[tiger025]

I am having a serious problem with my Windows XP Pro SP2 computer. It will not boot into windows at all. When I turn on the computer on, the splash screen comes up, and it does its usual 2 beeps, and then it displays the screen with the various boot options. [safe mode, last known good config etc.] I have tried them all, the same thing happens every time. The Windows XP logo comes up and the its little blue loading bar cycles about 6 times before it all disappears, flashes a message that is visible for about 1/10 of a second, and then restarts. I used a camera to see what this message is, and this is pretty much what it says:

“A problem has been detected and windows had been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this error restart. If this screen appears again follow these steps:

Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities, check your Hard Drive Configuration, and check for any [updated] drivers. Run [CHKDISK /S] to check for hard drive corruption and then restart your computer.”

Before I go any further I should say that something like this happened about 2 years ago on this computer. That time it was a “boot volume unbootable” message and after calling my PC company they said the hard drive had died so I got a new one and reinstalled everything and I haven’t had a fatal problem ever since. However I should mention that I am a gamer and I have replaced a few parts recently, about a month ago, I put in a new PSU, and got new RAM because my computer was restarting randomly and performance in games was poor. About the same time I also got a new SATA harddrive and did a clean install of winxp on it, mainly because I needed the room.

Everything has been ok since I installed that new hardware until about an hour or so before Windows XP stopped booting. I was playing a newly installed game that is very graphically demanding and my computer randomly restarted about 10 times within 1 hour while I was playing this. After 1 of those restarts windows did not boot and this bring me to where I am today.

I realize that things do not look so good and I will may have to reinstall windows xp again and maybe even get a new hard drive if this one is shot as well.

That said, I really want to figure out what is causing this problem. I think that it seems likely it’s a hardware problem but I’m unsure where I should look. Having just spent a bit of $$$ on a new PSU, RAM, and hard drive [which are all 1 month old] I have trouble believing any of them are at fault.
To date the only things I have not replaced in my computer are the Mother Board and CPU, do I guess its possible they are to blame?

At any rate I want to apologize for make this post so long, I just want to try and get to the bottom of this, and any ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

[keymaker]

to see if the hdd is the issue, go to a workin computer and download th diagnostics utility for your hdd. then bootup with it and check your hdd for any errors. you will need to go into the bios and change the first boot device, for example to floppy, if you put the diagnostics utlity in a floppy.

also if you have your windows xp cd, then bootup with that too and try fixing the master boot record. bootup with the windows xp cd and then on the main console, choose repair. the computer will ask you for an admin password but if you dont have one then just simply hit enter.

then on C: type in "fixmbr" without the "". it should only take a sec and then restart after that and boot into windows normally. if you have a spare computer that has a motherboard that supports your cpu, try installing your cpu on that computer and see if the problem persist. if it does, then the cpu is faulty.

also try replacing the hdd cable as a bad cable can give plenty of problem and ive experience it myself.

 

[shadow121]

Try this

 Remove all peripherals from the pc
 Set the boot sequence to Cd drive 1st
 Boot from the Win XP Operating System CD
 Wait for the system to load the Win XP setup
 On the Win XP Setup Screen Press (R)
 The Recovery Console will load on a black screen
 Type 1 then press Enter to select the windows installation
 If an admin password prompt appears Press Enter again
 A C:\ prompt will appear
 Type CHKDSK /P and press Enter
 The system will perform a check on the hard-drive
 When it finds the errors another C:\ prompt will appear
 Type FIXBOOT and press Enter
 A message appears “The target partition is C:”
 Type (Y) then press Enter
 When FIXBOOT repairs the errors, another C:\ prompt appears
 Now restart the system


Solution

The system should now restart back to Normal Mode. If this does not happen and the system boots to the advanced options screen. Select Last Known Good Configuration and the system should return to windows. If further problems persist attempt to reinstall the operating system, then troubleshoot the hardware.

 

[tiger025]

When I run the Recovery Console, I just get the same error, " A Problem has been detected..." Except this time I can read the whole thing and on the end it says:

STOP: 0X000000024 ( a bunch of numbers...)

ntfs.sys Address F74AAbef at F7446000 DateStamp 3d6descq

I get the same error if I just try to install XP instead of run the recovery console.

I replaced the HD cable with a spare one I had and still no change.

 

[tiger025]

Well I think I have got my self up and running again. I called my hd company and they walked me though a process of clearing the boot sector or something from the HD and now im just reinstalling windowsxp the usual way. Their tests showed that my HD did not have any problems, they said that the drive had software problems which may have caused this crash. However I'm still not sure what caused this "crash" and im more concerned about the fact that my PC restarted 10 times or so within 1 hour. I mean its weird that a hd could cause the whole PC to just keep restarting like that but maybe it did. Anyway I'm gonna go back to playing the usual games I did before and ill watch and see If i have any problems. Thanks for the ideas everyone

 

[Sarge]

Try Memtest x86+, freeware, available from http://www.memtest.org/
Download the pre-complied copy for floppy and boot with that.

 

[sinclair_tm]

well, the restarting 10 times in an hour is what screwed your win xp install up. and being it happened after installing a new game, its the game's fault, or yours for setting the graphics too high. sounds like you were over taxing your system and the bios was trying to save the system by shutting it down because something was getting too hot, or drawing too much voltage. speaking of voltage, how old is your psu and what is its rating? could be its going out and spiking everything else. i am also a gamer, and have learned the hard way that if one pushes their system too hard, it will rebel.

 

[sinclair_tm]

can't edit for some reason, but i also remembered that bios will also shut down the computer if a fan stops spinning, or spins too slow. mainly cpu, nb, and psu. but some can be set up to monitor case fans too.

 

[Sarge]

PSUs are important, but from the error messages, I'm thinking it's posibbly a bad stick of RAM.

 

[tiger025]

Well like I said I have done a full reinstall now, so theres no more error messages at least for now :smile:

That said I did get a new better PSU and new RAM 1 month ago, so here is what I have now:

<CPU> Intel Pentium 4 [HT], 2.8 GHz (14 x 202) 800mhz FSB with crapy compusa cooler
<MoBo> MSI 865PE Neo2-S (MS-6728)
<GFX> Evga Nvidia 6800 256bit/128mb
<RAM> 1GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 RAM (2 x 512)
<PSU> Antec TrueBlue 480Watt ATX12V

this is why im suprised that its either the ram or the PSU causing the problem. But i suppose I will run a ram test again just to be sure.

I did have a overheating problem maybe a year ago, and I got compusa to install a new cpu cooler which has been fine ever since.

In reguard to a possible fan problem, i have actually been having a fan issue for a few months now which i guess i should address. Sometimes my Motherboard's monitoring progy (Core Center) Will sound this alarm because the "NB fan speed" drops below 1000rpm. This is what I mean:



Its where I drew the arrow. So far I dont think Ive had any direct link between this and the shutdown, and the alarm did not go off at all during these constant shutdowns. Even when this alarm goes off, the system temp doesnt go up. My cpu fan still keeps it under 55C at all times even during games.

 

[Sarge]

NB Temp is your NorthBridge Chip's temp.

 

[tiger025]

so is it a big problem that that fan drops below 1000rpm?

If so can I go about replacing it?