XP Pro Freezing

[sheila4typing]

I took my PIII out of the closet and hooked it up to my sons big TV for
gaming and have formatted 3 times and did a windows repair twice; however
once the computer reboots after windows install it freezes. How do I repair
this?

 

[Mark Adams]

I took my PIII out of the closet and hooked it up to my sons big TV for
gaming and have formatted 3 times and did a windows repair twice; however
once the computer reboots after windows install it freezes. How do I repair
this?

This is a hardware problem. Download memtest86+ to test the RAM. If any
tests bad, replace it. Go to the hard drive manufacturer's website and
download their diagnostic utilities and test the drive. If it fails, replace
it. Test the power supply to see that it is giving the correct voltages. If
this seems to difficult, take the machine to a good repair shop.

Keep in mind that a PIII is pretty obsolete, and it will probably cost more
to repair than the machine is worth.

 

[sheila4typing]

Thank you Mark.
I did download the file you suggested, but if the computer freezes when I
boot how do I test it?

 

[sheila4typing]

Actually I didnt download it yet because I am trying to figuire out which one
to download. Here is the webpage I went to, is this correct?
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

 

[Mark Adams]

Actually I didnt download it yet because I am trying to figuire out which one
to download. Here is the webpage I went to, is this correct?
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso


:

I'm not at a computer that I can access most of the net right now, so I
can't see that site. You probably need to download an iso image that you burn
to CD. Use Nero "Burn Image to Disk" or ISO Recorder (free download) to make
a bootable CD from the image. Set the computer to boot from CD, put the disk
in the drive and reboot. The program runs from the disk, not from within
Windows. Same goes for the hard drive utilities.

 

[Paul]

I'm not at a computer that I can access most of the net right now, so I
can't see that site. You probably need to download an iso image that you burn
to CD. Use Nero "Burn Image to Disk" or ISO Recorder (free download) to make
a bootable CD from the image. Set the computer to boot from CD, put the disk
in the drive and reboot. The program runs from the disk, not from within
Windows. Same goes for the hard drive utilities.

Since it is a PIII era machine, the computer likely has a floppy. On another
computer with a floppy, prepare the floppy version. No need to waste a CD,
when a floppy can be reused.

http://www.memtest.org/download/4.00/memtest86+-4.00.floppy.zip

"For Windows, unzip the package into a directory like C:\memtest, insert a
*blank* floppy into your a: disk drive and run the install.bat file. As the
install prompts you, to use memtest directly, leave the disk in the drive
and reboot your machine."

The contents when unzipped include the following files.

dd.exe <--- used on Linux systems
install.bat <--- execute this on a Windows 32 bit system (blank floppy in drive)
install64.bat
memtestp.bin
rawrite.exe
README.txt

Once the floppy is prepared, you can't list the contents. There is no file
system on the floppy. If you double click "A:", it'll say "Do you want to
format this diskette?" because Windows cannot see a file system on the floppy.
But the bootable memtestp.bin is copied there, and when you reboot the
computer and leave the newly prepared floppy in the floppy drive, the
computer should be able to boot from it. Memtest will start immediately
after the memtest code is loaded into memory. Memtest is even clever
enough, to move the code out of the way, and "test underneath", which
I find exceedingly clever. There is still 1 megabyte of memory that
memtest cannot test, but no other test program can test that either.
That is space reserved by the BIOS, down low.

Paul

 

[Jose]

I took my PIII out of the closet and hooked it up to my sons big TV for
gaming and have formatted 3 times and did a windows repair twice; however
once the computer reboots after windows install it freezes.  How do I repair
this?

What does the screen display say when it is frozen?

If you formatted thrice and repaired twice are we to understand that
you have a bootable XP installation CD or are you using some CDs that
came with the system?

Was there an installation following any of those formats?

 

[sheila4typing]

The screen does not say anything. It freezing on the screen where the log
window rolls, if that make since. I have the original Windows CD I purchased.
I went through all the setup process and it installed and then reboots on
its own, which is where it freezes when it tries to load. Makes since.

 

[Bob I]

What exactly are you calling the "log window rolls". Are you perhaps
referring to the list of drivers that scrolls up the screen?