Booting Results in Black Screen & Complete System Stop

[Jack]

People,

Every other boot-up causes the machine to immediately stop booting
(about 10 sec into the boot sequence) and produce a black screen...!!?? No
further disk activity is noticed, but the fans and the disk drive continue
to spin. No amount of wait time will cause the boot to go any further.
When the system is re-booted again, we're asked if we want a "Safe-mode" or
"Normal" boot. Choosing either one results in a normal boot to W-xp.

This is an E-Machines T2042 that had previously crashed when W-SP2 was
installed. We elected to use the "Restore Disk" to completely restore the
W-xp and have not updated the O/S since restore. The machine behaved
normally before the O/S was Restored.

We are running NAV and have current VDF's. We are also running
ZoneAlarm.

AdAware SE and Spybot S&D have run and eliminated any potential spyware
threats.

Norton System Works (both Windows and Disk portions) have been run
successfully and errors eliminated.

Nothing seems to be amiss, but the no-boot situation continues....!?

Any help appreciated, please....

 

[Malke]

People,

Every other boot-up causes the machine to immediately stop booting
(about 10 sec into the boot sequence) and produce a black
screen...!!?? No further disk activity is noticed, but the fans and
the disk drive continue
to spin. No amount of wait time will cause the boot to go any
further. When the system is re-booted again, we're asked if we want a
"Safe-mode" or
"Normal" boot. Choosing either one results in a normal boot to W-xp.

This is an E-Machines T2042 that had previously crashed when W-SP2
was
installed. We elected to use the "Restore Disk" to completely restore
the
W-xp and have not updated the O/S since restore. The machine behaved
normally before the O/S was Restored.

We are running NAV and have current VDF's. We are also running
ZoneAlarm.

AdAware SE and Spybot S&D have run and eliminated any potential
spyware
threats.

Norton System Works (both Windows and Disk portions) have been run
successfully and errors eliminated.

Nothing seems to be amiss, but the no-boot situation
continues....!?

Any help appreciated, please....

It sounds very much like you have failing hardware, probably the power
supply. Your description sounds like the classic dying power supply in
that there isn't enough juice to get the hard drive spinning properly
the first time but when you try again, the drive momentum is enough to
get it going. You can test this by temporarily attaching a known-good
power supply and see if this fixes things. If it does, replace your
original power supply. It is a good idea to actually take the power
supply to the store with you because the eMachines I've seen don't use
the standard size power supply and you want to make sure you get the
right one. You can test with any standard power supply you have lying
around since you aren't going to install it in the case.

Malke

 

[Jack]

M,

I was thinking imminent hard disk failure this afternoon. I was also thinking low-voltage at the plug and wanted to try an UPS.

Thanks for the input.

--

Jack Beale
(e-mail address removed)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



It sounds very much like you have failing hardware, probably the power
supply. Your description sounds like the classic dying power supply in
that there isn't enough juice to get the hard drive spinning properly
the first time but when you try again, the drive momentum is enough to
get it going. You can test this by temporarily attaching a known-good
power supply and see if this fixes things. If it does, replace your
original power supply. It is a good idea to actually take the power
supply to the store with you because the eMachines I've seen don't use
the standard size power supply and you want to make sure you get the
right one. You can test with any standard power supply you have lying
around since you aren't going to install it in the case.

Malke

 

[Malke]

M,

I was thinking imminent hard disk failure this afternoon. I was
also thinking low-voltage at the plug and wanted to try an UPS.

Thanks for the input.

Your description favors the failing power supply theory, unless you also
have been hearing lots of hard drive grinding noises. You can test the
hard drive by downloading a diagnostic from the drive mftr.'s website.
If you aren't sure what the hard drive is and don't want to open the
box (although you'll have to in order to test the power supply), just
download SeaTools from Seagate. You can make either a bootable cd-r (if
you have a third-party burning program like Nero or Roxio) or an
executable that will make two bootable floppies. Boot with the media of
your choice and run and the Generic drive testing. Do a thorough test.

A UPS is always a good idea, and it is clever of you to remember that
plugging a computer into a surge strip that is plugged into an
extension cord that is plugged into a three-prong adapter plugged into
an old two-prong electrical outlet is Right Out. ;-) Not that you would
have *that* situation going! <g>

Malke

 

[Jack]

M,

After talking a longer look at this problem, it turned out to be a LexMark X-75 driver installation problem.

Everything was tried to get the driver files installed correctly, including downloading the latest drivers from LexMark and installing them. Even a call to LexMark Tech Spt. resulted in a raising of hands and a tossing of the towel... It simply would not completely install.

Funny thing - the printer would print, but not scan or copy. The problem showed up as a small red 'x' on the LexMark icon in the System Tray.

Our solution: We bought a new HP 1250 photo printer, scanner, copier - on sale at Office Depot for $108.00....!

Thanks for your suggestions and effort. I'll keep the SeaTest disks for another day - one more trick in the bag...!

--

Jack Beale
(e-mail address removed)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M,

I was thinking imminent hard disk failure this afternoon. I was
also thinking low-voltage at the plug and wanted to try an UPS.

Thanks for the input.

Your description favors the failing power supply theory, unless you also
have been hearing lots of hard drive grinding noises. You can test the
hard drive by downloading a diagnostic from the drive mftr.'s website.
If you aren't sure what the hard drive is and don't want to open the
box (although you'll have to in order to test the power supply), just
download SeaTools from Seagate. You can make either a bootable cd-r (if
you have a third-party burning program like Nero or Roxio) or an
executable that will make two bootable floppies. Boot with the media of
your choice and run and the Generic drive testing. Do a thorough test.

A UPS is always a good idea, and it is clever of you to remember that
plugging a computer into a surge strip that is plugged into an
extension cord that is plugged into a three-prong adapter plugged into
an old two-prong electrical outlet is Right Out. ;-) Not that you would
have *that* situation going! <g>

Malke

 

[Malke]

M,

After talking a longer look at this problem, it turned out to be a
LexMark X-75 driver installation problem.

Everything was tried to get the driver files installed correctly,
including downloading the latest drivers from LexMark and
installing them. Even a call to LexMark Tech Spt. resulted in a
raising of hands and a tossing of the towel... It simply would
not completely install.

Funny thing - the printer would print, but not scan or copy. The
problem showed up as a small red 'x' on the LexMark icon in the
System Tray.

Our solution: We bought a new HP 1250 photo printer, scanner,
copier - on sale at Office Depot for $108.00....!

Thanks for your suggestions and effort. I'll keep the SeaTest
disks for another day - one more trick in the bag...!

Wow. Who woulda thunk it. What a PITA that you had to go through all
this. I'm really glad you got it sorted, and I very much appreciate you
letting me know how it all ended up.

Cheers,

Malke

 

[Guest]

i have exactly the same problem. i just installed a new dvd player and my
drive letters got rearranged....that may be the problem with me. the momentum
thing makes no sense....if it is stalled the first time i don't think it will
have any momentum the second time. i power the machine right down between
boots so momentum isn't an issue.