W2K pro bootup hangs just before icons appear

[Guest]

I have a W2K pro PC, Compaq EVO 1.8Ghz , 256mb, 20gig HD. Will not boot all
the way up in normal mode, hangs just before the desktop icons appear and the
hard drive makes a rythm sound of three short hits and one longer hit. It
does come up 1 hour later but I can not click on anything still hangs. Almost
like it is looping? I can boot into safe mode with network and get to the
internet no problem. I ran Panda it found NDNuninstall6_90.exe so I deleted
that file ran Panda again found nothing. ran trial spy sweaper found nothing
else ran spy doctor found nothing. rebooted in normal mode and hangs in same
spot. I have good PC knowledge but Im stuck on this one. Files are backed up,
I can run windows recover but I really do not want to format. Any Help?

 

[John Wunderlich]

I have a W2K pro PC, Compaq EVO 1.8Ghz , 256mb, 20gig HD. Will not
boot all the way up in normal mode, hangs just before the desktop
icons appear and the hard drive makes a rythm sound of three short
hits and one longer hit. It does come up 1 hour later but I can
not click on anything still hangs. Almost like it is looping? I
can boot into safe mode with network and get to the internet no
problem. I ran Panda it found NDNuninstall6_90.exe so I deleted
that file ran Panda again found nothing. ran trial spy sweaper
found nothing else ran spy doctor found nothing. rebooted in
normal mode and hangs in same spot. I have good PC knowledge but
Im stuck on this one. Files are backed up, I can run windows
recover but I really do not want to format. Any Help?

You need a tool which will allow you to disable different programs that
execute at startup until you find the one that's giving you problems.
"msconfig" does this but doesn't come with Win2k. Try either
"AutoRuns" or "StartupControlPanel" at one of the following links:

Startup Control Panel:
<http://www.mlin.net>

AutoRuns:
<http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html>

HTH,
John

 

[Dan Seur]

Hard drives that sound like a rhythm section are often destined for the
town dump.

Download and run the drive diagnostic (a floppy image, bootable) from
the manufacturer's website.

Back up all your important data ASAP.

There's a chance that
(1) the manufacturer's tech support people can replace the drive if it's
still under warranty (they'll know from the serial number), and
(2) the Spinrite software package from www.grc.com can identify and fix
surface errors.

I have a W2K pro PC, Compaq EVO 1.8Ghz , 256mb, 20gig HD. Will not boot all
the way up in normal mode, hangs just before the desktop icons appear and the
hard drive makes a rythm sound of three short hits and one longer hit. It
does come up 1 hour later but I can not click on anything still hangs. Almost
like it is looping? I can boot into safe mode with network and get to the
internet no problem. I ran Panda it found NDNuninstall6_90.exe so I deleted
that file ran Panda again found nothing. ran trial spy sweaper found nothing
else ran spy doctor found nothing. rebooted in normal mode and hangs in same
spot. I have good PC knowledge but Im stuck on this one. Files are backed up,
I can run windows recover but I really do not want to format. Any Help?


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[Guest]

I ran the startup control panel and turned everything off. rebooted and it
actually got a little further but still hangs right when the icons appear.
Any other ideas?

 

[Guest]

Ok Ill run some diagnostics, but why does it boot into Safe Mode?

 

[Dan Seur]

I hope it's not a hardware problem.

But it could be a bad spot on the disk surface, for example. If some
very important W2k system code (that doesn't get loaded in safe mode) is
on that spot, hardware retries could go on for a Very Long Time. The
system will just keep issuing seeks, and maybe sooner or later the
bitstring will make it across the controller successfully.

Such problems tend to be degenerative. Never self-healing. Occasionally
correctable, usually by modifying the Bad Sector Table (which various
tools can do.) The Bad Sector Table lists disk surface sections that are
never to be used by the OS.

Ok Ill run some diagnostics, but why does it boot into Safe Mode?

:





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[Guest]

I think I found the problem. This PC has a version of Symantec Corporate
Antivirus on it and when I go to do a scan under safe mode it makes that same
hard drive sound like its looping. I bet it is trying to scan at startup but
is corupted or something. there is two files in quarentine that are some kind
of spyware called market source and it will not let me delete them it just
hangs and make that sound again. Im going to use the network uninstall for
symantec and see if I can get rid of the thing...

Thanks

 

[Dan Seur]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think I found the problem. This PC has a version of Symantec Corporate
Antivirus on it and when I go to do a scan under safe mode it makes that same
hard drive sound like its looping. I bet it is trying to scan at startup but
is corupted or something. there is two files in quarentine that are some kind
of spyware called market source and it will not let me delete them it just
hangs and make that sound again. Im going to use the network uninstall for
symantec and see if I can get rid of the thing...

Thanks

:





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