2 Boot Problems

[pierre]

1) When I cold boot first thing, screen comes up with colours and lines
out of synch, out of focus; on restart everything is ok every time.

2) Have fitted an external drive; formatted NTSF (internal disc is FAT32
after upgrade from Win Me), 2 partitions, all works very well, except if I
forget to switch it off, next boot up locks up between "press DEL to enter
SETUP" and
"Esc to skip mem test" messages. Have then to turn ext disc off and press
reboot button.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[Gerry Cornell]

How much RAM? What processor speed?

What Error Reports in Event Viewer?


You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools,
Event Viewer.
When researching the meaning of the error, information regarding Event
ID, Source
and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the
error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two
pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now start your
message
(email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This will paste the
info from the
Event Viewer Error Report complete with links into the message. Make
sure this is
the first paste after exiting from Event Viewer.

Have you tested your memory? However, do not be taken in by offers of
memory booster!!!

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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[pierre]

How much RAM? What processor speed?

384 Mo Pentium III 1.00 GHz

What Error Reports in Event Viewer?

None relevant as this seems to start logging much later in the boot
sequence.

Have you tested your memory?

Yes, using MS Wind Memory Diag; all is well.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Pierre

384 mb RAM may not be ideal. 512 mb would be better.

Have you updated all drivers? If the machine was Windows ME this will be
important.

Have you tried a logged boot?
http://snipurl.com/jc8z

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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[GreenieLeBrun]

1) When I cold boot first thing, screen comes up with colours and lines
out of synch, out of focus; on restart everything is ok every time.

Is this happening during the POST phase of startup or once XP is
starting?

2) Have fitted an external drive; formatted NTSF (internal disc is FAT32
after upgrade from Win Me), 2 partitions, all works very well, except if I
forget to switch it off, next boot up locks up between "press DEL to enter
SETUP" and
"Esc to skip mem test" messages. Have then to turn ext disc off and press
reboot button.

If your machine is locking up at this stage then it is NOT an XP
problem it is something to do with your BIOS settings.

Press DEL and enter the BIOS look to see if your BIOS permits legacy
USB devices (I am assuming that your external drive is a USB drive),
also see if your BIOS can actually see your external drive.

 

[Sparda]

1) When I cold boot first thing, screen comes up with
colours and lines
out of synch, out of focus; on restart everything is ok every
time.

2) Have fitted an external drive; formatted NTSF (internal
disc is FAT32
after upgrade from Win Me), 2 partitions, all works very well,
except if I
forget to switch it off, next boot up locks up between "press
DEL to enter
SETUP" and
"Esc to skip mem test" messages. Have then to turn ext disc
off and press
reboot button.

Any ideas?
Thanks

Unplug the hard drive, some times if you just unplug the power to a
hard drive but leave the data connector connected the BIOS will "lock
up" looking for the device, mine dose this.

 

[pierre]

Is this happening during the POST phase of startup or once XP is
starting?

Happens well before XP load. However now think this must be a hardware
problem because it does not occur if I cold boot when PC is still warm; only
occurs after PC has been off a few hours. Will dismantle and maybe fit Video
card into another slot.

If your machine is locking up at this stage then it is NOT an XP
problem it is something to do with your BIOS settings.

I agree

Press DEL and enter the BIOS look to see if your BIOS permits legacy
USB devices (I am assuming that your external drive is a USB drive),
also see if your BIOS can actually see your external drive.

Have looked, but not too sure what is what.
On chip USB is enabled
USB Keyboard support is disabled
Assign IRQ for USB is enabled

Should I "Reset Configuration Data"? ie set this to enabled for one boot-up.

Pierre

 

[pierre]

Sparda wrote

Unplug the hard drive, some times if you just unplug the power to a
hard drive but leave the data connector connected the BIOS will "lock
up" looking for the device, mine dose this.

Is this not what I'm doing when I boot up with the power switched off? Boots
up ok this way, but would like it to boot up when power is on. ie mine locks
up when power is on, not when it is off.

Pierre

 

[pierre]

Gerry Cornell wrote

Have you updated all drivers? If the machine was Windows ME this will be
important.

Have installed SP2 via automatic update, so many drivers updated. Have
updated video driver from nVidia site.

Have you tried a logged boot?

Have tried this, but no problem given re video card or screen. However,
cannot get log report when I boot with ext drive power on as sequence locks
up before I reach stage when I can press F8 to ask for boot log.

Pierre