please help - windows freeze at start up (even in safe mode)

[ubamous3]

please help - windows freeze at start up (even in safe mode)

hi, please help me; my computer started freezing on me when i tried to do norton disk doctor on it; it freezes right after the F8 option to boot safe mode (the starting window.... screen)

- i'm on win2k pro; the hd (120 GB WD) is on its own channel, has 2 partitions in NTFS

- i tried connecting it to another computer as a slave to run chkdsk /f /r and there was no error found (btw, where is the log for chkdsk /f /r if u dont do it at startup? event viewer only logs it if it's done at logon), so i think that rules out bad hard drive scenario (i think)

- then i tried replacing the IDE cable but still same problem

- it freezes even for safe mode but it managed to boot with the boot CD as well as the original installation CD; i tried the repair option (it took forever so i left and when i came back, i saw it rebooting and then still freezing at the starting windows... screen)

at first, i thought it might be the HD going bad since it froze recently when i tried to resize the 2 partitions, but when i managed to boot it, i had since moved everything out of the D drive, del the d partition and created a new D; i have rebooted a few times ok until i last tried to do a norton check disk on it n it hasnt been bootable since


thanks very much for your help

 

[Duracell]

i think it's a device, driver or service problem;
- remove all not really needed hardware first;
- also try to restore to the last known hardware configuration by using the F8 option;
And wasn't there a boot option which prompts out every boot step at the screen, so you will see when it hangs?
If you know which driver/service causes the problem, you can disable that thing by using the recovery console mode or something like ERD Commander or Bart's WinPE.

Greetings from
Duracell

 

[PC-GUY]

i think it's a device, driver or service problem;
- remove all not really needed hardware first;
- also try to restore to the last known hardware configuration by using the F8 option;
And wasn't there a boot option which prompts out every boot step at the screen, so you will see when it hangs?
If you know which driver/service causes the problem, you can disable that thing by using the recovery console mode or something like ERD Commander or Bart's WinPE.

Greetings from
Duracell

And most of all un-install that Norton Disc Doctor!!! That kind of stuff is garbage and just cause all kinds of problems as you see. But thats just my two cents and I've seen it a number of times.

 

[jasmin]

Ubamous, nice to hear you again

Well, IMO it's hardware problem. Check your RAM, RAM sockets, VGA. And, tell us what did you find.

 

[ubamous3]

hi jasmin!! long time no see! nice to hear from u too heheh

thanks a lot guys; i will try to do what duracell suggests

since last night, there's a new change; i used the win2k install cd last night to do repair
1st with the recovery console, i did chkdsk /p /r (it found and fixed minor errors on C but found no errors on partition 2 (D)); a reboot afterwards still same problem
then i tried repair again without the console, ;after waiting forever, i left the room and cameback 2 minutes later, it started to reboot so i didnt know what the messages were before that
anyway, it boots to windows now but a screen keeps popping up about looking for window installer (.msi) but couldnt find it; after hitting cancel, it stops but everytime i ht the C drive or the management console, that window pop ups again,

AND i can't see my other computers on the LAN BUT I do have internet access!
and then i tried safe mode with network and it DOES see the network in safe mode!!! so i dont know what gives; from my very limited self taught/research about computer hardware, i can't figure out what that means; i know it's not the IDE controller b/c I changed to a new one last night; if it's the HD (which i was almost certain of), then how come i could see everything when i slaved it to another computer?

could it be the fan going bad but which fan? the next thing i will try first is take out 1 piece of ram and then switch and then take out the ata pci card; this computer has 5 drives but it doesnt hve sep. video card

sorry for the long explanat. but i figure it might help u understand what happend.

thanks again guys for any advice u have

 

[scarecrow]

If you have on onboard LAN, it might share resources (typically IRQ 11) with other PC hardware and creating conflicts. This can (most times) be resolved by assigning IRQ's thru BIOS manually.

 

[ubamous3]

i think it's a device, driver or service problem;
- remove all not really needed hardware first;
- also try to restore to the last known hardware configuration by using the F8 option;
And wasn't there a boot option which prompts out every boot step at the screen, so you will see when it hangs?
If you know which driver/service causes the problem, you can disable that thing by using the recovery console mode or something like ERD Commander or Bart's WinPE.

Greetings from
Duracell

um, i dont know what is considered not needed hardwar on that computer ; here's what i have done so far

1/ switching n removing the 2 sticks of DDR individually (no luck)
2/ tried using the recovery console with repair option (no luck)
3/ tried fixmbr from the console (no luck)
4/ tried disconnecting all the HD connected to the ultra ata pci card (no luck)
5/ tried last configuration (no luck)
6/ tried enable boot logging (no luck)
7/ tried debugging mode (and no luck)

the only one that i got the farthest is safe mode with networking; only in that mode that i can see the network

i have an extra blank HD; i can try reinstalling windows on that and see if it still produces same problem

 

[elsamay]

Its possible your partition table is corrupt. if you can run a dos based diagnosis tool it will tell you whether that is the case. It happened to me with similar symptoms to you and I narrowed it down to one corrupt partition table ( I have 6 partitions) - I just deleted the partition, created a new one and xp booted with no problems.

 

[scarecrow]

if you can run a dos based diagnosis tool it will tell you whether that is the case.

Perhaps you can elaborate on how I can perform a "DOS based diagnosis" over two NTFS partitions? I will die from curiosity...

 

[Duracell]

um, i dont know what is considered not needed hardwar on that computer;

do this for testing purposes:
remove the Ultra ATA card out of the PCI slot,
remove all drives from the standard IDE controller except the boot HDD,
disable Audio, USB, FireWire, COM, LTP and LAN in BIOS,
then try a normal start;

 

[elsamay]

Perhaps you can elaborate on how I can perform a "DOS based diagnosis" over two NTFS partitions? I will die from curiosity...

LOL , sorry scarecrow, my pc terminology needs some adjustment. What i meant was to boot with something like the Ultimate boot cd which has ntfs reader and demo versions of active@ programs. There is also Barts winpe as mentioned above. In my case ,chdsk showed no problems but the recovery programs indicated a corrupt partition table (all my partitions are ntfs).