Issues with booting up pc..

Nizmatik

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
Messages
101
Hi all,

At present I'm unsure whether or not this software related or hardware related, hope you guys can give me some advice. I'm dealing with a friend's computer which seems to have issues with booting up. Firstly I'll list the below specs.

Specs:
Intel Core Duo E6850
Asus P5KR P35 Motherboard
Super Talent DDR2 PC6400 2GB RAM
Geforce 7800 GTX
OCZ Powerstream 520 Watt PSU
Seagate 320GB Hard Drive
Windows XP SP2

Now as you can see, the system is fairly average so nothing fancy in other words.

Main Issue: It seems in most cases when booting up the pc, the PC will process through it's standard POST tests, then when loading into Windows, the screen goes black, the cursor in the top left hand corner just blinks rapidly, then from here the pc halts and does not go beyond that point.

In this case I'm required to turn the pc off to restart again. I would need to do the above process about 3-4 times before the system comes right then boots into the OS.

Now I have recenently reinstalled Windows XP again to his machine thinking this may have solved the issue, however waking up earlier this morning to power the pc back on, looks like the problem is still there.

At this stage, it seems like a hardware issue, so if it is, who would be the main culprit? At this stage, I simply cannot pin point whether it be the board, GPU, RAM etc. It's hard to decide as the pc does eventually come right after a few restarts.

Anybody able to help or give advice with this?
 
My first guess would be the hard drive is the problem. What I would do is get yourself either a copy of Windows PE (google: Bart PE) or download a live edition of some linux (Ubuntu, for example) distribution. If you're able to boot from a live linux CD multiple times in row without any incidents than I would think that the hard drive is the most likely culprit. Of course, the ide or sata cable could be the problem too.
 
My first guess would be the hard drive is the problem. What I would do is get yourself either a copy of Windows PE (google: Bart PE) or download a live edition of some linux (Ubuntu, for example) distribution. If you're able to boot from a live linux CD multiple times in row without any incidents than I would think that the hard drive is the most likely culprit. Of course, the ide or sata cable could be the problem too.

Solid advice.
 
Main Issue: It seems in most cases when booting up the pc, the PC will process through it's standard POST tests, then when loading into Windows, the screen goes black, the cursor in the top left hand corner just blinks rapidly, then from here the pc halts and does not go beyond that point.

In this case I'm required to turn the pc off to restart again. I would need to do the above process about 3-4 times before the system comes right then boots into the OS.

Now I have recenently reinstalled Windows XP again to his machine thinking this may have solved the issue, however waking up earlier this morning to power the pc back on, looks like the problem is still there.

At this stage, it seems like a hardware issue, so if it is, who would be the main culprit? At this stage, I simply cannot pin point whether it be the board, GPU, RAM etc. It's hard to decide as the pc does eventually come right after a few restarts.

Anybody able to help or give advice with this?
If you are using the same drivers on the reinstall my money is on that, try and boot up into safe mode.
 
Hi all,

Thanks for all your speedy responses, much appreciated. I haven't yet attempted booting Windows PE so will do so if I still have no luck. However there is one other strange thing that appears to be happening (which is what my friend had described). This shows a slightly different light to the situation.

As I came home from work today (a solid 10 hours or so) I turned the pc on and it again did not boot. However in this case, the system does not reach POST, but the screen will stay blank and all you can hear is the GPU fan spinning at top speed. I swapped the GPU out and installed my 8800GTX, again same story with the black screen and the GPU spinning at top speed (so I've concluded its not the GPU).

I even went through the trouble of installing the components to a spare motherboard (Asus P5W DH Deluxe) and still the same issue. Unfortunately I was a little tired to try RAM, so unable to confirm if this is a RAM issue.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this seems like a PSU issue? I went through unplugging certain devices connected to the PSU, and then the system eventually came right. However I wasn't certain if it was just the 'restarting' that had resolved the issue, had I not disconnected the components, the system may have come right anyway, and I was advised by my friend it eventually came right after a few restarts.

I've also noticed the issue doesn't appear to be apparent when the pc finally kicks into gear, so if the pc finally loads up, I could shut the pc down, and the turn the system back on without any issues? It only appears to be when the system is turned off for a few hours.

So does this looks like a PSU issue? I don't have a spare lying around, and I'll admit I'm a little lazy to connect my own PSU. So any insight on this one? Cheers again.
 
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