Computer Won't Boot To Windows

drwho · Sep 19, 2005, 11:53 PM

My daughter is having a problem with her computer at college. The problem is that she can't get her computer to boot to Windows normally. I've listed her computer specs as far as I can remember them.

CPU- XP 3200+ (Barton core)
Mobo - ASRock K7S41GX (SIS 741GX chipset)
HDD - WD 120 GB
PSU - Vantec +Stealth" 520w
Ram - 512 MB

Graphics, audio, and ethernet are all onboard. The only thing that I can think of is that she has picked up something at school in the way of a virus or something else that has corrupted Windows. Anyone got any other ideas?

drwho

ReDGuiTaR · Sep 20, 2005, 12:05 AM

Can she boot on safe mode?

swimtech · Sep 20, 2005, 12:12 AM

To check her computer for viruses (it could be the problem, but might be a hundred other things too...), she should have access to a student computer help area at her school - they may even run a virus check for her if she takes it to them.

If she is comfortable and somewhat knowledgable, she might be able to diagnose the problem herself with your help. The Ultimate Boot Disk has several antivirus programs on it, in addition to hard drive diagnostic programs, among other things...

Can she boot in safe mode? Any other symptom descriptions of the problem would be helpful for all of us to be able to help you, and her...

***craig5320*** · Sep 20, 2005, 12:28 AM

It'd also help to find out where abouts it stops loading.

Does it begin to load but freeze on the loading bar?
Does it reach the welcome screen but stop.
Does it turn to a blue screen with an error/stop code if so what file is named? eg. atiagp.dll

It could be a number of things, holding F8 after the numlock lights at startup should bring up the boot menu, from that try last known good option and if that fails try the safe mode option, and we can take it from there.

drwho · Sep 20, 2005, 02:25 AM

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. At the moment, all I can tell you is that she has tried the using the last known good configuration and that does not help. The computer simply restarts and goes back to the same point as before. I'm waiting for her to call me back at the moment. One other thing I can tell you is that she had similiar problems last spring during her second semester at school. She was also getting clicking noise from her computer, and then she would get either a random reboot or the computer would just shut down. This happened last spring and again this semester at school. Over the weekend I sent her a new PSU thinking the clicking noise and the random reboots were caused by the cheap PSU she had in her computer. She installed the new PSU (Vantec "Stealth" 520w) in her computer today with some help with a friend, and at least she says the clicking noises have stopped. I don't know about you guys, but I have a hard time trying to diagnoss a computer problem from long distance, which is what you guys are trying to do for me and my daughter, which I appreciate, by the way.

edit: As soon as I can talk to my daughter and get some answers to the questions you have asked I will post back.

drwho

Necrosis · Sep 20, 2005, 02:40 AM

Uh oh...clicking noise. Hard drive fellas?

drwho · Sep 20, 2005, 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Uh oh...clicking noise. Hard drive fellas?

I hope it isn't the HDD, Necrosis. It was brand new back in April when I put it in. I'm beginning to think I should just junk her current components and start over. She has been having so many problems with it, I'm just want to start over.

drwho

drwho · Sep 20, 2005, 03:42 AM

I just finished talking with my daughter about what is happening with her computer. She tells me that when she boots the computer up, it will get to the Windows XP screen with the loading bar, the bar will run twice across the screen and then it reboots and just keeps on doing it. She is unable to use the last known good configuration and she is unable to get into Safe Mode. Also she is not getting any kind of blue screen with any error messages or unable to load file messages. I hope this is something to go on, because I sure have no clue.

Just as a sidenote, she had that computer here at home all summer, and did not have one problem with it. No clicking noises, no random reboots or looping at startup, it ran fine. Within a month of getting back to college, she starts having all kinds of problems with it. Go figure.

drwho

ReDGuiTaR · Sep 20, 2005, 04:50 AM

First she should try to repair the existing installation .

When asked to install ( press enter ) or go in the recovery console choose " enter " then choose repair ... if it doesnt work she might hae to reformat and if that does not work either she might have a dead HD...

PangingJr · Sep 20, 2005, 05:40 AM

clicks sound usually indicates hardware failures and can be from some other things (not only from harddrive), like one of the chip (such as chip for PS/2 ports) on motherboard begin to go off. you would hear some clicks sound then Windows reboots.

But, that does not seem to be your case.
that's more likely to be the corrupted Windows installed that caused the boot failures.

some more info about the problem can help, but you can just reformat and install fresh copy of Windows cause this is might be the easiest way for you to find out.

MythicaL · Sep 20, 2005, 06:02 AM

Most likely a corrupted Windows... but it might also be the RAM. I am also getting some strange clicking noises which is causing my computer to lock up and reboot randomly, and I know my RAM is to blame (need to get it RMA'ed in fact). So if you have two sticks in there or whatnot, why not take one out, see if it works, etc., and basically single out the the RAM isn't the problem. Just a suggestion

Sep 19, 2005, 11:53 PM	#1
drwho HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 572 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Computer Won't Boot To Windows My daughter is having a problem with her computer at college. The problem is that she can't get her computer to boot to Windows normally. I've listed her computer specs as far as I can remember them. CPU- XP 3200+ (Barton core) Mobo - ASRock K7S41GX (SIS 741GX chipset) HDD - WD 120 GB PSU - Vantec +Stealth" 520w Ram - 512 MB Graphics, audio, and ethernet are all onboard. The only thing that I can think of is that she has picked up something at school in the way of a virus or something else that has corrupted Windows. Anyone got any other ideas? drwho __________________ Last edited by drwho; Sep 19, 2005 at 11:59 PM.

Sep 20, 2005, 12:05 AM	#2
ReDGuiTaR DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Quebec , Canada Posts: 746 Rep Power: 0	Can she boot on safe mode? __________________ Zing a ling... zing a ling a ling ... A8N-E - A64x2 4600, 2048 Mb Kingston ram 400mhz cas 2.5 ( 2 x 1024 DualChannel ), Seagate 320 Gig 7200 16Mb cache S-ata 2, GeForce 7900GT 512MB, Enermax 460watt power supply, WindowsXP SP2.

Sep 20, 2005, 12:12 AM	#3
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	To check her computer for viruses (it could be the problem, but might be a hundred other things too...), she should have access to a student computer help area at her school - they may even run a virus check for her if she takes it to them. If she is comfortable and somewhat knowledgable, she might be able to diagnose the problem herself with your help. The Ultimate Boot Disk has several antivirus programs on it, in addition to hard drive diagnostic programs, among other things... Can she boot in safe mode? Any other symptom descriptions of the problem would be helpful for all of us to be able to help you, and her... __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it. Last edited by swimtech; Sep 20, 2005 at 12:47 AM.

Sep 20, 2005, 12:28 AM	#4
*craig5320* HH Administrator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 8,568 Rep Power: 445 System Specs	It'd also help to find out where abouts it stops loading. Does it begin to load but freeze on the loading bar? Does it reach the welcome screen but stop. Does it turn to a blue screen with an error/stop code if so what file is named? eg. atiagp.dll It could be a number of things, holding F8 after the numlock lights at startup should bring up the boot menu, from that try last known good option and if that fails try the safe mode option, and we can take it from there. __________________ HardwareHeaven on Facebook

Sep 20, 2005, 02:25 AM	Thread Starter #5
drwho HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 572 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Thanks for taking the time to help me out. At the moment, all I can tell you is that she has tried the using the last known good configuration and that does not help. The computer simply restarts and goes back to the same point as before. I'm waiting for her to call me back at the moment. One other thing I can tell you is that she had similiar problems last spring during her second semester at school. She was also getting clicking noise from her computer, and then she would get either a random reboot or the computer would just shut down. This happened last spring and again this semester at school. Over the weekend I sent her a new PSU thinking the clicking noise and the random reboots were caused by the cheap PSU she had in her computer. She installed the new PSU (Vantec "Stealth" 520w) in her computer today with some help with a friend, and at least she says the clicking noises have stopped. I don't know about you guys, but I have a hard time trying to diagnoss a computer problem from long distance, which is what you guys are trying to do for me and my daughter, which I appreciate, by the way. edit: As soon as I can talk to my daughter and get some answers to the questions you have asked I will post back. drwho __________________ Last edited by drwho; Sep 20, 2005 at 02:34 AM.

Sep 20, 2005, 02:40 AM	#6
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Uh oh...clicking noise. Hard drive fellas?

Sep 20, 2005, 03:42 AM	Thread Starter #8
drwho HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 572 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I just finished talking with my daughter about what is happening with her computer. She tells me that when she boots the computer up, it will get to the Windows XP screen with the loading bar, the bar will run twice across the screen and then it reboots and just keeps on doing it. She is unable to use the last known good configuration and she is unable to get into Safe Mode. Also she is not getting any kind of blue screen with any error messages or unable to load file messages. I hope this is something to go on, because I sure have no clue. Just as a sidenote, she had that computer here at home all summer, and did not have one problem with it. No clicking noises, no random reboots or looping at startup, it ran fine. Within a month of getting back to college, she starts having all kinds of problems with it. Go figure. drwho __________________

Sep 20, 2005, 04:50 AM	#9
ReDGuiTaR DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Quebec , Canada Posts: 746 Rep Power: 0	First she should try to repair the existing installation . When asked to install ( press enter ) or go in the recovery console choose " enter " then choose repair ... if it doesnt work she might hae to reformat and if that does not work either she might have a dead HD... __________________ Zing a ling... zing a ling a ling ... A8N-E - A64x2 4600, 2048 Mb Kingston ram 400mhz cas 2.5 ( 2 x 1024 DualChannel ), Seagate 320 Gig 7200 16Mb cache S-ata 2, GeForce 7900GT 512MB, Enermax 460watt power supply, WindowsXP SP2.

Sep 20, 2005, 05:40 AM	#10
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 71	clicks sound usually indicates hardware failures and can be from some other things (not only from harddrive), like one of the chip (such as chip for PS/2 ports) on motherboard begin to go off. you would hear some clicks sound then Windows reboots. But, that does not seem to be your case. that's more likely to be the corrupted Windows installed that caused the boot failures. some more info about the problem can help, but you can just reformat and install fresh copy of Windows cause this is might be the easiest way for you to find out.

Sep 20, 2005, 06:02 AM	#11
MythicaL I like computers. Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: In front of a monitor Posts: 3,399 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	Most likely a corrupted Windows... but it might also be the RAM. I am also getting some strange clicking noises which is causing my computer to lock up and reboot randomly, and I know my RAM is to blame (need to get it RMA'ed in fact). So if you have two sticks in there or whatnot, why not take one out, see if it works, etc., and basically single out the the RAM isn't the problem. Just a suggestion __________________ Always knew I didn't belong in this world. I wasn't made for this. But I'll never forget those who betrayed me, and those who never failed my trust.