won't boot troubleshoot guide

[Steve T]

Having re-occuring problems with my system booting up past the black XP
screen. XP Home SP-2. Anybody have a link to a step-by-step guide to refer
me too? Thanks, Steve T.

 

[Gerry]

Steve

How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

What happens when you try to boot? Does it boot in Safe Mode?

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Right click on
the My Computer icon on the Desktop and select Properties, Advanced,
Start-Up and Recovery, System Failure and uncheck box before
Automatically Restart.

Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure even after you have
solved the problem as it's better disabled. Check for variants of the
Stop Error message.

An alternative is to keep pressing the F8 key during Start-Up and select
option - Disable automatic restart on system failure.

If you are using a wireless keyboard and the F8 key does not work
substitute a wired keyboard and mouse for this exercise only.

You might try booting after disconnecting all peripherals except
keyboard, mouse and monitor

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Steve T]

The problems have been escalating. I started by being able to get into Safe
Mode and correct boot.ini. The 1st line under "boot loader" would say
WINDOWS but in the 2nd line under Operating System it would say WINNT.
Changing it so that both had WINDOWS, cured it-temporarily. Then I could
insert a CD with the Ultimate Boot Disk program and it would just boot
cleanly to my desktop or sometimes prompt me for Start Normally. Either way,
it would boot. Now I can get to Safe Mode with Networking and the boot.ini
has not changed. All antispy programs such as Spybot, Ad-Aware, SuperAnti
have been run. My AV is by CA and is current. Multi_AV has been run without
any luck. I do not get any error codes other than the black screen prompt
that asks me to choose how to start and Safe Mode is the still functioning.
I have run the Guided Help from MS before when I was having a problem with a
certain popup across my desktop. ZoneAlarm Pro fixed that problem by finding
the offending file seeking access to the internet. No new hardware has been
installed. Software is about the same. Don't have any particular time as to
when the problems started. PC working great, turn it off and the next day it
won't boot. I will run Guided Help again tomorrow. Just trying to find out
how to narrow the search. Thanks, Steve T.

 

[Steve T]

Ran memtest from UCB and found about 700 errors in 2 hours.
I replaced the RAM modules, had them since January 2007; with the original
units and all is well. Booted up on first try.
Will get back if problem comes back. Thank you, Steve T.

 

[Gerry]

Thanks Steve for reporting the outcome.

--
Regards.

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