Win98 hanging on cold boot

[cstmarla]

I have an AMD K6-3 450 mhz system with 64 meg of ram with 8 meg video on the motherboard whish is a M5SAB Biostar board. When I cold boot the system hangs loading windows drivers. I run Windows 98. When I restart, I do a step by step confirmation startup and Windows 98 boots up fine. How come??

[Chainsaw]

cstmarla,
This could be due to a number of things, but I would say it sounds like either a cross linked file (try scandisk or better yet Norton Disk Doctor)
If you've already gone that route, try going into Device Manager once you're in and seeing if there are any yellow question marks under any of your devices, you may have a device conflict. Check it out then post back here to let us know what you came up with.
Hope this helps,
......CHNsaw

[cstmarla]

I have run Scandisk several times and Norton Disk Doctor. No luck. Device Manager doesn't show any conflicts. It's always in the same place during a cold boot that it hangs. It hangs trying to load Windows 98SE. When I restart, it wants to go into safe mode but I do the step by step confirmation and everything works fine. I'm still researching this one. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. Thanks.

[Chainsaw]

cstmarla,
Sorry that didn't help. I know you've probably asked yourself a thousand times, but what were you doing just prior to this boot problem, did you load some software, add a device, update from MS. You might try going into Start/Programs/Accesories/System Tools/System Information/Tools/System File Checker. That will check the integrety of your Windows system files. If that doesn't work, you could try a few of the other tools in the same "Tools" menu. In particular the Registry checker. You can mess around with some others, I believe most all of these are diagnostic tools so there should be little damage you could do if you use your common sense. If you have Norton System Works, you have a lot more ways to check your system out. I would use Norton WinDoctor if you have it. I'm sorry to run you through this gauntlet of checks, but these are just the types of checks that I would try first. Hang in there and don't give up, you'll find the problem or if nothing else do what I did a short while back and back 'er up and do the ol fdisk thing. Sure is a last resort though, sounds like you shouldn't have to go that route. Something is trying to load and Windows just isn't likin' it.
Sure wish ya luck,
......CHNsaw


[This message has been edited by Chainsaw (edited 01-11-2000).]

[Target]

Does it actually make it to the splash screen at all? If so, each time the win98 splash screen comes up, hit the esc key. That will remove the splash screen, and will allow you to see what is going on in the background (ie: what drivers are loading, etc.).

It might give you a bit more information about what exactly is hanging your system.

Chainsaw is right, it could be lots of things goofing it up. Most of the time when I see this happen, its a corrupt or poorly implemented driver issue. Maybe you could also attempt to update or reinstall the drivers for devices attached to your system (ie: vid card, sound card, network card, modem, etc.) to see if that clears it up.

[deep_sky]

i have the same problem on my parents' compaq. i turned off the splash screen and it hangs on a cold boot right after the sound drivers are loaded. the sound is built-into the mobo. does this mean that the sound card drivers are corrupted and need to be replaced, or some other problem?

[cstmarla]

I have had this problem from the beginning. It does make it to the splash screen but then the splash screen goes away and you see the c: prompt but the cursor is at the top of the screen and the system is hung up. I do have 8meg of video on-board this motherboard. It shares the ram, which I didn't know when I bought it. I have updated the drivers. What I don't understand is why when I do the step by step confirmation startup it works fine? It almost seems like a timing issue.
I appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks.

[richamies]

The last time I saw this was a machine hanging on the real mode cd-rom drivers. Try disabling them, if they are present. If not them rem out each line that is unneccessary in the autoexec and config.sys and add them one by one until it hangs again.
Most entries in autoexec.bat and config.sys are redundant, unless you have a super-setup with cd burner and weird stuff like that.
If remming the lines doesnt work it could be in system.ini, win.ini or your registry but I reckon its one of the first two.

Keep us all posted on how it goes http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif