Boot loop...a hardware issue?

[netFred]

What to do now?
I'm struggling to fix an older computer I built a few years ago that I still keep around as it's been very capable for most tasks. It's a WinXP Pro mid-tower with an ECS K7S5A Pro mobo, Athlon 1800+, half-gig stick of Crucial SDRAM, WD 30G HD, Crucial Radeon 9100 video (AGP), 300W Antec PS.

It worked fine until a few days ago, and was setting it up for home theater use. First sign of trouble was when a boot-up took much longer than usual, but it did finally start and run normally. Next usage after that, I got the message that begins "We apologize for the inconvenience. Windows did not start succesfully. Recent hardware or software changes might have caused this" followed by choices for selecting safe mode, last known good config, normal start, etc. It doesn't matter what choice I make, it reboots back around to the same screen.

Here's what I've done so far:
>Checked BIOS, found that the date was 2003 or something way off, reset it, everything else looked OK. Checked battery, good at 2.9V.
>Tried 2 different bootable CDs in drive. "Ultimate Boot CD for Windows" would display that it was loading, but never did. WinXP CD got as far as "Setup is inspecting your configuration", then displayed "an unexpected error occured at line 1773 in d:\xpsprtn\base\boot\setup\arcdisp.c" "press any key to continue". Two attempts, same result.
>hooked up another CD drive, didn't work at all.
>swapped in another HD with WinXP OS on it, BIOS sees it correctly but get same boot loop as above.
>tried HD on secondary IDE channel, same as above.
>inspected memory for being properly seated. Also, the initial boot process does give a single beep indicating successful memory test.
>haven't done anything regarding the PS; always been reliable as far as I know.

Now to describe events that preceeded failure: I hooked up a Chicony brand infrared wireless keyboard/mouse that uses a transciever plugged into both PS/2 ports. It worked well, but after a couple usages, I noticed that when I powered down the PC, there was a fan still running inside the computer, apparently the CPU fan. Wierd! It stopped if I unplugged the infrared transceiver (or the power cord, of course). The next time I used the computer, no fan running after shutdown. Finally, the shutdown on the following day involved a bunch of OS updates from Microsoft, so I walked away knowing it would shut down when they were done. Went to bed, got up next AM, horrified to hear the fan still running.  Didn't know what the consequences might be. The computer hasn't worked since except for the one extra-long bootup session described above. Could there be a connection between these events? In any event, considering all that I have tried, does this likely seem to be a motherboard failure? Or something else. 

That's about it. Thanks very much for any helpful suggestion/ideas/hard facts.

[BC_Programmer]

Have you tried using non-infrared PS2 peripherals? That is, a wired keyboard and mouse? just to see. The fact that the CPU fan runs while off is somewhat strange...

[patio]

Unplug all but 1 stick of RAM video card, monitor, keyboard and mouse and re-boot.
Are you getting beeps now ? ?
If so add one component at a time until you find the culprit.
Swapping an XP HDD from another machine probably won't result in a proper boot...stick with the original HDD for now.

2 other suspects:
PSU
CDRom drive.
If you can borrow one of each to test them try that.

[netFred]

A wired keyboard and mouse were all that I ever used, with no problems, for the couple years that this was my primary PC.

Re swapping parts: I only have the one RAM stick in there now, so that's a problem. There are no other components in the PCI slots to remove.  I knew about possible problems with using another HDD, so I planned to start up in safe mode to avoid using the drivers on it, but (as before) it isn't even giving me the chance to start in safe or ANY mode at all.

I did try another CD drive with the two bootable disks, but for some reason it wouldn't recognize them at all. BIOS did see the replacement drive.

I do have a spare 200W PSU that I can plug in, to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks guys.

[patio]

Any beeps after trying the suggestions at all ? ?

[dahlarbear]

It was recommended that you test with a minimal hardware configuration: one stick of RAM, video card, monitor, keyboard, mouse (with motherboard, power supply, CPU/heatsink/fan).  It would be best if this were PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

I took this to mean all power and data connections to any floppy disk, hard disk, and CD/DVD drives should also be disconnected.  Maybe "patio" could clarify the intended configuration.

Not really sure what your current test configuration is...  Especially not clear as to what type of keyboard and mouse you're troubleshooting with.

[netFred]

As I mentioned in the original post, I get the single short beep at the conclusion of the memory test.

It was recommended that you test with a minimal hardware configuration: one stick of RAM, video card, monitor, keyboard, mouse (with motherboard, power supply, CPU/heatsink/fan).  It would be best if this were PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

I took this to mean all power and data connections to any floppy disk, hard disk, and CD/DVD drives should also be disconnected.  Maybe "patio" could clarify the intended configuration.

Not really sure what your current test configuration is...  Especially not clear as to what type of keyboard and mouse you're troubleshooting with.

I didn't read that as saying that all the connections you referred to should be disconnected...just that I run with the minimal setup...good advise and is what I already did.
The keyboard and mouse now are the wired PS/2 ones (generic whatever kb and MS mouse) that I had previously used. The wireless unit I described is probably destined for the garbage can; it won't be used again, that's for sure.

[dahlarbear]

I didn't read that as saying that all the connections you referred to should be disconnected...just that I run with the minimal setup...good advise and is what I already did.

Okay...  Sorry, my bad.

Next usage after that, I got the message that begins "We apologize for the inconvenience. Windows did not start succesfully. Recent hardware or software changes might have caused this" followed by choices for selecting safe mode, last known good config, normal start, etc. It doesn't matter what choice I make, it reboots back around to the same screen.

If you're running Windows XP Pro SP2, did you try the following option(s) from the Windows Advanced Options Menu?:
    o  Disable automatic restart on system failure
    o  Enable Boot Logging

Selection of the first option should break the reboot cycle hopefully stopping at a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).  If you get the BSOD, record the exact message text with all the numbers.  An internet search on "exact" substrings from the output frequently leads to a solution.

The second option produces a boot log in "c:\windows\ntbtlog.txt".  The trick is being able to access it to read it.  Are you using NTFS file system on your c: drive?

Taking another approach you can download (www.memtest86.com) and execute a bootable floppy or CD  to test your system.  This to some degree would exercise your motherboard, CPU, and memory (doesn't use hard drive).  The beauty of this approach is it eliminates all of your Windows software and CDs from the mix.

[patio]

Just to clarify the "minimal" test procedure for future reference, sorry it was unclear the first time:

The floppy can remain connected if there is one. Their a pain to dis-connect and also can be a helpful part of the diagnosis.
You do not need a hard drive connected at first.
You do not need a CDRom connected at first.
And yes PS2 devices are recommended for this procedure.

Hope this helps for future reference...

[netFred]

If you're running Windows XP Pro SP2, did you try the following option(s) from the Windows Advanced Options Menu?:
    o  Disable automatic restart on system failure
    o  Enable Boot Logging

Selection of the first option should break the reboot cycle hopefully stopping at a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).  If you get the BSOD, record the exact message text with all the numbers.  An internet search on "exact" substrings from the output frequently leads to a solution.

The second option produces a boot log in "c:\windows\ntbtlog.txt".  The trick is being able to access it to read it.  Are you using NTFS file system on your c: drive?

Taking another approach you can download (www.memtest86.com) and execute a bootable floppy or CD  to test your system.  This to some degree would exercise your motherboard, CPU, and memory (doesn't use hard drive).  The beauty of this approach is it eliminates all of your Windows software and CDs from the mix.

Unfortunately, I don't have the options as you've described. At boot time, I have 2 choices: press del, which gets me into BIOS, where everything still appears correct, or I can press F8, which gives me a simple "Select First Boot Device" option (floppy, IDE-0, or network). When I go to IDE-0, then it proceeds to  the "We apologize..." screen described in my original post, w/ 3 varieties of safe mode, last known good, and start normally. That's it! Again, it doesn't matter what selection I make, it just re-boots. I never get to see a Windows Advanced Options Menu. If it's relevant, the OS is up to date, but the AMI BIOS is dated 01/21/03.

Re the floppy, I did boot from a Win98 start-up disk, but it can't see my NTFS formatted HD. I could put Memtest86 on a W98 bootable floppy and try that as suggested. I can't recall right now if that's do-able from a WinXP machine, but I think it is (to FAT format the floppy). Otherwise, I have to dig out my old W98 laptop and buy an external floppy drive for it). I will definitely pursue that plan.
Thanks for staying with me on this. I'm being totally ignored at the "Tech Support Guy" forum where I first posted the same note.

[patio]

A Win98 floppy cannot read an NTFS partition/drive so ditch that approach...
The MemTest file creates a bootable floppy....no need for Win98 to be involved whatsoever. MemTest runs outside of Windows so the file system is irrelevant.

[netFred]

This doesn't look good: "unexpected interrupt - halting", and "errors - 2".  The test obviously didn't get very far.  Can someone take a look at this photographic screenshot and give me some guidance?

[patio]

Bad RAM...it needs replaced.
If there are more than one stik involved run MemTest again on them individually...this will tell you which one is bad.

[netFred]

Shoot, wouldn't you know I can't find the original receipt for this PNY (not Crucial as stated above) memory; lifetime warranty but gotta have the receipt.   

[netFred]

   Wow, swapped in a different DIMM stick from a working computer...not a *censored* bit of difference.Still getting the same results. I didn't run Memtest on this other stick. I'll scrounge Craigslist for a cheap socket 462 mobo as a last resort. If that doesn't work, it gets parted out. I don't want to put serious $$ into what is basically surplus anyway.