Weird XP startup issue.
Monday, April 7th, 2008 - 1:57pm
I've recently reinstalled Windows on this machine and now I'm running into an odd issue: I have to power it on twice. Every time I power it up from "off," it gets to the black screen just prior to the Windows loading screen and hangs there; I left it alone for about ten minutes once and nothing happens. However, I slap the Reset button and it comes up just fine. This is annoying more than seriously problematic, but it strikes me as the sort of thing a machine shouldn't do, so it's something I'd like for it not to do. Any ideas?
If I didn't drink, Crom would laugh and cast me out of Valhalla when I die. Peer pressure I can handle, but not when it comes from Crom. -Lobo
Bad BIOS battery? Had this issue with some older laptops, new battery fixed it. Could be the same thing...
Politely rude. Briskly vague. Firmly uninformative.
Check your CPU voltage in the BIOS and make sure it is set properly. I had this problem after I bought my most recent mainboard and CPU. I turned up the voltage and it went away.
"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
http://blog.digital-lifeline.ca
While we have some experts here, a basic question:
How do you make it so Windows XP always logs automatically into a certain account?
I got a laptop that had 3 accounts but I only use 1 of them and it's annoying to have to select the proper user account every time I want it to log in.
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Start-run-control userpasswords2 should get you what you want, Mex.
Razorgrin, do you have an ATI card?
SteamID: Coyler
Xbox Live: Coyler
Could be. The mobo's about four years old.
I've never changed it from the defaults, but I guess PCs do occasionally alter their settings/programming/etc. without being asked to do so. Stupid ghosts in the machine.
I do.
If I didn't drink, Crom would laugh and cast me out of Valhalla when I die. Peer pressure I can handle, but not when it comes from Crom. -Lobo
Doesn't sound like hardware to me, mainly since you say this was a reinstall. I'm taking that to mean that the machine wasn't having this issue, you "reinstalled" Windows (i.e. not a clean install?) and then the reboot issue started, right? So either you had a hardware failure that miraculously corresponded with your reinstall or you've got software issues. Granted hardware would have been my first guess given those symptoms, but it just seems too coincidental.
If you meant that you did a clean installation on a disk that had been formatted then, yeah, it's probably hardware. I'm not sure where exactly in the boot process your machine is hanging, but it by "Windows loading screen" you mean the point immediatley following the POST screen when the OS loader takes over, I would take a long, hard look at my hard drives in addition to everything else that has been mentioned.
Ken Levine wrote:
Holy crap, it works! Thanks! =D
The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred
Does it POST at all? Sorry just getting this clear because I've had issues with ATI cards and the boot process but they had stopped the POST process altogether. Re reading the thread I reckon Parallax may be closer to the issue.
I've really got to stop the skimming.
SteamID: Coyler
Xbox Live: Coyler
It might even be a changed BIOS setting due to a dead CMOS battery! Two great tastes that taste great together!
If it happened right after a reinstall, and you didn't wipe the drive, then I'm going to agree with locdog. Probably master boot record, leftover entries in boot.ini or something like that.
How did you reinstall?
Grenn wrote:
Ruh-roh. This was a clean (well, "fresh") install to a recently-formatted disk. As I mentioned, the mobo itself is about four years old and I don't honestly know how long a CMOS battery lasts, but this box did run pretty much 24/7 for almost four years.
It actually hangs after the OS loader; I get the "Windows XP" logo with the loading bar; it apparently finishes loading XP, the screen goes black, and I'd usually expect the Welcome screen in a second or two, but it just hangs.
It may have decided not to do this any more; this particular boot (as in, the most-recent time I turned the machine on) occurred with no issues.
If I didn't drink, Crom would laugh and cast me out of Valhalla when I die. Peer pressure I can handle, but not when it comes from Crom. -Lobo
I know it seems out there, but I was having a similar issue with my PC. It continued even after I replaced all major components in the box, save the power supply. I replaced that, and haven't seen the issue since.
wordsmythe wrote:
Podunk on Jessica Alba wrote:
If the OS screen comes up on your first boot it is definitely NOT the CMOS battery. When the CMOS battery fails your motherboard loses all information about your system, including the location of your attached disks. Apparently the detection phase doesn't trigger on the first cold boot, so your hardware doesn't initialize until the warm boot.
Glad it seems to have smoothed out. Those weird system hiccups worry me!
Like my home computer... every couple of boots it forgets what desktop theme I'm using and reverts to the default. Can't figure out why. After a reboot it's fine.
Politely rude. Briskly vague. Firmly uninformative.
Well, the resolution may have been a one-time thing; this startup didn't go so well. It booted into Windows, but was incredibly sluggish and after about five minutes of waiting for Explorer (the GUI, not IE) to start, I gave up and hit the reset button. Second time, booted into Windows fine, but the system couldn't find my wireless network. Everything else was fine. One reboot later and here I am.
I've got my concerns about this box's hard drives, but I ran a level-5 SpinRite before I installed Windows and everything seemed okay. I'm praying the machine just isn't on its way out; I'll be beside myself since I absolutely can't afford to replace anything right now.
If I didn't drink, Crom would laugh and cast me out of Valhalla when I die. Peer pressure I can handle, but not when it comes from Crom. -Lobo
Try to reset your BIOS. If that doesn't work, see if there are any updates form the manufacturer. Don't worry if the updates don't have to do with your problem, it's usually just a 1 or a 0 getting flipped on these sorts of things. As long as you get overwrite the old bios and make sure there are nor errors you should be good to go.
Dwarf, the flippant answers with little real knowledge behind them aren't likely to help. The machine booted fine for 4.5 years, and now Windows is failing partway through boot. What on earth makes you think that's a BIOS issue, much less prescribe that replacing the BIOS will make him 'good to go'? You're speaking with authority when you clearly don't have authoritative knowledge.
Razor: I think AnimeJ's suggestion of a power supply problem is a possibility. During boot, the machine uses more power. If your power supply is marginal, once everything is warm and 'settled down', you might have just enough oomph to fire up the graphic card, where when it first boots, you might be just under the line. Power supplies gradually lose strength over time; after four years, it's definitely not going to be as good as when you bought it. If you've got a power supply you can swap in, it might be worth trying.