Boot Problems deeper than I thought

G

Guest

This is a very long post but I included a lot of details. Sorry in advance.

Okay so it was working fine for a little while now its back and Im having a
combination of problems.

Problem: computer either doesn't boot, I get a system disk error, it takes
more than 20-30 minutes to boot. It seems to be a Controller Error. I also
get some BSODs which don't give me a stop message 90% of the time)

Tried: Repairing with a Windows CD, Running ChkDisk, Running Norton. There
are no Viruses or Spyware on the computer I ran programs and checked again.

Hardware:

ABIT NF7-S2G
AMD Athalon xp 2800+
1 GB DDR333
Xgamer Live 5.1
Geforce 5200fx
Netgear gigabit ethernet
ThermalTake hardcano (doubt this is a problem)
SIIG Ultra ATA133 pci expansion card

Hard Drives:
2x 20GB Western Digital 7200rpm ATA100 (These drives came out before the
"special" edition larger cache drives so I am going to assume 2MBs)
1x Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm ATA133 (8MB Cache)
1x Maxtor 250GB 7200rpm ATA133 (8MB Cache)
1x Maxtor 300GB 7200rpm ATA133 (16MB Cache)

CD Drives:

LG CD-RW (CED-8080b) (this drive continually shows up as scsi in both
windows and Bios)

Generic CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo (HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B) (also shows as SCSI)

Drive Cable Setup
All partitions are NTFS and show up as Healthy when it does manage to boot.
Motherboard Channels:

IDE1
Master:
1x WD 20GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap3
Size: 526MBs
(this is a swap file partition with
settings Min:512MBs Max:512MBs)
Name:Dump
Size:5.48GBs

Name:System
Size:12.65GBs
(this is my only marked primary partition on any of
my drives. The rest are all marked Extended
Logical)

Slave:
1x WD 20GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap1
Size:526MBs
(this is another swap partition located at the
beging of the drive Min Size:512MBs Max
Size:512MBs)

Name:Applications2
Size:13.19GBs
(drive contains mostly non-critical application
software and some games. It also holds backups for
things like Outlook, My Documents, my cell phone
and PDA)

Name:VS.Net
Size:4.93GBs
(drive normally contains my development software
but its empty right now. If old files or registry
entries from past deletes and repairs could be a
problem the main Dev app on here was my student
edition of visual studio)

IDE2:
Master
1x Maxtor 250GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap4
Size:526MBs
(another swap partition same Min:512Mbs Max 512MBs)

Name:Dump2
Size:116.62GBs
(mostly empty at the moment usually contains backup
files and larger applications or games)

Name:Dump3
Size:116.61GBs
(again mostly empty same as above)

Slave:
1x Maxtor 60GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap2
Size:526MBs
(same as the others)

Name:Nero Cache
Size:529MBs
(used to be mainly a cache partition for Nero and
similar programs but its unused right now too)

Name:Downloads
Size:17.51GBs
(mostly empty)

Name:AV
Size:19.01GBs
(holds my Cd tracks while they are converted to MP3
and edited or moved to my MP3 Player)

Name:Misc
Size:18.62GBs
(everything else that doesn't fall into the other
partitions ends up here)


ATA133 Expansion
IDE1
Master:
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B
Slave:
LG CED-8080B
IDE2:
Master:
1x Maxtor 300GBs
Contains Partitions:

None because it just killed itself and doesnt want to
reinitialize!


Major Non-MicroSoft apps:

Norton SystemWorks 2005 is installed although it...doesn't work at the
moment (every time I repair windows it kills the activation and it wont
reactivate I have to reinstall to get it working again)

Trend Micro Internet Security

WebRoot SpySweeper

It might also help to know that this install started as a Pirated Windows XP
installation a few years back and hasnt given me any problems even after I
loaded my legit license until now. The windows serial that is loaded is the
one from my boxed version. It has been activated and registered with
microsoft which brings me to another question...

I have horrible luck with keeping a pressed cd in working order if for some
reason my cd gets destroyed can I contact microsoft for a replacement cd for
a fee or do I just have to make backups?
 
L

ldone

I would try sfc \scannow from a dos box and if that dosen't help then
seriously think about a clean install of xp
 
M

Morituri-|-Max

Alex281 said:
This is a very long post but I included a lot of details. Sorry in advance.

Hmmm... first thing I would do is remove EVERYTHING from the system that you
don't need to power it up except for the main hard drive with windows on it..
even remove the cd/dvd drives until later on when you have put things back in
and need one to run any software or drivers on cd.

If I had extra memory lying around or available I'd swap that out too for
troubleshooting..

In fact, is your power supply even large enough to run everything installed? I
don't recall seeing its stats in your list.

Boot up in safe mode and see if any of your virus/spam stuff will work..

After that, start reinstalling hardware one by one with a boot up each time you
add an item...

Seeya and good luck.
 
I

Ing. Peter Eigler

Hi Alex, what did you install latest??
Peter
Alex281 said:
This is a very long post but I included a lot of details. Sorry in advance.

Okay so it was working fine for a little while now its back and Im having a
combination of problems.

Problem: computer either doesn't boot, I get a system disk error, it takes
more than 20-30 minutes to boot. It seems to be a Controller Error. I also
get some BSODs which don't give me a stop message 90% of the time)

Tried: Repairing with a Windows CD, Running ChkDisk, Running Norton. There
are no Viruses or Spyware on the computer I ran programs and checked again.

Hardware:

ABIT NF7-S2G
AMD Athalon xp 2800+
1 GB DDR333
Xgamer Live 5.1
Geforce 5200fx
Netgear gigabit ethernet
ThermalTake hardcano (doubt this is a problem)
SIIG Ultra ATA133 pci expansion card

Hard Drives:
2x 20GB Western Digital 7200rpm ATA100 (These drives came out before the
"special" edition larger cache drives so I am going to assume 2MBs)
1x Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm ATA133 (8MB Cache)
1x Maxtor 250GB 7200rpm ATA133 (8MB Cache)
1x Maxtor 300GB 7200rpm ATA133 (16MB Cache)

CD Drives:

LG CD-RW (CED-8080b) (this drive continually shows up as scsi in both
windows and Bios)

Generic CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo (HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B) (also shows as SCSI)

Drive Cable Setup
All partitions are NTFS and show up as Healthy when it does manage to boot.
Motherboard Channels:

IDE1
Master:
1x WD 20GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap3
Size: 526MBs
(this is a swap file partition with
settings Min:512MBs Max:512MBs)
Name:Dump
Size:5.48GBs

Name:System
Size:12.65GBs
(this is my only marked primary partition on any of
my drives. The rest are all marked Extended
Logical)

Slave:
1x WD 20GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap1
Size:526MBs
(this is another swap partition located at the
beging of the drive Min Size:512MBs Max
Size:512MBs)

Name:Applications2
Size:13.19GBs
(drive contains mostly non-critical application
software and some games. It also holds backups for
things like Outlook, My Documents, my cell phone
and PDA)

Name:VS.Net
Size:4.93GBs
(drive normally contains my development software
but its empty right now. If old files or registry
entries from past deletes and repairs could be a
problem the main Dev app on here was my student
edition of visual studio)

IDE2:
Master
1x Maxtor 250GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap4
Size:526MBs
(another swap partition same Min:512Mbs Max 512MBs)

Name:Dump2
Size:116.62GBs
(mostly empty at the moment usually contains backup
files and larger applications or games)

Name:Dump3
Size:116.61GBs
(again mostly empty same as above)

Slave:
1x Maxtor 60GB
Contains Partitions:
Name:Swap2
Size:526MBs
(same as the others)

Name:Nero Cache
Size:529MBs
(used to be mainly a cache partition for Nero and
similar programs but its unused right now too)

Name:Downloads
Size:17.51GBs
(mostly empty)

Name:AV
Size:19.01GBs
(holds my Cd tracks while they are converted to MP3
and edited or moved to my MP3 Player)

Name:Misc
Size:18.62GBs
(everything else that doesn't fall into the other
partitions ends up here)


ATA133 Expansion
IDE1
Master:
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B
Slave:
LG CED-8080B
IDE2:
Master:
1x Maxtor 300GBs
Contains Partitions:

None because it just killed itself and doesnt want to
reinitialize!


Major Non-MicroSoft apps:

Norton SystemWorks 2005 is installed although it...doesn't work at the
moment (every time I repair windows it kills the activation and it wont
reactivate I have to reinstall to get it working again)

Trend Micro Internet Security

WebRoot SpySweeper

It might also help to know that this install started as a Pirated Windows XP
installation a few years back and hasnt given me any problems even after I
loaded my legit license until now. The windows serial that is loaded is the
one from my boxed version. It has been activated and registered with
microsoft which brings me to another question...

I have horrible luck with keeping a pressed cd in working order if for some
reason my cd gets destroyed can I contact microsoft for a replacement cd for
a fee or do I just have to make backups?
 

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