windows lock up at start up

jonathan68 · 09-01-2009, 05:45 AM

MB : Asus M2N68-AM

Ram : 2 GB corsair pc 6400 ddr2

CPU : AMD 4400 + X2 64

Video : EVGA 9600 GT 512 PCIE

Pws: Ultra 700 Watt

HD : WD 320 SATA

OS : Vista 32-bit

at any point in time, it's just random. windows will lose the start up files and will only load halfway through windows upon start-up ( it never makes it to the desktop). the computer was built by me around March of this year an has ran perfect up until August. it happened to me three times in August and the only choice i have is to reload the entire computer...again. it won't restore, you can't load into safe mode or load windows normaly. put the windows CD into the drive to repair and it finds nothing wrong with the files. things I have tried after it lost itself the first time from xtra parts i have laying around.

changed video card...crashed a second time.

changed the ram...crashed the third time.

all volts for the PS show they are good in bios...yes i can get there when it does this. it's not overheating temps are normal.

I know Windows writes to the same spots on the hard drive when installing system files....bad hard drive ?????. once I reload everything it works for about a week then it crashes again. any ideas at all ?

my step son it getting very angry cause he keeps losing eveything over and over. told him don't save anything and let me run it by the guru's in the tech forum i goto and see what they say.

jcgriff2 · 09-01-2009, 07:47 AM

Hi -

I would suggest that you once again re-install Vista, but wipe the entire hard drive clean with KillDisk.

KillDisk - http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

Make bootable KillDisk ISO CD w/ ImgBurn -
ImgBurn - http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

After re-installation, I would keep an eye on 2 areas -

1. WERCON (Prob Rpts & Solutions) - "View Problem History" - START | wercon.exe

2. Event Viewer - Custom / Admin logs - START | eventvwr.msc

A re-install will help focus in on a software vs. hardware issue.

Those hardware areas to check -

- Run HDD diagnostics - http://www.techsupportforum.com/f234...es-302602.html

- Run chkdsk /r

- RAM - Run memtest86+ - http://www.memtest.org/

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

jonathan68 · 09-01-2009, 10:08 AM

thank you jcgriff, the computer was reloaded yesterday and it turned on this morning. i just pulled up the event viewer and it's reporting nothing but Disk errors ( bad sectors ) betting it's right where windows loads the system files. i'll be replacing the hard drive either today or tomorrow.

thank you again for your help.

jonathan68 · 09-03-2009, 04:59 AM

dropped in a new WD SATA 250 and it purrs like a kitten. this makes the 3rd WD 320 that has failed on me this year.....seeing a theme here i don't like. the first 320 lasted 4 days, (yes 4 days), the 2nd 320 lasted 3 months and the 3rd 320 lasted 4 months. i'm thinking i'll stay away from the WD SATA 320's.

they were all Western Digital WD3200AAJS Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 320GB, 7200rpm, 8MB, SATA-300.