Re: Windows XP Pro Boot Issues

From: Malke (malke_at_nospoonnotreally.com)
Date: 09/11/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 09:37:20 -0700

Onyeka wrote:

See my comments inline:

> When i attempt to boot, it will proceed to the first windows boot
> screen where there is the windows XP logo and the progress bar
> underneath it. Usually after this stage, the computer will go into
> what i like to call "zombie state". The monitor will go blank and its
> LED will begin flashing rather than the usual steady on. All keyboard
> lights will go out and the computer will not recieve any further
> input. It will no longer eject the cd
> drives or retract them. However i can hear the processor and power
> source fans still going and the power light on the computer is still
> on.
>
> The only option after this is to do power down the computer by holding
> the
> power button. After at least 6 attempts where the first problem
> occurs, the computer will actually make it to the welcome screen but
> then do the same state. This time, the optical mouse's lights, which
> go on after the first windows screen, also go off.

This sounds like a hardware problem. Could be the power supply, bad RAM,
bad motherboard, bad video card, bad processor.
>
> After getting the the welcome screen, the computer will usually
> continue to get the the welcome screen and hang but occaisionally will
> hang at the first windows screen and hang there the next 4 times at
> least.
 
> The only way i've been able to boot is to let the computer get to the
> welcome screen and then boot from the XP pro cd and use the fixboot
> command in the recovery console. Upon restarting with the fixboot
> command the computer will also get to the desktop however about 20% of
> the time will go into zombie state within 15 seconds of displaying the
> desktop. When the computer does properly boot up, it will go into
> zombie state when no processor intensive program is running. If i
> leave winamp running with shuffle and repeat on, the computer stays
> regular for upwards of 8 hours. But any times i've left the computer
> with nothing running, when i return an hour later, its back in zombie
> state.
>
> My first question is if this is for sure a windows problem or if it
> could be a hardware problem? The only hardware component i can think
> of that could be malfunctioning to cause this is the hard drive. But
> would htat malfunctionaly produce these seemingly random errors?

This certainly does sound like a hardware problem. Actually, the last
thing I think would be the cause is the hard drive. To determine for
sure if it is hardware or Windows, you can do two things:

1. Test the hardware (see below for general hardware troubleshooting
steps).

2. Boot with a different operating system. Get Knoppix, a Linux distro
that runs from cd. Boot with it, and if you have the same problems you
know it isn't hardware.

> Second question is whether this could for sure be fixed by a clean
> install. The reason this is a concern is because i've lost since lost
> my original windows xp cd ( 2 years of moving in and out of college
> housing). I've purchased a student copy of XP pro however this copy is
> limited to 2 installs. I've already burned on by attempting to repair
> the previous installation. ..

If you have hardware problems, you need to fix them. Installing software
on bad hardware won't work. Here are the general hardware
troubleshooting steps:

1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing); 2) test
the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com - let the test run
for an extended (like overnight) period of time - unless errors are
seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from
the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for
the devices you have in the system so swap it out for a known-working
one; 5) test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out
suspected parts with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing
yourself and/or are uncomfortable opening your computer, take the
machine to a good local computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy
type of store).

Good luck, and post back if you need help with any of the hardware
testing.

Malke 

-- 
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"