Start Up/Boot problems

[PhilH]

Hi all. This is my first post so I hope everyone understands me.

My friend has had this problem a few times and I've just re-installed th OS. The problem is that the PC starts ok, shows the Windows XP loading screen then briefly (about two seconds) get a blue screen indicating something is wrong, then the PC restarts, going back to the BIOS. It just continues to do this, even when you try Safe Mode.

Any tips would be great, might save me a few hours having to re-install everthing.

PhilH

 

[-Kestrel-]

If this is a problem that's been recurring, there could be several culprits, including the power supply being faulty; the CPU or motherboard failing; a RAM module gone bad, bad video card, or bad hard drive.

What I would do first is disconnect every peripheral/remove every card except video & monitor. Boot and see if you still have the problem. If you do, chances are it's one of the items I listed above. Based on the fact you can (re)install WinXP, it seems the HD is okay, and probably the video card. That leaves the first 3 items as culprits--and given what you've stated, the power supply is probably okay. That narrows it down to CPU or motherboard...probably.

 

[Hangman]

Good advice from Kestrel, but I would double check that power supply as well. The power supply may be anywhere from a 250 to a 500 watt supply, but if it's only pushing out 5 volts on a 120 volt system, it'll do the same thing as you described.

 

[Flippie]

startup/boot problems

Hi PhilH,

I have exactly the same problem. Windows XP crashes after a few seconds and reboots automatically. After a couple of times of rebooting I can use the computer stable for hours until I switch my computer off. Today, for example my computer crashed several times generating 7 minidump files. In this forum I have learned how to analyze minidump files and find possible culprits.
In my case the crashes were all related to EIO.sys except for one time that nv4_disp.dll was causing the problem.
Could it be that you have an asus motherboard and/or graphic card? Googling EIO.sys suggests that this problem is caused by a combination of SP2 and the ASUS smartdoctor utility. These problems, however, have also been reported with SP1.
I will uninstall the ASUS smartdoctor utility today and see if it helps. I'll let you know.

Regards,

Flippie