Re: Boot \ Start Up problem

anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com
Date: 03/04/04 

Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 16:50:53 -0800

Hi Nick

I've been looking into ntfs.sys failures on different
forums and the MS knowledge base, it appears there are
three possible causes:

1. Bad memory (it doesn't say whether Graphic card memory
can cause the problem though)
2. Bad Clusters in the HDD
3. Corrupt MBR

I think I've ruled out the RAM but just in case I've just
downloaded a memory tester, will keep informed.

According to Norton Diskdoctor and WinXP *** check, I
have 0 bad clusters in my HDD.

Apparently problem 3 can only be solved one of three ways

1. using the Repair facility in Win XP to rename the
ntfs.sys file and replace it with a new one.
2. Reparition the whole HDD, in my case thats 4 drives
and when I did the reinstall I only repartitioned the C
drive.
3. Use GDisk to uninstall and reinstall the MBR.

As for CPU temp, I monitor this all the time.

CPU is a P4 2.4MHz and it runs at low load at a constant
39C and at high load at a constant 49C

Motherboard temperate remains constant at around 31C.

The one hot spot in the PC is the graphics card, this
runs at 45C at low load and upto 70C at high load.

Will keep you informed and look forward to hearing your
thoughts

Alex

>-----Original Message-----
>
>"Alex" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
>news:657801c40156$e8fb8730$a401280a@phx.gbl...
>> Hi Nick and Kyle
>>
>> Kyle:
>> I have 4 X 512Mb ram blocks, I removed three blocks and
>> tried booting up the PC but the problem remained. I
then
>> repeated the process for the remaining 3 blocks, with
no
>> affect.
>>
>>
>> Nick:
>> If I hold the power button down for 5 seconds the PC
does
>> shut down, any clues?
>>
>>
>> During one of the fatal blue screens today, it actually
>> mentioned a couple of files, ntfs.sys and classpnp.sys
>> and it also stated that there was a page fault in a
>> nonpaged area.
>>
>> All guessed gratefully received
>>
>> Alex
>>
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >Will it turn off if you hold the power button in for 5
>> seconds or more...?
>> >
>> >"Alex" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message
>> >news:5ef801c40105$8b1e0080$a301280a@phx.gbl...
>> >> Hi everyone
>> >>
>> >> I have a Windows XP Pro + SP1 based PC which I built
>> over
>> >> a year ago, and I'm currently experiencing the
>> following
>> >> problems when I switch no my PC from cold (i.e. PC
has
>> >> been shut down and switched off at the mains for at
>> least
>> >> 2 hours):
>> >>
>> >> Switch On PC from cold
>> >> Monitor has a black screen and can't determine
whether
>> the
>> >> signal is analogue or digital, and the PC itself
gets
>> >> stuck in a continuous initialisation loop of all the
>> >> CD\DVD drives and the hard drive. The restart and
the
>> >> power buttons do not work; I have to turn the mains
>> off to
>> >> restart the PC.
>> >>
>> >> Restart 1
>> >> Motherboard splash screen appears on the monitor
>> >> (sometimes repeats above) and system hangs (pressing
>> the
>> >> DEL button does not enter bios setup)
>> >>
>> >> Restart 2
>> >> Motherboard splash screen appears, PC hangs but this
>> time
>> >> the DEL key allows you to enter the bios settings.
>> Check
>> >> the bios settings to find they have changed, not
>> always,
>> >> the same changes but it appears that RAID and Boot
>> >> settings are affected the most. Change the settings
>> and
>> >> Exit. This has happened that much since changing
the
>> >> bios, generally just go straight to exit and save.
>> >>
>> >> Restart 3
>> >> Splash screen appears followed by, safe mode
selection
>> >> screen. Sometimes, choosing start in Safe Mode or
>> Start
>> >> Normally will work and windows will start.
>> >>
>> >> However, what's happening now is from the safe mode
>> >> selection screen it tries to boot windows and then
>> >> displays a blue screen stating that there has been a
>> fatal
>> >> driver conflict (not sure how this can be the
problem
>> >> seeing the PC has been working fine for over a year)
>> and
>> >> the system freezes.
>> >>
>> >> Restart 4
>> >> After the system freeze the PC boots to the safe
mode
>> >> selection screen and freezes as soon as I select an
>> >> option. Even if I wait for the timer to hit zero it
>> >> freezes.
>> >>
>> >> Several Restarts Later
>> >> The PC finally loads windows, but the problems
haven't
>> >> finished there. If I have the auto restart feature
>> turned
>> >> on then the PC has a tendency to restart every 30
>> minutes
>> >> or so. If I turn off the auto restart feature then
the
>> >> PC, blue screens with the fatal driver error.
However,
>> >> now that PC has warmed up it appears to restart
without
>> >> any problems.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Solutions tried so far with no joy:
>> >> At present I have upgraded the motherboard bios as
>> >> recommended by the manufacturer.
>> >> I have deleted the C Drive Partition, re-created the
>> >> partition, formatted C and reinstalled XP from new.
>> >>
>> >> No new hardware has been added since building the PC
>> and
>> >> the last software added was back in November last
year.
>> >>
>> >> My personal thoughts are it's a hardware failure,
>> either
>> >> Power Supply, Motherboard or Graphics card. I can't
>> see
>> >> how it can be a driver conflict issue at this stage
of
>> the
>> >> game; surely a driver conflict would have raised its
>> head
>> >> sooner?
>> >>
>> >> I'd be most grateful if someone could give me some
>> hints
>> >> as to where to go next. Do I start replacing
hardware,
>> >> and if so what?
>> >>
>> >> Should I install my old Windows 2000 instead?
>> >>
>> >> Any hints, tips or guidance of any sort will be
>> gratefully
>> >> received.
>> >>
>> >> regards
>> >>
>> >> Alex
>> >
>> >
>A lot of stuff here to digest, but same problem with a
format and
>reinstall..?
>Looks like you elimated the ram.
>I have had bad CPU do all of the above.
>
>Bad Cpu: during fresh install, lock up, corrupt date,
bad registry and never
>the same thing twice.
>
>Can you monitor your cpu temp..?
>
>I would pull all card sept video and see what you get.
>Reseat your video.
>Swap power supply and the video.
>I will reread your post aft dinner and see if I can
thing of anything else.
>It's nice to have loads of junk pc stuff around for
stuff like this. Later
>on.
>
>
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>