Re: blue screen of nothing

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"Tom Hall" <aria1946@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:kc22m49qqvnbbjh6hgmms9uh4lgjo44k4e@xxxxxxxxxx
XP Pro SP3 here.

Coincidentally or not, since installing the critical update that Microsoft
released outside of its normal update schedule before Christmas, my
computer will no longer shut down or restart by itself.

The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is left but a
blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) - and it
stops
there.

I've tried uninstalling the critical update and even uninstalled video
drivers I had previously installed to support an ATI Radeon HD 4870
graphics card I had added about a week prior to the appearance of the
problem.

Neither of these worked. The system will not power down for either a
shutdown or restart.

The system is basically an Intel system, about 4 years old now:

CPU Type Unknown, 3000 MHz (3.75 x 800)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale-G i915G/GL/GV
System Memory 2016 MB
BIOS Type AMI (04/29/05)

When the room is quiet, I can hear disk activity for a few seconds after
the screen clears, then eventually it stops. I've left the system in this
state for as long as several hours and returned to find it unchanged.

My understanding is that it's probably a hardware issue (powerdown) rather
than a software (shutdown-restart) issue, but I'm not a hardware guy so I
don't know how to troubleshoot the problem.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Tom


Tom:
The very first order of priority for you is to back up any data that you
want or need from your HDD. Needless to say the backup should be to another
HDD or some removable media, e.g., flash drive, CD/DVD, etc.

Just to clarify the precise nature of the problem you're experiencing...

1. You state "The system proceeds through the usual process until nothing is
left but a blue screen and the mouse cursor (which is still functional) -
and it stops there." This tends to indicate that you're referring to the
*bootup* process, i.e., the boot fails so that you never reach the desktop.
Is that so?

2. But then you indicate (as diagnostic procedures) that you've uninstalled
some MS critical updates and a graphics driver which (one or the other) you
suspected of causing your problem. So that tends to indicate you've been
able to boot to a Desktop, yes?

3. I assume you've since reinstalled the (current) ATI graphics driver for
your video card or are you working with the previously installed driver?

3. Then you indicate (that at some point) "the screen clears". Could you
more clearly explain that comment? Are you indicating that the "blue screen"
disappears and the Desktop screen appears?

4. And could you explain more precisely the fact that "(t)he system will not
power down for either a
shutdown or restart."? I take it you're referring to the situation where
nothing happens when you try a normal "Turn Off Computer" routine, i.e.,
neither pressing the Turn Off or Restart buttons work. So you're forced to
use the PC's power button to shutdown. Is that it?

5. I assume this is a desktop PC, right? Is it an OEM machine (make/model?)
or did you build it? Assuming it is a desktop PC do you know your way around
the "innards" of a machine?

6. Re the XP OS installation CD you have - full retail version? non-branded
OEM? Recovery/restore disk if such was provided by OEM with your machine?

7. And, of course, you're reasonably certain your system is malware-free,
yes?

It's hard, if not impossible (at least for me), to tell at this point
whether the problem is hardware or software-related. Possibly it's just a
mildly-corrupted OS problem that can be corrected through the sfc /scannow
and/or the chkdsk /r processes. Have you tried them? And if that's a no-go
then possibly a Repair install of the OS will resolve your problem.
Obviously all this assumes the problem involves a corrupted OS and is not
hardware-related. And further assumes you get a functional boot so that
those commands can be invoked from within a running system.

It would be a good idea to check out your HDD in the meantime with the
freely available HDD diagnostic utility usually available from the
manufacturer of the disk. Just on the off-chance that we may be dealing with
a defective disk.

Anyway, in view of my above questions (and if you want to further pursue
this matter along the lines of my questions), would you provide a precise
step-by-step description of the problem starting with the time you first
power-on the machine, through the time the problem arises, describing
exactly what happens at that time, and then describing your actions with
respect to shutting down the machine?
Anna


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