BUT you will not be able to achieve full throughput on that bus. This might result it lots of replies.

 

 

[compuexpert 0]

I would check the power supply,go to bios in system "health monitor" or something and check the voltages,also check the temperatures.

Also check the memory timings with everest and put them manual in bios.