John
From your previous message and this one, my thought is that the most likely
cause is a hard drive that is starting to or has gone bad. It could be
mechanical or it could be some bad sectors and/or files. And as long as you
have the case open, there are other things you can check first or which you
might have already checked.
Make sure the power and data cables are firmly connected to the hard drive
and the motherboard. If the IDE controller is on a card, remove and firmly
reseat the card. Make sure ALL the cooling fans are operating and fairly
clean. Retry computer.
If the computer recognizes the hard drive in the CMOS/BIOS, try booting the
computer with the Windows XP installation CD. Go through the steps as if you
are going to reinstall XP. Early on in the process it will determine that XP
is already installed and will give you the option of "repairing" rather than
"installing" XP. Have it do the repair. It's been a while, but I think it
then restarts the computer and XP using the hard drive even though the
installation CD is in the CDROM drive. The XP installation includes a
compatibility check as one of the first steps and it might give some
hint(s).
If this works, run an up-to-date virus scan ASAP and, if you have a program
such as Norton Disk Doctor, run the equivalent of scandisk/chkdsk to check
on the health of the hard drive. It could be starting to go bad. Then run a
defragmentation program (take a well earned break while it is running).
If the hard drive checks out OK, your thoughts on the power supply could be
on target. Also, although unusual, the motherboard or RAM could be giving
out. I've had a motherboard go bad over time and I've heard of RAM going
bad. The RAM is used randomly as needed and a bad/weak portion of the RAM
could produce problems only when it is used. I've never heard of a properly
cooled CPU going bad though it probably happens. Depending upon your time
constraints, patience and access to other computer(s) and/or components,
everything can be checked through trial and error. However, it might be time
to bite the bullet and take it to a computer repair shop.
I hope this helps. I'm sure you will receive more suggestions from other
members also trying to help.
Tom Mayer
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Brooks" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2004 6:58 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] PC not booting properly
Thanks for the two responses I received. Unfortunately they didn't solve my
problem.
After my original post the computer worked with no problems for 5 days, but
today when it wouldn't boot up for a period of about two hours. At the
moment it is working.
The boot order is CD, Floppy, then HD.
Replacing the battery made no difference.
One thing that puzzles me about this is that the PC doesn't seem to crash,
shut down, or hang up. Instead it just seems to be operating but for some
reason the boot process doesn't advance. I have also had two times when it
quit working after Windows was loaded and working.
I am convinced that the problem is not related to the Windows OS because at
times it will not even get as far along in the boot process as looking for a
bootable CD or an operating system. Instead it shows the "Compaq Screen" for
several minutes and the reboots itself. At other times it may start to load
Windows and seems to be busy and doesn't gets beyond the WindowsXP Splash
Screen. This splash screen shows the Windows Logo with a small bar type
indicator that is constantly showing a motion from left to right but it
doesn't go beyond this point.
It acts as if it is working slooowly. Is it possible that the processor is
slowing down? That may sound crazy but that is the impression I get.
Another thought I have is some sort of a power supply problem. Can I check
the power supply with an old inexpensive VOM meter? Probably not since I
don't know what the proper voltages would be.
Any thoughts on the subject would be appreciated.
John Brooks
[log in to unmask]
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