Computer Restarts at Windows Loading Screen

streamstream
edited September 2007 in Hardware
Commuter specs:
- Asus Motherboard P4P800 Deluxe
- Seagate 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache
- Intel CPU Pentium 4 2.80GHZ 800MHZ HT
- ATI RADEON 9600 256MB DDR AGP 8X
- Two 512MB DIMM RAM total 1GB RAM
- Power Supply 400W P4 Antec SL400
- Creative SoundBlaster AWE64
- Windows XP Pro
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My PC restarts at the windows loading screen. I have tried Safe Mode option but it restarts after the file “agp440.sys”. I tried a different hard drive and get the same problem. I tried the windows repair option but it hangs when it’s examining the hard drive. I’m out of ideas in what to do can you please help me this is my work computer and I need it. Thank you.
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Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Please follow these guides and let us know how they turn out:

    http://icrontic.com/articles/advanced_data_recovery
    http://icrontic.com/articles/diagnose_with_memtest86
  • streamstream
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    Please follow these guides and let us know how they turn out:


    So far these are the result the memtest86 is still running though
    In the advance data recovery section everything was perfectly fine
    In the diagnose with memtest86 test 5 gave me 10 errors and test 8 gave me 52 errors and I had 1 for pass, then test 5 again 16 errors and test 8 again 79 errors and another pass, then again test 5 gave me 12 errors and test 8 gave me
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    You have bad memory. If you have multiple sticks of RAM, you need to test one stick at a time until you locate the bad one(s) and then throw them/those away.

    Time to go RAM shopping.
  • streamstream
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    You have bad memory. If you have multiple sticks of RAM, you need to test one stick at a time until you locate the bad one(s) and then throw them/those away.

    Time to go RAM shopping.

    i tested my RAM's into another copmuter and windows loaded fine but when i used another RAM into my computer it still gave me the same problem. do you think its my CPU or Motherboard?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    It's POSSIBLE that it's the motherboard. It's very rare that the motherboard is actually the culprit. I would get a can of compressed air and thoroughly blow out the DIMM slots on your computer, and insert the RAM sticks one at a time. Test each stick after putting it in.

    The RAM may have simply jostled loose over time.
  • streamstream
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    It's POSSIBLE that it's the motherboard. It's very rare that the motherboard is actually the culprit. I would get a can of compressed air and thoroughly blow out the DIMM slots on your computer, and insert the RAM sticks one at a time. Test each stick after putting it in.

    The RAM may have simply jostled loose over time.

    i tired the compressed air but there was no luck. any more ideas?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Okay, given that it sounds like your motherboard has gone belly up. This is exceedingly rare. There's one more thing I'd like to try before we call it DOA:

    Do you have:
    1) Any memory that you know for a fact that works properly and..
    2) Has never been used in the PC you're having trouble with?

    If so, use just one of those memory sticks and run memtest on the troublesome PC with the new RAM inserted. If it still fails, it's time to replace the motherboard.
  • streamstream
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    Okay, given that it sounds like your motherboard has gone belly up. This is exceedingly rare. There's one more thing I'd like to try before we call it DOA:

    Do you have:
    1) Any memory that you know for a fact that works properly and..
    2) Has never been used in the PC you're having trouble with?

    If so, use just one of those memory sticks and run memtest on the troublesome PC with the new RAM inserted. If it still fails, it's time to replace the motherboard.

    I did what you asked. I stopped MemTest at 23:42:10, it passed 132 times with 0 errors but when I try to boot it normally it still gives me the same problem. What should I do next?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Okay, it looks like your memory doesn't work right on your PC, but does work on another PC. And another PC's memory seems to be working just fine. This is good because your motherboard is okay, but bad because it looks like the memory and motherboard are somehow incompatible.

    Have you run Drive Fitness Test yet? :)
  • streamstream
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    Okay, it looks like your memory doesn't work right on your PC, but does work on another PC. And another PC's memory seems to be working just fine. This is good because your motherboard is okay, but bad because it looks like the memory and motherboard are somehow incompatible.

    Have you run Drive Fitness Test yet? :)

    dont know what Drive Fitness is?
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited August 2007
    DFT

    It's a diagnostic program for Hitachi's hard-drives but it works with others as well. (I prefer seatools for dos from seagate as its more maintained)
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    ok i did a long test and it passed. could it be the CPU or power supply?
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    hello anyone please help my problem has not been resolved
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited August 2007
    The next thing I would try is formating the drive and reinstalling windows.

    Note: All data and applications on the system will be lost.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2007
    Okay, have you tried to perform a repair install on your machine with the RAM taken from another machine that works okay?
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    yes i tried the repair install with the new RAM but it still hanges when its examining the Hard Drive
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    i would like to avoid losing all my data by the way since this is my office PC
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    Dose anyone have any idea on how to fix my computer??
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2007
    I've been pondering your issue for a few days, Stream. Don't worry, I haven't bailed on you. :) I'm trying to come up with some more testing options so we can narrow this down.
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    Thanks Thrax... sorry
  • SiggySiggy Sydney Australia
    edited August 2007
    OK - A few questions:

    Does the computer go through POst and reloads windoze and gets to same point before starting all over again?

    Have you reset the BIOS back to defaults?

    Have you run FIXMBR and chkdsk /r
    boot from a Windows XP CD, let the intial check run until you get to the installation option screen.
    Select "R" for repair, then select the installation directory you're trying to repair, enter the administrator password. (usually blank)
    This will get you to a boot prompt.
    Run FIXMBR and then when that is done Run "chkdsk /R".?

    Have you done a repair install?
    a Repair Install is usually performed by booting from your WinXP CD and proceeding as if you were doing a clean install. At the point where Windows discovers a previous installation it will offer you a few choices. Pick "Repair previous installation", not "Add a new copy", etc

    Cheers
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    I removed the BIOS battery for a few minutes and set everything to default but the PC still restarts at the Windows loading screen. as far as post there are no beeps at the start up. I have tried the repair option but it stops at the point where its examining the Hard Drive.
  • SiggySiggy Sydney Australia
    edited August 2007
    Have you run FIXMBR and chkdsk /r
    boot from a Windows XP CD, let the intial check run until you get to the installation option screen.
    Select "R" for repair, then select the installation directory you're trying to repair, enter the administrator password. (usually blank)
    This will get you to a boot prompt.
    Run FIXMBR and then when that is done Run "chkdsk /R".?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2007
    Windows will not start if it's the same hard drive used on your old motherboard. If the repair doesn't work, it doesn't work, and it may be time to simply start clean. That happens.
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    so your saying my best bet is to format and start a fresh OS?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2007
    That's always the best bet for people with Windows trouble, and if that doesn't fix the issue, then we know for a fact it's hardware issue. A fresh OS is such a great thing, but most people don't want to do it.
  • streamstream
    edited August 2007
    ok I put the hard drive in another computer as secondary so I can backup the data then format it for a fresh Windows install, so windows did a check dick on the secondary drive then put it back into the PC that I was having problem with and it loaded windows like nothing was wrong and since then its been working. Damn windows wasted a month of our times. I greatly appreciate all the ideas and suggestion you guys gave me to fix my problem. THANK SO MUCH :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited August 2007
    Fresh reformats fix everything. :D Thanks for coming to us for help! Please make yourself a regular member. :)
  • Professor420Professor420
    edited August 2007
    I just thought I'd say I had the same exact problem as the OP. Memtest, seatools, and chkdsk all came out fine. I'm sure it was some compatibility problem between my new mobo and old HDD with my OS. So I repaired Windows as Siggy suggested, and its working now. Icrontic saves the day as always.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited August 2007
    I had this exact same problem also on an ASUS Mb.

    I found that it restarts just after the loading bar on boot up and also in safe mode. When I tried to reinstall the machine just locked up.

    Try Flashing your Bios with the latest version. it is really easy to do. Look on the MB driver disk and they should have a flashing utility. I cant remember which one I used but you create an MS Dos boot disk, download the latest BIOS version from ASUS and copy it on to the disk and then boot from it.

    I still had to reinstall windows because I was previously using unsupported nforce drivers but you might be lucky.

    Im at work now but I will dig out links to drivers etc for you tonight.

    Hope this helps!
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