Strange Boot behavior

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mikajake

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Just recently, I was at a friends place and she told me that her puter would not start, and she was correct. System XP-Home (IBM computer). When the computer boots, the hard drive makes a sound as if it wants to boot, doesn't make the post beep, then stops, shuts down the computer and tries again. This happened numerous times. I looked at the back of the computer and the power supply fan grid was caked in dust. I cleaned it and then looked inside..everything seemed clean to me. When rebooting, it did the same thing except this time it got to the boot menu thru F8. I tried to boot in safe mode but it started to run thru the boot sequence loading drivers etc. then shuts off and tries to boot again. I think it might be the power supply but I am not a tech. Any ideas would be appreciated.

mikajake
 
stuck at post. Does it at least do the memory test before it re-boots?

I'd see how many sticks of memory is in that beast. If more then one, pull one out and re-boot. If only one and there is another slot, try swapping it to that slot. Then boot.

Also, check your connections with cards, make sure it's clean in there and all the basic stuff
 
:) well my friend, first dont worry about your hardware, your hardware ahve nothing to do whit that weird boot up. that is some star up files of windows that are corrupt, first you have to boot up from the windows cd and repair your windows configuration. once you ahve repaired the your windows it will boot normally. if you have service pack installed or any other windows patch, you have to intall it again. i recomend you that once you have fianlly boot up your computer, save all your data, just in case that you will need to format the drive again ( which is good if you have repaired a windows installation that had service pack or any patch). well i hope it wiil be useful to you
and reply if you have any trouble:)
 
Re:Boot

Firstly, it does sometimes do the memory test, and sometimes twice, which tells me perhaps it is the ram. Secondly, I shall clean the boards and such then I will do a boot from the CD. I would have tried that but IBM does not send one with their systems, after 6 months then if you need one you can buy it.

Thanks
 
troubleshooting a death mother board(no boot or start)
first disconect all power conectors
second disconect the processor, memory and any unecesary hardware
third, remove the bios battery and wait for ten minutes.
re insert processor, memory and just keep the video card.
reconect all power and place the bios battery back
and then boot, you will receibe the notification from the bios that the time is not setted, do the changes in the bios and then boot
it should help you boot. try to reinstall the drivers of the computer, the cd that comes whit it.
also try to boot the machine whitout memory, it should beep you asking for memory, then turn of and put memory back.


hope it works
 
How old is this board? It sounds like a problem that was experienced with some earlier motherboards.

There was a whole debacle with a series of bad capacitors that were installed on motherboards and they produced symptoms like you are describing.

Look at the motherboard and if you see any capacitors (tall, round objects) that have bulging or leaking tops, (also check around the bottoms) then you will have to replace the board or have someone who is capable to replace the capacitors on the board.
 
iory_yagamy said:
:) well my friend, first dont worry about your hardware, your hardware ahve nothing to do whit that weird boot up. that is some star up files of windows that are corrupt, first you have to boot up from the windows cd and repair your windows configuration. once you ahve repaired the your windows it will boot normally. if you have service pack installed or any other windows patch, you have to intall it again. i recomend you that once you have fianlly boot up your computer, save all your data, just in case that you will need to format the drive again ( which is good if you have repaired a windows installation that had service pack or any patch). well i hope it wiil be useful to you
and reply if you have any trouble:)

I suggest you read his post before you post a reply. It's posts like this that do nothing but confuse people.

His system doesn't even get past the bios. Your OS instillation doesn't come into play till after post.

And your idea of testing a mobo is all wrong too. To solve any problem you should find out what the root issue is and work backwards. How can he install drivers when he can't get to the OS?

I'm not trying to be mean, but you don't want to send the guy on a goose chase.
 
mikajake: can you post the specs of the PC, that would be really helpful, what you can do is take the psu out of another computer and hook it up and try from there, that would either fix the problem, or elimiate the PSU, be very careful when working with PSUs tho, as they have large capacitors inside of them and you can shock the crap out of yourself (so dont open it!!!) let us know how it goes

iory_yagamy: please do not post anything, ever again, your posts are hard to read, disorganized, and just plain wrong, if the computer doenst boot, you dont remove the processor, the battery and all hardware, for 1) its never a good idea to remove the proc unless you are replacing it (it does nothing to remove it, except possibly ruin it trying to get it back in, or let dust in the pin holes and fry the mobo 2) even if you remove the batt for 10 min, that doenst always reset cmos, it can take up to 2 days, you should reset cmos using the jumpers 3) removing all hardware does nothing unless they have an underpowered PSU, which since it worked in the past we know is not the case
 
yeah his troubleshooting logic makes little sense to me too. mikajake it sounds like you are in the right direction. those problems seem to indicate a failing power supply. i would get a power supply from another system and test on that computer to see if it sovles the problem.
 
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