XP Boot Issue, Strange Problem.

[Jeff]

Hello everyone,

I am having a very strange XP reboot issue...I have XP SP3 and now whenever
I need to reboot (I usually keep my machine on all the time) it starts back
up...gets to the normal XP screen (with the moving bar) and then goes to a
black screen and just stops. No error, no beeps, nothing.

However, every so often it will actually boot up and then continue to work
fine...until I need to reboot again. There's nothing in the Event Log and no
other noticeable error....all data is good and all applications seem to work
fine on boot up (when I can finally get it going again).

If I hit F8 when booting, it seems to always be able to get into Safe Mode
with no issues.

I have had this PC humming along for a long time, it's kept very clean, it's
well maintained...no bloatware, no wacky crap...etc.


Not sure if h/w matters for this (again, been running for about a year,
perfectly)...but just in case...

It's an AMD Dual Core 4200,
Asus A8N32-SLI MB
2 GB Corsair memory
EN7900 GT TOP
2x Seagate ST3300622AS-RK Barracuda 300 GB SATA



Any thoughts would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello everyone,

I am having a very strange XP reboot issue...I have XP SP3 and now
whenever
I need to reboot (I usually keep my machine on all the time) it starts
back
up...gets to the normal XP screen (with the moving bar) and then goes to a
black screen and just stops. No error, no beeps, nothing.

However, every so often it will actually boot up and then continue to work
fine...until I need to reboot again. There's nothing in the Event Log and
no
other noticeable error....all data is good and all applications seem to
work
fine on boot up (when I can finally get it going again).

If I hit F8 when booting, it seems to always be able to get into Safe Mode
with no issues.

I have had this PC humming along for a long time, it's kept very clean,
it's
well maintained...no bloatware, no wacky crap...etc.


Not sure if h/w matters for this (again, been running for about a year,
perfectly)...but just in case...

It's an AMD Dual Core 4200,
Asus A8N32-SLI MB
2 GB Corsair memory
EN7900 GT TOP
2x Seagate ST3300622AS-RK Barracuda 300 GB SATA



Any thoughts would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

Boot into Safe Mode, then use System Restore to return Windows do a point
before this problem became apparent.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 9/23/2008 12:09 PM, and on a whim, Jeff pounded
out on the keyboard:

Hello everyone,

I am having a very strange XP reboot issue...I have XP SP3 and now whenever
I need to reboot (I usually keep my machine on all the time) it starts back
up...gets to the normal XP screen (with the moving bar) and then goes to a
black screen and just stops. No error, no beeps, nothing.

However, every so often it will actually boot up and then continue to work
fine...until I need to reboot again. There's nothing in the Event Log and no
other noticeable error....all data is good and all applications seem to work
fine on boot up (when I can finally get it going again).

If I hit F8 when booting, it seems to always be able to get into Safe Mode
with no issues.

I have had this PC humming along for a long time, it's kept very clean, it's
well maintained...no bloatware, no wacky crap...etc.


Not sure if h/w matters for this (again, been running for about a year,
perfectly)...but just in case...

It's an AMD Dual Core 4200,
Asus A8N32-SLI MB
2 GB Corsair memory
EN7900 GT TOP
2x Seagate ST3300622AS-RK Barracuda 300 GB SATA



Any thoughts would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

Hi Jeff,

Did this happen prior to SP3? Have you updated your video drivers lately?

You could try using a log file to see where it is hanging on the boot
process. Open MSCONFIG to the boot.ini tab and select /bootlog. Then
inspect the file after a hang to see if you can narrow down what is hanging.


--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Oni]

Hello everyone,

I am having a very strange XP reboot issue...I have XP SP3 and now whenever
I need to reboot (I usually keep my machine on all the time) it starts back
up...gets to the normal XP screen (with the moving bar) and then goes to a
black screen and just stops. No error, no beeps, nothing.

However, every so often it will actually boot up and then continue to work
fine...until I need to reboot again. There's nothing in the Event Log and no
other noticeable error....all data is good and all applications seem to work
fine on boot up (when I can finally get it going again).

If I hit F8 when booting, it seems to always be able to get into Safe Mode
with no issues.

I have had this PC humming along for a long time, it's kept very clean, it's
well maintained...no bloatware, no wacky crap...etc.


Not sure if h/w matters for this (again, been running for about a year,
perfectly)...but just in case...

It's an AMD Dual Core 4200,
Asus A8N32-SLI MB
2 GB Corsair memory
EN7900 GT TOP
2x Seagate ST3300622AS-RK Barracuda 300 GB SATA



Any thoughts would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

Hi Jeff,

What you describe sounds like a cpu heat problem. I've had a similar
experience where the problem was exactly alike.

Perform below steps:
1. Check the cpu temperature in BIOS before booting, this goes for both step
2 & 3.

2. Reboot system instantly, and see if this boots up the system correctly,
if not perform step 3.

3. Wait 15-30 minutes before booting your system up again.

 

[Meebers]

Hi Jeff,

Did this happen prior to SP3? Have you updated your video drivers lately?

You could try using a log file to see where it is hanging on the boot
process. Open MSCONFIG to the boot.ini tab and select /bootlog. Then
inspect the file after a hang to see if you can narrow down what is
hanging.

bootlog is selected, did a search on my C: and no file is found. Where
should it be? Is it called bootlog.log?

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 9/23/2008 2:03 PM, and on a whim, Meebers pounded
out on the keyboard:

bootlog is selected, did a search on my C: and no file is found. Where
should it be? Is it called bootlog.log?

Should be c:\bootlog.txt

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Jeff]

It's been happening for a while. Not sure where to pick for restore and if I
go back too far, I am likely to screw up programs that have been
installed/running since then.

 

[Jeff]

To be honest, I am not sure about the timing with SP3...I think it's likely
it started then, but not sure.

As for your logging suggestion...the problem is that when it doesn't boot, I
ain't gonna see a log...when I hit reset a few times, then when it actually
does boot, that will overwrite the boots that never made it up...right?

 

[Jeff]

It's a good suggestion...

I just wonder that there is no erratic behavior until I reboot...so if the
CPU was too hot, wouldn't I be getting errors or lock-ups? I have let it sit
5-10 minutes when it hasn't been booting right and that didn't seem to be the
problem, but I can do a little more checking for this.

Thanks.

 

[Jeff]

Actually...on further thought (I just posted a reply)...

It ALWAYS will go into Safe Mode, which would invalidate it being a heat
problem, I think.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Run msconfig.exe while in Safe Mode, then disable each and every task under
the Startup tab and check if this solves the problem. It's probably best to
physically disconnect your machine from the Internet while you're performing
this test.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 9/24/2008 8:53 AM, and on a whim, Jeff pounded out

To be honest, I am not sure about the timing with SP3...I think it's likely
it started then, but not sure.

As for your logging suggestion...the problem is that when it doesn't boot, I
ain't gonna see a log...when I hit reset a few times, then when it actually
does boot, that will overwrite the boots that never made it up...right?

Then I would get into the habit of starting each session using F8 and
choosing a logged session, and then after a failed start, not using the
logging again until Windows comes back up. Then you will have a log of
the failed boot. After inspecting it, rename it to bootlog1.txt and so
on until you have a few failed logs to inspect. You should be able to
see if it's the same driver by where the logging stops.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Jeff]

Ahhh...that makes good sense. Thanks Terry. I'll try that.