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Author Topic: Boot up failure  (Read 11335 times)

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Kenneth Lau

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Boot up failure
« on: September 15, 2005, 09:16:12 PM »
I recently tried to run a hardrive partitioning program which required that I restart my computer in order to run the program.  When the computer restarted, it would freeze in the same spot every time the program tried to start (either in BIOS or directly afterwards).

Booting without the software cd would lead to a different partition program screen which would again freeze in the same spot.

I eventually went into bios and loaded the Fail-Safe, and haven't been able to boot my system at all. The fans will spool up and my hard drive light will light up, but I can never get past the initial black screen. I never see a thing. Bios doesn't even load anything so a boot disk doesn't help.

Is this fixable or do I need a new motherboard? I currently have an abit VT7 board.

viking



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    Re: Boot up failure
    « Reply #1 on: September 16, 2005, 02:00:20 AM »
    You tell that you entered BIOS. Your computer can perform the POST test? (when it writes on screen how much memory you have, what hdd is in, other information). Your hdd led turns off or stays light all the time?
    If it does not perform POST or your led is always light, you may try this: unplug the signal ("IDE cable") cable from your hdd, also you could unplug your power cable from your hdd, start the computer and tell us what happens. Does your computer "beep" at you when it starts?
    If not, you may also try to take off and replace the computer memory.
    If youd don't know exactly how to do these, I can tell you it is very easy and learn first from a friend.

    Kenneth Lau

    • Guest
    Re: Boot up failure
    « Reply #2 on: September 16, 2005, 11:23:02 AM »
    Initially, I was able to reach bios. The system would post and Partition Commander would boot up and freeze right before the OS would load. After a few feeble attempts of getting around the softward boot up, I went into bios and loaded the fail-safes. Immediately after saving and quitting bios, the system went to a black screen and hd light (without the sound of activity).

    After rebooting, the only thing that would happen, in this order, is this: fans spool, hard drive light would come on. Nothing else. no post/beep, no visual acknowledgement on the screen. Nothing. One second to inactivity. I've left the computer on all day in this state, hoping that it would work itself out of the problem, but it was in exactly the same state when I came home.

    I will try to unplug the hd and reset the ram when I get home today.

    I'm worried that I'll have to replace the motherboard (read: pain in the *censored*). Have anyone ever seen something like this before?




    PS. don't buy any software from VCOM.

    knelau

    • Guest
    Re: Boot up failure
    « Reply #3 on: September 16, 2005, 11:30:16 AM »
    the hard drive light comes on and never turns off or flickers.

    knelau

    • Guest
    Re: Boot up failure
    « Reply #4 on: September 16, 2005, 02:11:28 PM »
    I wish it were that easy, but I can't boot up my system to check the hard drive.

    ...unless you're suggesting putting it in another system as a slave drive and testing it then.

    But I'm not sure that the hard drive is even accessed, though the light does come on and stay on (i'm not sure why). Wouldn't it be something in bios that's funky?

    dl65

    • R.I.P.


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      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #5 on: September 16, 2005, 02:25:30 PM »
      Kenneth Lau........ After reading your post ........I dont see anything about whether there was data on the drive you were attempting to partition . I have no idea if you have a o/s installed or what partitioning app you are ... ( were ) using .....
      Give us a bit more info .... for example how big is your HD , what size partitions are you trying to create and which O/S you have or want . Last but not least , was the computer working ok before you decided to fix it ?

      dl65  ::)
      « Last Edit: September 16, 2005, 02:27:16 PM by dl65 »
      If you don't know the answer, it isn't a dumb question.

      knelau

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #6 on: September 16, 2005, 05:30:06 PM »
      knelau=Kenneth Lau, btw - I registered

      Here are the specs on my computer:
      3.2 GHz P4
      Abit VT7 motherboard
      1G ram
      Windows XP
      Hard Drive 1: Seagate Barricuda - 5G dedicated to OS, 40G dedicated to programs, 45G dedicated to media
      Hard Drive 2: Maxtor (30G for media only)

      The computer is brand new; I just put it together 4 months ago and it was working smoothly. I had absolutely no problems with freezing or crashing until I installed this partitioning program. The hard drive the OS is loaded on (Seagate) is 4 months old also - the Maxtor is about 5 years old but I've never had a problem with it, even when it was in the old computer. The maxtor was completely reformatted - NTFS. There is only one OS on my system.

      I was trying to add more storage space to my C: drive because it was running low (~500mb low). SO I installed Partition Commander. I never even got the chance to get the partitioning program running to move storage space around.


      Quote
      when the pc boots......hold down the f5/f8<unsure of o/s used!? here> and at the a:\> for example type scandisk /all
       
      check the ide cables.......you may have mixed then up.....and the pc is not booting from the master drive......
      Does this boot in Safe Mode? Because I tried that before when the computer would just freeze after biod and it wouldn't boot in Safe Mode.

      I doubt the IDE cables are switched around because I haven't touched them since initially installing them and they've worked fine until now. And I hope that the hard drive hasn't died because it's only 4 months old.


      AlienSpider

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #7 on: September 16, 2005, 06:46:55 PM »
      Quote
      Initially, I was able to reach bios. The system would post and Partition Commander would boot up and freeze right before the OS would load. After a few feeble attempts of getting around the softward boot up, I went into bios and loaded the fail-safes. Immediately after saving and quitting bios, the system went to a black screen and hd light (without the sound of activity).

      After rebooting, the only thing that would happen, in this order, is this: fans spool, hard drive light would come on. Nothing else. no post/beep, no visual acknowledgement on the screen. Nothing. One second to inactivity. I've left the computer on all day in this state, hoping that it would work itself out of the problem, but it was in exactly the same state when I came home. quote]

      when i read this post it sounds like the bios is the problem now.

      have you tride to enter the bios again or startup with a bootdisk.

      if it is the bios that hangs and you can’t enter it, I think you’ll need to replays it.

      hope this helps

      knelau

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #8 on: September 16, 2005, 06:58:01 PM »
      Yea, I can't even get into bios. The boot up doesn't even go that far, if anywhere. There's no posting beep.

      Do I really need to replace the motherboard?

      AlienSpider

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #9 on: September 16, 2005, 07:05:48 PM »
      no thust the bios

      knelau

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #10 on: September 16, 2005, 07:07:38 PM »
      how can i replace the bios?

      AlienSpider

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #11 on: September 16, 2005, 07:36:05 PM »
      I never had to do this my self, but the bios is a programmable thip. You can find it in the documentation of the motherboard where it is on your motherboard (usually it has a sticker whit the version number on it). Normally you can take it of the motherboard and plays the new one back. I thick the old one can be reprogrammed (bios software reload) at a pc repair shop. If you cant remove the bios then you have to by a new motherboard.

      When you have don this it will have solved the bios problem, but not the software fries up problem. Boot in safe mode and remove partition commander. You shoed be ok then.  

      knelau

      • Guest
      Re: Boot up failure
      « Reply #12 on: September 17, 2005, 04:29:43 PM »
      Quote
      First of all are you sure that it isn't the drive that has gone? Heard any clicking lately?
      no clicking with the hard drive. and i'm not positive it's a hard drive issue. But I was thinking/hoping that it was a bios issue.


      Quote
      How did you go about making the C: drive bigger?
       
      Shrink the D: drive.
       
      Slide it up to the E: drive.
       
      Shrink the Extended partition.
       
      Make the C: drive bigger.
      I haven't used the program yet, but I thought that I could just take free space from my media (f:) drive and transfer it to my c: drive. no?
      I wanted to repartition the C: drive, but never got a chance to. The computer started to act up when I first opened the partitioning software.



      Quote
      Was your anti-virus still installed when you did the partitioning?
      I don't remember installing any anti virus programs - only a firewall.


      Fed

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        Re: Boot up failure
        « Reply #13 on: September 17, 2005, 05:32:09 PM »
        I think you may now have 2 problems...

        1) Your partitioning software screwed up your Master Boot Record. (We can deal with that later)

        2) Your computer will not reach the post screen.
        Did you open the case & fiddle around in there?
        If so, make sure everything is connected & seated firmly.

        You will need to get to the bios screen before anything else can be done.
        « Last Edit: September 17, 2005, 05:32:26 PM by Fed »

        knelau

        • Guest
        Re: Boot up failure
        « Reply #14 on: September 17, 2005, 08:05:56 PM »
        So I fixed it.

        I opened up the computer, reseated the ram, took out the system battery, and reset CMOS. After that, i was able to boot up to the point where the computer would freeze on the Partition Commander software screen.

        I was finally back at square one - or so I thought. I had always noticed that my keyboard light and laser mouse never lit up and it dawned on me that the computer wasn't detecting the USB hardware. So I plugged in PS/2 hardware and while the mouse still didn't work, the keyboard did. I exited the software, got back to windows and deleted Partition Commander.

        Now I'm back to normal, but still low on C: memory.
        So what's the best way to transfer free space from my other partitions to the c: drive?

        And thanks for the help, guys. I feel really stupid.

        Fed

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          Re: Boot up failure
          « Reply #15 on: September 17, 2005, 08:17:31 PM »
          A good result!  :)

          Quote
          So what's the best way to transfer free space from my other partitions to the c: drive?

          I guess all you can do is put C drive junk onto your other partition or go down the partition resizing path again.
          I have never had complete success trying to change partitions after windows has been installed but I haven't tried for a few years so maybe now the partitioning software has improved.

          I'll be interested to see how you go because I would like to create an extra partition on my drive.

          Mac

          • Guest
          Re: Boot up failure
          « Reply #16 on: September 18, 2005, 07:42:08 AM »
          Quote
          So I fixed it.

          I opened up the computer, reseated the ram, took out the system battery, and reset CMOS. After that, i was able to boot up to the point where the computer would freeze on the Partition Commander software screen.

          I was finally back at square one - or so I thought. I had always noticed that my keyboard light and laser mouse never lit up and it dawned on me that the computer wasn't detecting the USB hardware. So I plugged in PS/2 hardware and while the mouse still didn't work, the keyboard did. I exited the software, got back to windows and deleted Partition Commander.

          Now I'm back to normal, but still low on C: memory.
          So what's the best way to transfer free space from my other partitions to the c: drive?

          And thanks for the help, guys. I feel really stupid.


          Hey! Good for you!

          I should have said - NEVER use anything other than a PS2 keybard and mouse when doing this sort of work. I won't have wireless accessories, they're just too much trouble.

          So, it isn't memory it is FREE-SPACE.

          What have you got on the C: drive that doesn't need to be there, or do you need more space anyway?

          You can move the My Documents folder, Email folder, Temporazry Internet Folder and Paging file to other partitions and do a cleanup as shown on the link below.

          Never having used Partition Commander but having used other partition resizers I can tell you that, unlike many other programs, programs for partion work need to be studied VERY carefully before using.

          It is also better to stick with the PS2 equipment, disconnect from the internet physically, and  - remove - your anti-virus program to prevent it interfering with the process, especially on re-boot.

          So now that you have got it back up again you need to decide how much space you need to have on C:

          It is currently 5 GB or 5120 MB and I suggest that you really need 8 GB or 8192 MB so you need to shrink one of your other partitions (WITHIN IN THE EXTENDED PARTITION) by 3072 MB first of all.

          Then it must not be butted up against the C: drive partition so you need to move/slide this/these partitions to the back of the drive.

          Then you need to shrink the Extended partition so that it properly encompasses the Logical drives and so that it leaves room for the C: drive to grow.

          All you have to do then is to use the maximum space available (It might not show precisely as 3072 MB) so that the C: drive butts up against the Extended partition.

          Easy!

          Now re-install your AV program, re-connect, update the AV program and run a scan as soon as you can.

          1. Shrink drive D: by 3072 MB

          (C: drive partition){(Logi drive D:)----(Logical drive E:)}

          Where{} {Shows the extent of the Extended partition} and ---- shows the space

          2. Slide drive D: to *censored* up against drive E:.

          (C: drive partition){----(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}

          3. Shrink the Extended partition.

          (C: drive partition)----{(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}

          4. Make the C: drive partition larger to use all of the free-space.

          (C: drive partition----){(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}

          Here ---- shows the 3072 MB (approx) added to drive C:

          Mac

          • Guest
          Re: Boot up failure
          « Reply #17 on: September 18, 2005, 07:45:06 AM »
          Quote
          A good result!  :)

          I guess all you can do is put C drive junk onto your other partition or go down the partition resizing path again.
          I have never had complete success trying to change partitions after windows has been installed but I haven't tried for a few years so maybe now the partitioning software has improved.

          I'll be interested to see how you go because I would like to create an extra partition on my drive.


          What is your current layout FED?

          AlienSpider

          • Guest
          Re: Boot up failure
          « Reply #18 on: September 18, 2005, 11:32:21 AM »
          Quote
          So I fixed it.

          I opened up the computer, reseated the ram, took out the system battery, and reset CMOS. After that, i was able to boot up to the point where the computer would freeze on the Partition Commander software screen.

          I was finally back at square one - or so I thought. I had always noticed that my keyboard light and laser mouse never lit up and it dawned on me that the computer wasn't detecting the USB hardware. So I plugged in PS/2 hardware and while the mouse still didn't work, the keyboard did. I exited the software, got back to windows and deleted Partition Commander.

          Now I'm back to normal, but still low on C: memory.
          So what's the best way to transfer free space from my other partitions to the c: drive?

          And thanks for the help, guys. I feel really stupid.


          Good you fixed the bios problem by a reset of the bios (didn’t think of that :-[)
          And you uninstalled the software by using a ps/2 keyboard.

          Make more room on the c: del the temp files (temp, Temporary Internet Files and recycle bin) of all users. In win xp:
          Temp dir C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Local Settings\Temp
          Temporary Internet Files C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
          If you didn’t do this already.

          Remove the program’s you don’t use anymore.
          You can move the Pagefile (windows hard disk memory) to a adder partition.

          Repartitioning hard disks:
          The room you want to ad to c: you take from d: or e:
          I use Partition magic to partition and repartition my hard drives without any problems when Windows XP is running.
          Your current hard disk \disks layout is:
          Quote
          Hard Drive 1: Seagate Barricuda - 5G dedicated to OS, 40G dedicated to programs, 45G dedicated to media
          Hard Drive 2: Maxtor (30G for media only)

          Code: [Select]

          Take room from D: and ad to C:
          1. Shrink drive D: by 3072 MB
          (C: drive partition){(Logi drive D:)----(Logical drive E:)}  
          Where{} {Shows the extent of the Extended partition} and ---- shows the space
          2. Slide drive D: to *censored* up against drive E:.
          (C: drive partition){----(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          3. Shrink the Extended partition.
          (C: drive partition)----{(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          4. Make the C: drive partition larger to use all of the free-space.
          (C: drive partition----){(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          Here ---- shows the 3072 MB (approx) added to drive C:

          Or take room from E: and ad to C:
          1. Shrink drive E: by 3072 MB
          (C: drive partition){(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)----}  
           2. Slide drive E: to the end of the disk
          (C: drive partition){(Logi drive D:)----(Logical drive E:)}  
          3. Slide drive D: to *censored* up against drive E:.
          (C: drive partition){----(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          4. Shrink the Extended partition.
          (C: drive partition)----{(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          5. Make the C: drive partition larger to use all of the free-space.
          (C: drive partition----){(Logi drive D:)(Logical drive E:)}
          Here ---- shows the 3072 MB (approx) added to drive C:

          Fed

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            Re: Boot up failure
            « Reply #19 on: September 18, 2005, 02:27:38 PM »
            Pretty simple here Mac, W2K on C drive.

            Field      Value
            Computer      
            Operating System      Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
            OS Service Pack      Service Pack 4
            DirectX      4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
            Computer Name      EDDIE-XS6QT4QNA
            User Name      Eddie
                 
            Motherboard      
            CPU Type      Intel Pentium 4, 2400 MHz (18 x 133)
            Motherboard Name      Asus P4P800 Deluxe  (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 WiFi, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
            Motherboard Chipset      Intel Springdale i865PE
            System Memory      512 MB  (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
            BIOS Type      AMI (08/20/03)
            Communication Port      Communications Port (COM1)
            Communication Port      Communications Port (COM2)
            Communication Port      ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
                 
            Display      
            Video Adapter      NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X  (128 MB)
            3D Accelerator      nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X
            Monitor      Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB]  (CX  276964)
                 
            Multimedia      
            Audio Adapter      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-2/A-3]
                 
            Storage      
            IDE Controller      Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
            Floppy Drive      Floppy disk drive
            Disk Drive      WDC WD800JB-00CRA1  (74 GB, IDE)
            Optical Drive      HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8520B  (52x/24x/52x CD-RW)
            SMART Hard Disks Status      OK
                 
            Partitions      
            C: (NTFS)      76308 MB (64079 MB free)
                 
            Input      
            Keyboard      Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
            Mouse      Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
                 
            Network      
            Network Adapter      WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface  (202.172.109.169)
            Modem      Standard 56000 bps K56Flex Modem
                 
            Peripherals      
            USB1 Controller      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
            USB1 Controller      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
            USB1 Controller      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
            USB1 Controller      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
            USB2 Controller      Intel 82801EB ICH5 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [A-2/A-3]