ANOTHER BOOTING PROBLEM!

[StreetDaddy]

Hello all, i was browsing a website (it was a reputable one) and my computer suddenly crashed. I switched it back on but it would not let me go into windows, not even in safe mode, it just kept switching itself off or freezing on the loading windows screen.

An on screen prompt advised me to re-install windows due to a corrupt file so I did and now when i switch my machine on it powers on but wont do anything, it does not even give an output to the monitor. It does the usual one beep then nothing?!

Help help help :confused: I really dont have any idea what to do as i cant access anything on screen. Has this happened to anyone or do u have any suggestions as to what to do or try to do to limit the problem to something? I put the harddrive into another machine and it worked fine which makes me think that it is bios or hardware failure somewhere??

[userserver]

What did the error message state the corrupt file was? Are you sure it was a Microsoft error?

[Jimstep]

You can try reinstalling Windows on top of itself to refresh any system files that may have gotten corrupted.

[StreetDaddy]

Well it appeared to be a system file of some sort so I reinstalled windows over its self and once the machine was restarted it wont boot anything. And when switched on it powers up but nothing happens.

I swapped the hard drive with another machine and Windows seems to have installed successfully and works like it used to on that one so i am guessing its some sort of hardware problem?

[StreetDaddy]

Well it appeared to be a system file of some sort so I reinstalled windows over its self and once the machine was restarted it wont boot anything. And when switched on it powers up but nothing happens.

I swapped the hard drive with another machine and Windows seems to have installed successfully and works like it used to on that one so i am guessing its some sort of hardware problem?

Cheers guys for the reply.

[LordKwiKSilva00]

a good thing to do is to access the bios and low level format the hard drive then redo windows from scratch... that should take care of the problem:)

[theninja]

I had a similar problem when upgrading my motherboard. System booted up but jest never would load windows. Reloaded windows, it came up once, then after reboot no more. Tried to reload again,, nothing. Would come up in safe mode, but that was it. Then a format and clean install of 98SE. Works fine now.

[StreetDaddy]

Does this mean that I have to put my hard disk into another computer and reinstall Windows that way? Or can you do it through the bios? How is the bios accessed if there is no video output from the machine?

Thanks for all the responses.

[userserver]

disconnect the HD cable and you should be able to get to bios to restore defaults and set boot order to floppy first and hard disk second. shutdown, reconnect hard drive, boot to emergency startup disk and format hard drive (if that's what you want to do). I'd make sure the hard drive is set to AUTO configure in bios, before I contemplated a reformat.

see if you can get into safe mode after you restore BIOS defaults (leave floppy out for this test)

[LordKwiKSilva00]

userserver is right... and so am i.... if u low level format it, you will have to run partition magic to reset partitions though... but that should take care of your problems

[Imperion1]

KwikSwilva, explain how to do a lo-level format using bios.
A lo-level format uses a seperate program that writes 0 and 1 to the hard drive.
And you don't have to do a lo-level format, unless you have bad sectors showing up on the hard drive. Most bad sectors aren't physical damage either.

[Imperion1]

And to add,
You don't need Partition Magic to create partitions on a new or newly formatted hard drive. Fdisk works just fine for this.
Partition Magic is used more if you already have partitions setup and an operating system installed, and want to add, remove, or change partition sizes without having to format and reinstall the OS.

[NIGHTMIST]

Just out of curiosty HOW OLD is your system??
is it a COMPAQ A DELL or just one you built yourself
and what O.S. is it running. Also what kind of hard
drive do you have and how old is it.Do you have a
dial up or dsl or cable?did you open up any e-mail
or e-mail attachments prior to your system crash?
you need to provide a little bit more information first!?:confused:

[StreetDaddy]

Its a Compaq Deskpro En p866 just under a year or so old i think with a 15Gb harddrive running Windows 98.

Cheers Guys I'll give that a go:D

[StreetDaddy]

Oh yeah, all original components I havent changed anything, i use a dial up Tornado 56k modem that i installed myself. Prior to the crash I was just browsing some share prices no emails or anything, although i think i was logged into their site:confused:

[dave-harper]

if you can't get the monitor to show the basic
video / bios / ram test and "press ? del ? to enter bios"
then I would recommend strip it to the basics
no mouse / joystick - no floppy / hd / cd - no sound card
no printer / scanner just the absolute minimum to get into
the bios setup and pull the battery or jumper the "clear bios"

my experience with the new agp cards is minimal but i assume
you should still be able to do this and of course check ALL the connections especially the video card

[LordKwiKSilva00]

the lowlevel format is judt one of my ways.... i would only recommend it to a more experienced person.... you could just go into ms dos prompt and type format c:/u.... that will delete partitons and all

[userserver]

Originally posted by LordKwiKSilva00
the lowlevel format is judt one of my ways.... i would only recommend it to a more experienced person.... you could just go into ms dos prompt and type format c:/u.... that will delete partitons and all

Format has no affect on partitions, regardless of what switches you use... The unconditional switch (/U) fills all sectors within a partion with hexadecimal F6's

[LordKwiKSilva00]

you dont have the lowlevel format disk that i have, now do u??? i can delete partitons with my lowlevel disk because it has partition magic and fdisk on it

[StreetDaddy]

Now now boys we'll have no trouble here!!:rolleyes:

But thanks for all the posts!

[userserver]

Originally posted by LordKwiKSilva00
you dont have the lowlevel format disk that i have, now do u??? i can delete partitons with my lowlevel disk because it has partition magic and fdisk on it Guess I need to get better drugs. I thought you were suggesting that format c: /u would delete partions...

[mrcgayle]

I am not sure what the other members told you to do will fixed your problems, I really think most of them are given you answers that you cause more harm to your computer than fixed it...

The Kind of computer your working with determines how we start by fixing it...

NIGHTMIST, Is the only one I can say knows what he/she doing...

Because your using a Compaq, (and guys and ladies don't feel bad, not many people out there know how to fixed a compaq) when your having a problems like that your not getting any video, First thing first, look for the HDD light and listen to hear if the Hdd spin, if you see the light or if it spin then your in luck... turn off the computer if you have any Network, Modem, sound etc.. card add to the computer TAKE THEM OUT, the only card should be attach to that computer is the Video card, also if you have a printer anything that is attach out side other than the monitor, keyboard and mouse cable take them off, let me explain why, in one word.. Conflits, Compaq compters are known for conflits, once you've done so turn on the computer, and you should see video, If for some strange reason you don't see any, you have a hard ware problem, Video, memor, of cpu could be bad, but when you see vidoe just add back all the hardware one at a time... REMEMEBER WHEN YOU HAVE A COMPAQ, THE SYSTEM TENDS TO HALT.

ANY QUESTION. E-MAIL ME AT

BORGCULTURE@AOL.COM