BSOD after boot time chkdsk /f

[Guest]

Help! I set up XP Pro (SP2) to run a chkdsk /f on the next boot. I then
restarted and the chkdsk worked fine. After the chkdsk, XP tells me it's
restarting, and gives me three dots... then I get a *brief* BDOS, and the PC
restarts. The BSOD is only on-screen for a very short time and I can't read
it to see what it's telling me. Unfortunately, XP is not clearing out the
need for a chkdsk before the BSOD, so then the next reboot it repeats this
process, doing the chkdsk and then the BSODs in an infinite cycle. Manually
canceling the chkdsk still gets the BSOD too. I have a couple of times
managed to get the system booted by canceling the chkdsk and pressing the
pause key at the end of the chkdsk screen (I was trying to get the BSOD to
stay on screen), but this doesn't seem to very repeatable.

At this point in time someone could help me in one of two ways:

1) Is there a log file someplace that contains the boot record so I can see
what the BSOD is telling me, and then I'll track it down from there. Or,
2) Where in the registry is the setup for the chkdsk /f so I can edit it in
safe mode and then do more to track down the problem.

I can get to safe mode, but even it seems somewhat weird. I can hit
ctrl-alt-del and get the task manager window to run things, but there's no
task bar either. So maybe I have a couple of things wrong with the system
:-(.

Thanks!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly.Keep pressing the
F8 key during Start-Up and select option
- Disable automatic restart on system failure.

Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure until you have
resolved the problem. Check for variants of the Stop Error message.

There will also be Error Reports in Event Viewer. Look in the System
log. Please post a copy.

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. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Gerry - Your advice was very helpful! I used F8 to disable the auto restart.
That change allowed me to see that I was getting a STOP code of 0x0000000A
Irql_Not_Less_or_equal ... Scanning a few websites showed that this is
usually caused by hardware changes.

This PC is one that I replaced over the summer in my home office, and it's
literally been sitting on a shelf until now. I'm using some holiday time to
mix and match hardware from this computer and other even older PCs to upgrade
the older PCs.

So the STOP code and the websites told me that I needed to selectively swap
in and out components to see what was the cause. It appears it was the
processor. I had (accidentially) replaced an AMD 3000+ with an AMD 2400+ (I
originally thought my CPU was a 2000+ and I thought I was upgrading to a
2400+... oops... the STOP code was fortutious in that I found this mistake on
my part).

Now things seem to be working fine. I'll keep doing some testing, but
rerunning the chkdsk /f in the same manner did not crash the PC with the
original processor.

BTW, the Event Viewer also gave me really weird results. All the dates in
the viewer were either from 2004, or from ... 2082???. I'm sure the clock
has been correctly set both when this system was running before replacing it
this summer, and I know I reset the clock in the BIOS a couple of days ago
when I reset the CMOS. FWIW, I'll have to do some more reading on the Event
Viewer and what it does, and maybe I can learn a little more about how
Windows uses it.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Guessing but could it be faulty BIOS battery? I look at a lot of Event
Viewer Reports and I have not picked up on wrong dates occurring.


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~