H
HippyFish
First, the background on my rig:
IBuyPower.com built the machine 2 years ago.So it is kinda
out of warranty unless I can tie this to poor workmanship
(and that is their call at the repair site, from my
understanding)
Running XP SP1 with all updates up through end of February
2004
AMD Athlon XP Processor 2400+, 1GB RAM (Corsair 3200 - 2
sticks of 512mb each).
Leadtek Winfast MOBO with 10/100 and Firewire onboard - 400Mh
FSB
3 Hard Drives (20 GB Boot Drive, 40GB Digital Photo Drive,
120 GB Video Drive) Boot and Video drives on same IDE cable,
Photo and DVD Drive on second IDE Cable
LiteOn DVD+R/RW Drive
430W Power Supply
I have Administrator rights
The Problem:
This all started Friday. When starting the system, BIOs loads
OK and boot will go through XP Start Up Screen. Then goes to
black screen for a very long time. Lastly, a Blue Screen
flashes up and disapears in literally under 1 sec. All I have
been able to see from the message is "Disk error:". That's
it.Normally this is the point where XP tells me it is loading
my Personal Profile. Unfortunatly, I can't even get into the
Admin Menu to turn off the auto restart!
Recently installed software:
DVDShrink
OpenOffice.org
Sun Java 5.0 (needed for OpenOffice.org)
What I have done to date:
1) Opened case and checked all internal components to make
sure nothing was loose: RAM, all Hard Drives, Disk Drives,
power supplies and PCI Devices. Same sypmtoms
2) Attempted to boot into Safe Mode. Same symptoms
3) Attempted to "Load Last Good Config". Same symptoms
4) Booted from XP CD, ran chkdsk on all drives, all report
back OK
5) Entered Repair Console, attempted to fix Master Boot
Record and File Allocation Tables. Same symptoms.
6) PS - I have disconnected all USB devices and only have
plugged into the back what needs to be there to run the
computer (mouse, keyboard, monitor). Even disconnected LAN.
So, I am preparing to first try the steps outlined by Charlie
White at www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03
_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot2.htm. If that doesn't do it, I
will do a clean reinstall of XP (Wipe the disk and start
over).
So, I'm looking for any input from folks on anything I may
have missed or if there is a reason to get a repair person to
look at it. Also, I want to be able to recover a few files
before reinstalling (namely OE address book and Internet
connection info - username and password, etc, if possible).
Can I do that with the FAST tool included with the XP install
CD?
One other really interesting thing, about 2 months before
this, a really strange problem popped up. The case I have is
a Thermaltake Aluminum model with a heat monitor and fan
control in the top 5.25" bay. This case has one of the doors
that closes to protect power buttons, etc. Well, whenever you
closed that thing, the machine just powered down. You had to
actually reset the power supply and then power back up. It
got me to thinking that maybe the power supply is flaky too?
Or the heat monitor/fan control? In any event, you have to
really push to get that door closed and then it snaps into
place with authority (maybe too much authority)
Thanks for any help! Sorry for the long post, I just wanted
to make sure I got to you experts as much info as I know.
--
HippyFish
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'm just another ten percenter
My mind is like an ocean
My mind is like an ocean
I'm hanging in the harbor
- Frank Black
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
IBuyPower.com built the machine 2 years ago.So it is kinda
out of warranty unless I can tie this to poor workmanship
(and that is their call at the repair site, from my
understanding)
Running XP SP1 with all updates up through end of February
2004
AMD Athlon XP Processor 2400+, 1GB RAM (Corsair 3200 - 2
sticks of 512mb each).
Leadtek Winfast MOBO with 10/100 and Firewire onboard - 400Mh
FSB
3 Hard Drives (20 GB Boot Drive, 40GB Digital Photo Drive,
120 GB Video Drive) Boot and Video drives on same IDE cable,
Photo and DVD Drive on second IDE Cable
LiteOn DVD+R/RW Drive
430W Power Supply
I have Administrator rights
The Problem:
This all started Friday. When starting the system, BIOs loads
OK and boot will go through XP Start Up Screen. Then goes to
black screen for a very long time. Lastly, a Blue Screen
flashes up and disapears in literally under 1 sec. All I have
been able to see from the message is "Disk error:". That's
it.Normally this is the point where XP tells me it is loading
my Personal Profile. Unfortunatly, I can't even get into the
Admin Menu to turn off the auto restart!
Recently installed software:
DVDShrink
OpenOffice.org
Sun Java 5.0 (needed for OpenOffice.org)
What I have done to date:
1) Opened case and checked all internal components to make
sure nothing was loose: RAM, all Hard Drives, Disk Drives,
power supplies and PCI Devices. Same sypmtoms
2) Attempted to boot into Safe Mode. Same symptoms
3) Attempted to "Load Last Good Config". Same symptoms
4) Booted from XP CD, ran chkdsk on all drives, all report
back OK
5) Entered Repair Console, attempted to fix Master Boot
Record and File Allocation Tables. Same symptoms.
6) PS - I have disconnected all USB devices and only have
plugged into the back what needs to be there to run the
computer (mouse, keyboard, monitor). Even disconnected LAN.
So, I am preparing to first try the steps outlined by Charlie
White at www.digitalwebcast.com/2002/03
_mar/tutorials/cw_boot_toot2.htm. If that doesn't do it, I
will do a clean reinstall of XP (Wipe the disk and start
over).
So, I'm looking for any input from folks on anything I may
have missed or if there is a reason to get a repair person to
look at it. Also, I want to be able to recover a few files
before reinstalling (namely OE address book and Internet
connection info - username and password, etc, if possible).
Can I do that with the FAST tool included with the XP install
CD?
One other really interesting thing, about 2 months before
this, a really strange problem popped up. The case I have is
a Thermaltake Aluminum model with a heat monitor and fan
control in the top 5.25" bay. This case has one of the doors
that closes to protect power buttons, etc. Well, whenever you
closed that thing, the machine just powered down. You had to
actually reset the power supply and then power back up. It
got me to thinking that maybe the power supply is flaky too?
Or the heat monitor/fan control? In any event, you have to
really push to get that door closed and then it snaps into
place with authority (maybe too much authority)
Thanks for any help! Sorry for the long post, I just wanted
to make sure I got to you experts as much info as I know.
--
HippyFish
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I'm just another ten percenter
My mind is like an ocean
My mind is like an ocean
I'm hanging in the harbor
- Frank Black
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++