Unique Freezing Problem

[nanumula]

I have a 1.0GHZ Athlon desktop w/ 256 MB RAM running XP Pro. It sit
on a raised platform and by accident fell off and hit the floor whil
it was running and then froze. I am now having problems even gettin
it to turn on. When I do (which appears to be purely random), i
starts to load up windows and occasionally freezes during the Window
XP logo loading screen. Other times, it will load windows and freez
within a few seconds or a minute if I'm lucky. I tried booting t
CD-ROM and using the Windows repair function, but it even freeze
during that! So now when I turn on my computer it says it needs t
finish the Windows repair, except it just freezes every time!! So
am in an endless cycle of freezing without any access to my hard dis
contents. It does not freeze however in DOS mode so this leads me t
believe it is a software problem. I also previously disabled syste
restore so i don't have any restore points i can revert to even if
had enough time to do that before it froze on me again. Does anyon
have any ideas about restoring my computer's functionality or a
least some way to backing up my files to a different hard disk so
can do a clean format as a last resort? Any help is greatl
appreciated

 

[Rich Barry]

Have you opened the case and checked for any loose connections, ram
seated properly, cpu heatsink and fans Ok, ?

 

[Unk]

I have a 1.0GHZ Athlon desktop w/ 256 MB RAM running XP Pro. It sits
on a raised platform and by accident fell off and hit the floor while
it was running and then froze. I am now having problems even getting
it to turn on. When I do (which appears to be purely random), it
starts to load up windows and occasionally freezes during the Windows
XP logo loading screen. Other times, it will load windows and freeze
within a few seconds or a minute if I'm lucky. I tried booting to
CD-ROM and using the Windows repair function, but it even freezes
during that! So now when I turn on my computer it says it needs to
finish the Windows repair, except it just freezes every time!! So I
am in an endless cycle of freezing without any access to my hard disk
contents. It does not freeze however in DOS mode so this leads me to
believe it is a software problem. I also previously disabled system
restore so i don't have any restore points i can revert to even if i
had enough time to do that before it froze on me again. Does anyone
have any ideas about restoring my computer's functionality or at
least some way to backing up my files to a different hard disk so I
can do a clean format as a last resort? Any help is greatly
appreciated.

First, unplug from the wall, open it up and reseat ALL the cables, cards, and memory.
Leave the cover off and see if it starts up OK and all the fans are running (especially the one
on the CPU). If it still freezes up, in all likelyhood, the fall damaged the hard drive. Pick
up a new drive, reinstall Windows on it, then install your old drive as a slave so you can
recover files off it before it dies altogether.

 

[Rock]

I have a 1.0GHZ Athlon desktop w/ 256 MB RAM running XP Pro. It sits
on a raised platform and by accident fell off and hit the floor while
it was running and then froze. I am now having problems even getting
it to turn on. When I do (which appears to be purely random), it
starts to load up windows and occasionally freezes during the Windows
XP logo loading screen. Other times, it will load windows and freeze
within a few seconds or a minute if I'm lucky. I tried booting to
CD-ROM and using the Windows repair function, but it even freezes
during that! So now when I turn on my computer it says it needs to
finish the Windows repair, except it just freezes every time!! So I
am in an endless cycle of freezing without any access to my hard disk
contents. It does not freeze however in DOS mode so this leads me to
believe it is a software problem. I also previously disabled system
restore so i don't have any restore points i can revert to even if i
had enough time to do that before it froze on me again. Does anyone
have any ideas about restoring my computer's functionality or at
least some way to backing up my files to a different hard disk so I
can do a clean format as a last resort? Any help is greatly
appreciated.

One option for backing up data is to slave the drive in another XP or
Win2k computer and copy the data.

 

[Richard Urban]

Software doesn't get damaged in a fall, the hardware does.You are not going
to repair physical damage to a computer by repairing Windows XP. Open the
case and see what has been knocked loose. Take the computer to a repair
shop. Turning it on without first checking for damage may have, in fact,
caused further damage (logical corruption) to your operating system.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[David Candy]

Whatever you mean by Dos mode (XP doesn't have one), it is an brave conclusion to draw that utilising hardware in different ways is a software fault.

 

[Guest]

I suggest buying a new hard drive, doing a clean install...
then shutdown, attach old drive (slaved) and copy what you like from old
drive... if heads didn't crash your data, I do it this way withno problems
often
gnarly

 

[Plato]

I have a 1.0GHZ Athlon desktop w/ 256 MB RAM running XP Pro. It sits
on a raised platform and by accident fell off and hit the floor while
it was running and then froze. I am now having problems even getting

Take it apart and reset the cards.