hang during startup

[Guest]

this may sound like a previous post... but I was unable to find any solution...

i recently installed a new stick of RAM (1GB) into this computer in addition
to the
two sticks (2x512MB) that was already in it.

When starting the computer, the initial windows XP screen goes... then goes
black
(like usual)... then fades back in with the "Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" logo...
this is where it seems to "hang".

Usually... after this logo... it says "welcome" then lets you choose your
username...
but it never gets passed the logo. The keyboard responds when pressing caps
and
num lock (light on keyboard go on and off)... and the mouse moves around.

I can't do ctrl+alt+del to restart.... I am forced to pressed the power
button.

I removed the new stick of RAM and put it back to the old 2 sticks... and I
still
get a problem.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[Malke]

this may sound like a previous post... but I was unable to find any
solution...

i recently installed a new stick of RAM (1GB) into this computer in
addition to the
two sticks (2x512MB) that was already in it.

When starting the computer, the initial windows XP screen goes... then
goes black
(like usual)... then fades back in with the "Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" logo...
this is where it seems to "hang".

Usually... after this logo... it says "welcome" then lets you choose
your username...
but it never gets passed the logo. The keyboard responds when
pressing caps and
num lock (light on keyboard go on and off)... and the mouse moves
around.

I can't do ctrl+alt+del to restart.... I am forced to pressed the
power button.

I removed the new stick of RAM and put it back to the old 2 sticks...
and I still
get a problem.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!

Since you still get a problem when putting the original RAM back, you
know your hardware issue lies elsewhere. You haven't given us enough
information about your system or the problem (when it started to occur,
if anything changed to make it occur) to narrow down whether this is
hardware or software. Perhaps you have a driver that is causing Windows
to hang. Perhaps there is a different hardware failure. There isn't any
way for us to know.

Can you get into Safe Mode? Post back with more details if you want
help.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thank you for replying...

This problem started happening yesterday... right when I put the RAM in.
Nothing else was added... nothing else was done.

I have WinXP Pro SP1... my mother brand is SOYO (sy-p4vtp)... Initially had
1 GIG or ram (2x512MB)... then added 1 more stick (1GB) which caused the
problem.

I am unable to get into safe mode... diagnostic mode... or anything that
pertains to windows. Even when going into Safe Mode... I get stuck at the
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" welcome screen.

I'm an IT... also an Engineer... this drives me insane that I can't solve
this problem.

Please help.

Thank you.

 

[Malke]

Thank you for replying...

This problem started happening yesterday... right when I put the RAM
in. Nothing else was added... nothing else was done.

I have WinXP Pro SP1... my mother brand is SOYO (sy-p4vtp)...
Initially had 1 GIG or ram (2x512MB)... then added 1 more stick (1GB)
which caused the problem.

I am unable to get into safe mode... diagnostic mode... or anything
that pertains to windows. Even when going into Safe Mode... I get
stuck at the "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" welcome screen.

I'm an IT... also an Engineer... this drives me insane that I can't
solve this problem.

Please help.

Thank you.

When you put the original RAM back in, did you put the sticks in
*exactly* the same slots where they were? Refer to the m/b's
documentation for any special RAM requirements.

Malke

 

[Guest]

yes... I double, triple, and quadruple checked all of the m/b settings... no
luck.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Just a simple question. How many slots do you have to put in RAM 3 or 4. If you have 3 then slot 1 and 3 should be the 2 512mb Ram and in slot 2 middle) should be the 1mb Ram. If 4 slots then 1 and 4 should have the 512 and slot 3 the 1mb.

Is this how you did it.or did you put in slot 1 and 2 the 512 and in 3 the 1mb(or vica versa)

 

[Guest]

there's 3 slots...

At first... the 512MB was on slots 1 and 2... then I put the 1GB in slot1,
and 512mb on 2 and 3... this is when the hang happened...

so then I took the 1GB out and put the 512MB in slots 1 and 2 again...

it worked fine before when it originally had the 512's in slots 1 and 2...
so i don't see how it can mess up now.

so should I try to put the 512's in 1 and 3? i really don't want to put that
1GB back in... I'll call that ram stick "cursed"...

any input?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Go for it. Put the 512's in slot 1 and 3 and put the 1mb in 2. See what happens. Post back with results

 

[Guest]

tried it... no luck... HELP!

Go for it. Put the 512's in slot 1 and 3 and put the 1mb in 2. See what happens. Post back with results

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

 

[Malke]

tried it... no luck... HELP!

Maybe you damaged the RAM slots. I'm sorry, but this is one of those
cases where you're going to need someone on-site to take a look.
Posting in a newsgroup isn't going to solve the problem. This requires
hands-on troubleshooting.

I know you said you're in IT, but even we techs sometimes consult other
techs. Swallow your pride and take the machine to a respected shop
(obviously you know not to take it to BigStoreUSA) or a tech friend.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Have you tested the RAM?

These days, you can get pretty good diagnostic software for such
purposes for free. Download MemTest86 from www.memtest86.org or
www.memtest86.com (different sites, ?different devs; open source can
be like that) and/or DocMem from www.simmtester.com

These will generate bootable disks - 1.44M or CDR - that you then use
to test the suspect PC, preferably overnight, with the diskette or CDR
out of the drive once it starts (disconnect HD or suppress HD boot).

What can happen:
- it loops through the night and day and is fine, no errors
- it locks up
- the system resets (that's why disk out, no HD)
- it finds RAM errors

Mostly you'd see errors (even one is significant) or it would be fine,
but if it resets or locks up, then there's usually something going on
within the "untestables" - mobo, caps, cooling, PSU, SVGA, other.

Then if that's OK, test the HD using the HD vendor's diagnostic, or
something similar. If boot code or data is in a bad sector, the
system will lock up when that sector is read - either because it bogs
down in a retry loop (HD LED on) or because what's read from HD is
corrupted (HD LED may be off).

If you had bad RAM, and now with good RAM you're still not OK, then
you may have secondary damage - i.e. some core file on the HD was
corrupted as a result of processing through bad RAM, so now the system
locks up at exactly the same point on every boot.

The next step is to do a parallel install (preferably on another HD!)
and see if that fails in the same way. If it does, it's either a bad
OS CD, or something in the hardware that fails once the OS "switches
it on" or uses it more aggressively. For example, a UIDE subsystem
may be OK running in PIO, but fail once the OS switches it from PIO to
faster UIDE modes; same can happen with SVGA.

If the parallel install's fine, then something's amiss with the OS;
either secondary damage as described, or active malware, or something
else that's odd. One thing that comes to mind is the was XP sizes the
page file as a multple of RAM size; that could get interesting with 2G
RAM there isn't that much free HD space available.

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

Forget http://cquirke.blogspot.com and check out a
better one at http://topicdrift.blogspot.com instead!

 

[Peter Foldes]

I believe that your MOBO is defective. It could have been caused when you tried to put in the Ram. Excessive force or damage of pins when pulling out or putting in. Have your MOBO checked.