Boot up issue

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

Sharon F Wrote:
> On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 06:44:23 +0000, enner100 wrote:
> -
> Pardon my ignorance but how would that cause my problems? What could
> be in the memory that makes my pc hang for 2 minutes on reboot or
> causes DOS not to be able to load on reboot?
> I have never had a problem with rebooting any of my previous pc's
> into
> DOS?-
>
> No idea. I was simply pointing out the difference between the two
> starts
> (restart and cold start). Your own observations, as posted, note a
> distinct
> difference in behavior.
>
> Since it is apparent that something is "hanging over" with a restart,
> you
> might want to add shutdown troubleshooting to what you're trying
> already. A
> good resource for Windows shutdown problems, including specific XP
> problems, can be found he
> http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm
>
> --
> Sharon F
> MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

I thought I had the PC sorted. I stripped the PC right down.
Reformatted the hard drive and added each device 1 by 1. I managed to
get it 1 hard drive, 512k memory, 2.2Ghz processor, DVD player, DVD
writer, 3 PCI cards and a Geforce fx 5200 AGP card. Everything was
working ok. The moment I added my second hard drive to the equation I
got he boot up problems again. I have an external hard drive that I
use for back up purposes. I tried installing that as the second hard
drive and the PC was still stable and booting up ok.


So I assumed the second hard drive was at fault. I removed the second
hard drive and put it back in my external hard drive case. I then went
out and bought a new 120 GB hard drive.


I put the new hard drive in the PC as a slave (so I now have two 120 GB
hard drives in the PC) The PC is now booting up ok but Windows has
trouble finding
the DVD player and DVD writer. Sometimes when I boot up windows the
DVD player and DVD writer are showing. Next time I boot up time only
one may be showing. The next time I boot up none may be showing etc.


I am now wondering if it may be the IDE controllers on the motherboard
at fault (the IDE cables are brand new)? All the problems seem to be
from IDE devices.
Could it be the hard drive? I have been installing XP on the same hard
drive all during the problems (but it is a brand new hard drive).


--
enner100

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 01:50:37 +0000, enner100 wrote:

> Sharon F Wrote:
>> On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 06:44:23 +0000, enner100 wrote:
>> -
>> Pardon my ignorance but how would that cause my problems? What could
>> be in the memory that makes my pc hang for 2 minutes on reboot or
>> causes DOS not to be able to load on reboot?
>> I have never had a problem with rebooting any of my previous pc's
>> into
>> DOS?-
>>
>> No idea. I was simply pointing out the difference between the two
>> starts
>> (restart and cold start). Your own observations, as posted, note a
>> distinct
>> difference in behavior.
>>
>> Since it is apparent that something is "hanging over" with a restart,
>> you
>> might want to add shutdown troubleshooting to what you're trying
>> already. A
>> good resource for Windows shutdown problems, including specific XP
>> problems, can be found he
>> http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm
>>
>> --
>> Sharon F
>> MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User
>
> I thought I had the PC sorted. I stripped the PC right down.
> Reformatted the hard drive and added each device 1 by 1. I managed to
> get it 1 hard drive, 512k memory, 2.2Ghz processor, DVD player, DVD
> writer, 3 PCI cards and a Geforce fx 5200 AGP card. Everything was
> working ok. The moment I added my second hard drive to the equation I
> got he boot up problems again. I have an external hard drive that I
> use for back up purposes. I tried installing that as the second hard
> drive and the PC was still stable and booting up ok.
>
>
> So I assumed the second hard drive was at fault. I removed the second
> hard drive and put it back in my external hard drive case. I then went
> out and bought a new 120 GB hard drive.
>
>
> I put the new hard drive in the PC as a slave (so I now have two 120 GB
> hard drives in the PC) The PC is now booting up ok but Windows has
> trouble finding
> the DVD player and DVD writer. Sometimes when I boot up windows the
> DVD player and DVD writer are showing. Next time I boot up time only
> one may be showing. The next time I boot up none may be showing etc.
>
>
> I am now wondering if it may be the IDE controllers on the motherboard
> at fault (the IDE cables are brand new)? All the problems seem to be
> from IDE devices.
> Could it be the hard drive? I have been installing XP on the same hard
> drive all during the problems (but it is a brand new hard drive).

It's possible that the problem is software (drivers for the IDE
controllers) or hardware. Some ideas about your problem:

Check for a BIOS setting that allows some extra time for detection of IDE
devices. Determine via the drive listing in Windows Explorer, whether the
extra time allows Windows to detect the drives consistently or not.

Check the slot for the 2nd IDE controller on the motherboard. If confident
in doing so, clean it. A stray piece of dust or pet hair could cause
problems here.

Aside: Motherboard problems can be difficult to diagnose. I once had a
motherboard with one bad ram slot. XP would truck along with no problems
most of the time but had odd inconclusive errors at irregular intervals.
Sometimes within programs, sometimes reading disks (CD or DVD). Nothing you
could really put a finger on. It took a lot of experimenting, but
eventually it was evident that as long as I kept ram out of that one slot,
the system worked perfectly.

Not all problems can be diagnosed firsthand like this. Sometimes it
requires a technician with proper tools that can thoroughly test out a
motherboard for hardware faults.

Another suggestion: Check the website for your motherboard and/or the
vendor for the chipset that your motherboard uses. They may have updated
drivers for the IDE controllers available.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User