Boot Up Problems


jelli

jelli

Music Lover
For some reason unbeknowst to me, I have reboot my pc several times before it will get to windows xp screen.

It will have on the black Windows Xp Screen with the blue bar that travels back and forth... I go into safe mode and did a disk cleanup and tried it and it still hung. I have to keep doing a hard reboot until it finally get to the screen.

What else do I need to check?
 

docmump said:
Symantec Virus, internet, and spyware blocker.
- Install it.
- Update it.
- Run it.
Click to expand...
I have sybot search and destroy...I upadate it every week sometime twice a week. I have macafee and it updates automatically. I run them both once sometime twice a week or more. I also have zone labs firewall. I have it set to medium.
 
Well then it's time to look into the operating system. Have you installed a sevice Pack lately.
 
docmump said:
Well then it's time to look into the operating system. Have you installed a sevice Pack lately.
Click to expand...
Yep, and it was doing this before and after the installation of the service pack.
 
jelli said:
I have sybot search and destroy...I upadate it every week sometime twice a week.
Click to expand...

Get Ad-Aware also, it is much better than spybot and finds more stuff....and its free.
 
I have since added a Adware. I did a deep clean of my c: drive.. and I quarantined and deleted the files it found. I have run Spy Bot Search and destroy and Macafee. I am still having boot up problems... yall got any more ideas?
 
Could be hardware at this point... but a few things...

1) What model PC is this?

2) Are you leaving it on constantly or do you turn it off when its not being used?

3) Do you have a broadband connection (always on Internet)?
Or do you use a dial-up modem?

4) When you say you have to reboot it several times before it will come up to the black XP screen --- during the time you are trying to get it to boot up completely, do you hear a single beep from the machine? And/or what does it say when its stopping -- whats on the screen then?
 
SlickPartna said:
Could be hardware at this point... but a few things...

1) What model PC is this?Gateway SELECT K7-950

2) Are you leaving it on constantly or do you turn it off when its not being used? yes because of the start up problems

3) Do you have a broadband connection (always on Internet)?cable modem, used to have to start up aol to log on to the net but now the modem is always on.
Or do you use a dial-up modem?

4) When you say you have to reboot it several times before it will come up to the black XP screen --- during the time you are trying to get it to boot up completely, do you hear a single beep from the machine? And/or what does it say when its stopping -- whats on the screen then? I do beleive I hear a single beep and it hangs on the black XP screen. All the lights flash on my keyboard(num lock, caps lock, scroll lock) then go off or the num lock light remains on.
Click to expand...
answers
 
jelli said:
answers
Click to expand...

ok, cool...

I'm going to assume that you don't have an additional firewall installed (other than WindowsXP firewall), so with that in mind... disconnect or power-off the cable modem and try to start the PC up and see if it hangs up then...

At least try it a few times, giving it some time between restarts, If it still does it -- what you could do... if Windows System Restore is enabled.... think back to when the problem 1st began and find a restore point right before then and restore the system to that point. You "shouldn't" loose any data files (such as saved Word docs, etc..), just operating system changes and software installation changes. To make sure, just back up the critical files (ex. My Documents) to a CD or something.

Then do the System Restore and see what happens -- try one or both of those things and let us know! ;)


Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > "System Restore"
 
Just did I quick Google search to see if there are any known issues with this PC, and I found like 2 discussion threads about having boot-up issues: (one listed below)

http://forums.computerrepair.com/viewtopic.php?t=666

Which was what I was thinking it may be, a hardware over-heating issue.
If that is the problem, it usually happens if you leave the PC on for a long period of time, which actually decreases as you start having the problem more frequently. My issue was mainly b/c my PC was located on the carpent floor where I frequently vacuumed. And with having the PC on all the time, as I do, the fans would suck in dust and carpet particles and over time (about 2yrs really) that was too much and the CPU would began to over-heat. This caused mine to shutdown automatically, and I had to just finally pop the hood and clear the CPU, fan and heat-sink -- but it fixed it.

Now yours may not be to that point, but if over-heating is a slight problem, you have those time of start-up issues as it tries to cool before booting up.

The other reason I'm talking about the cable modem is because of two reasons... a virus (though I know you have ran the scan, but since I don't like Mcafee, I tend to discredit it :p). A virus or an attacker could have your PC "under-siege" where it reboots or fails to start when the modem is attached. No likely the problem, but could still tell us something if it stops when you turn the cable modem off. The second of the two reasons for the cable modem is the way you may have it connected. Is it connected directly to the NIC card (network card) or does it have the Ethernet to USB adapter? Reason being, i've used them both and for some odd freakin' reason, sometimes (and I do think I know why, though I can't fix it!) when its connected directly to the NIC, the modem sometimes prevents it from shuting down, but may work in reverse and prevent it from booting up. Either way, since I don't know the complete history or chain of events, this would be a test (powering off the modem that is).


Now after that is all said, YOU can just go back to the above post and do those two things :).
I listed my reasons for the others "Techie" cats that may have ideas as well.

-- Later!!
 

jelli said:
I have sybot search and destroy...I upadate it every week sometime twice a week. I have macafee and it updates automatically. I run them both once sometime twice a week or more. I also have zone labs firewall. I have it set to medium.
Click to expand...
I have a firewall. I will try the modem thing and see if that works by the way the modem is connected via USB I don't have a nic card. I've tried the switch up the USB ports. I have 4. 2 in the front of CPU and 2 in the back. I will look for a restore point but this has been for a while now and I can't remember exactly when it started. Even when the pc has been powered off all day I still have problems starting it up. I've even cracked the case an clean the dust off it with a the compressed air can.
 
Thats right, you did say you had Zone Alarm.. duuuh...
But yeah, let me know if the System Restore works... i'm thinking at this point that may do the trick. Worked for me once...
 
Well slick...I don't have restore point that is far enough back...the earlies restore point I have is in June and I was having the problems then... I am at a lost as to what to do now...:sick:
 
All you can try now is either, back your stuff up and re-load XP and do a repair... this shouldn't erase anything, but its best to back up your critical files and favorites anyway.

OR if you have someone that works or the hardware, have them troubleshoot the hardware. The problem with that is usually you will need a replacement to see if anything changes, BUT what you can do is take that harddrive out and place a good working harddrive in the box and see if it boots. But create a restore on the one that you plan on using.... even better if you have one from a similar machine. I won't sweat it if it didn't come all the way up as long as it gets beyon the point where your harddrive usually hangs up at....

Reason being, if you take a known-good harddrive from another system, the motherboard, drivers, etc.... will all be different. Which means you will more than likely get some error messages, but what you are looking for would be whether it boots pass that XP screen without rebooting. This method takes someone who is familar with swapping parts and configuring systems. But I guess if you knew someone already you won't be asking us huh? I sorry.....
 
SlickPartna said:
Thats right, you did say you had Zone Alarm.. ...
Click to expand...

Tell the truth I think that the Zone Alarm is the problem. I have it on a old desktop that I don't use anymore and it was hell getting it to boot up. I have it on my laptop and it does slow up some things. Uninstall it and then see if you have the same problems.
 
Fiyah said:
Tell the truth I think that the Zone Alarm is the problem. I have it on a old desktop that I don't use anymore and it was hell getting it to boot up. I have it on my laptop and it does slow up some things. Uninstall it and then see if you have the same problems.
Click to expand...
Well I uninstalled it and I shut the pc down and didn't have any problems booting it up. Know I have a new problem or better yet a quandry...what am i going to do about a firewall.
 
Go get Norton Internet Security, it has a firewall, antivirus and a host of other items all bundle in 1 package.
 
Fiyah said:
Go get Norton Internet Security, it has a firewall, antivirus and a host of other items all bundle in 1 package.
Click to expand...
Well I spoke to soon. I still had the same problems booting after I uninstalled the Firewall. I am thinking of reinstalling windows...what a pain.
 
I did an MSCONFIG ( thanks to Geekradio technology bytes on pacifica radio) and I do believe the problem is in one of my start up files. Now which one is going to take sometime to diagnose.
 
You gonna have to use a little bit of cutting my budget thinking --- just remove the items that LOOK LIKE they don't need to be there.

Such as RealPlayer Updates, Quicktime updates, etc...
If you have any questions -- do this...

Pull up the MSCONFIG utility, click on the START UP tab (try moving the Command bar over so that you can see the details of each item)

Select the utility with your mouse so that its active or high-lighted
Then hold down CTRL+ALT+PRINT SCREEN at the same time (to copy to the image clip-board)

Pull up PAINT and go to Edit and Paste the image there and save it AS A .PNG file, which takes up little space since you only have 100KB available to upload here.

Upload it here like I'll do below...
 
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