Safe mode works but system goes blue

I have a home built that has been working for years. XP.
AVG. I run PC Cleaner and spybot Search and destroy every so often.
The Blue screen started popping up. no new software or hardware.
At this point if the boot will complete it the blue screen comes before you can really do anything. I restored as far back as I could. August. No change.
I can boot to safe mode and it does not blue screen. Is this an indication of hardware failing or system software? I had been considering Windows 7 and had installed the system on a clean new hard drive. I did not stay with it due to software I had purchased for XP and unscertainty if is they would allow me to reinstall. Point is I put that disk back in and Windows 7 would not boot.
The more I do to decide if system or MB, the more I confuse myself. Any help would be appreciated.
Dc

 

DocCountry...

Could be a driver conflict, perhaps with one of your startup programs. In safe mode, type msconfig in run box and enter. In the startups tab uncheck everything that isn't windows and then try to boot into normal windows.

Maybe it's your a-v (avg) causing the problem...

 

I went into msconfig and unchecked all non Microsoft in start up and in services. and is would not boot. its Hanging on the Windows splash now.
I also tried booting without any of the Microsoft pgms as well. No good.
This drive was monitored by Acronis but I have no Idea how that works or how I would get to it since I cannot boot.
Moved past the blue screen after awhile to wont boot.
Dc

 

DocCountry...

OK, so you are still able to boot into safe mode I assume.

Acronis should have an app that you can burn to a cd/dvd that will restore an image of the OS. This being a new installation of W7, are you certain an image had already been created? If so, it can be restored.

You can do alot in safe mode, including opening acronis to see if the app for burning is there in the program for you to burn. You should be able to burn the app, too, in safe mode. You can also run a chkdsk. From your W7 programs menu->applications->right click on Command Prompt and select run as administrator->type chkdsk /r. It will tell you that the chkdsk will be performed on next boot. Reboot and see what chkdsk finds if anything.

Another thing you can do is check the event viewer for errors. Type event viewer in the search box and open the dialog. In Windows Logs look for System events. Click once on the bar on top of the dialog where it says source. This will arrange them in alphabetical order. You can then scroll down to "disk" and see if you have been having any disk errors.

sfc /scannow is another utility you can run. Follow the instructions for chkdsk for opening an administrator command prompt and then type sfc /scannow and enter. It might correct some problems or inform you that some cannot be corrected.

Plenty of options available to you with safe mode working.

 

DocCountry, AtlBo is right on the mark. The main purpose for Safe Mode is to troubleshoot and attempt repairs in Windows.

 

I am thinking that this is a hardware issue. This MB had the built in NIC go bad a year or two ago. Correct me if I am wrong thinking here.
It will boot into Safe Mode. With networking as well. I did use the browser.
a. As it started failing It would blue screen memory dump. and lock up.
b. I attempted to use Acronis in safe mode but the recover does not seem to work.
it flashed a small box but would not do anything else.
c. I have a boot suite startup disk. When I boot from it, it will not complete. It
seems to be loading Vista or 7 then crashes to reboot.
d. To test the theory I tried to boot Linux Ubuntu and Acronis bootable disk. ( made from Acronis when booted under window Safe. Linux would not boot. The acronis booted to a menu and after selecting TrueImage and it appeared to be loading. Acronis splash said panic.... fail to sync.

What I am thinking is that if full windows XP ( not in safe ) will not boot and several other OS are not booting from CD then maybe the MB is failing.

If I slip a new MB in with these peripherals will the XP system start ? I assume I would need to update several drivers. If it does not could I run windows 7 upgrade on it to hopefully retain existing programs?

Thanks for the input in advance.
Doc

 

DocCountry...

Sounds like it could be motherboard or maybe RAM memory. If you have multiple sticks of RAM you can attempt to pull all but one, test it in the one slot, and then test it in the others with a boot into normal each time. Do the same with the other sticks you have to see if the PC responds. If you have only one stick of RAM, you can attempt to move it from the slot it's in to another one until you have tried it in them all. Could be one of the RAM slots.

One other thing I have heard might work if this is a RAM associated issue is to clean the connectors on each module with a pencil eraser.

RAM seems like a distinct possibility, since this is the more common problem, but testing the RAM this way is a good method for determining that you will need to replace the motherboard.

As for replacing the motherboard, what are the relavant specs of the system?

1. make/model of the PC
2. motherboard brand/model/socket
3. type of RAM (DDR2/DDR3)

Maybe you could find a good solid used duplicate of the board from another machine that could get you by until you make full plans to upgrade or obtain a new/newer system. Upgrading from an upgraded/new motherboard (different than the one in the machine now) would be expensive, and I'm not even sure it's possible to make the drivers work with an existing installation of Windows. Everything I have heard has said not. Not that it's not...just don't think so.

 

Thank you. I switched the Ram chips out and same. blue screen about IRQs error
or hang on the windows splash

its a Biostar MB P4M800 I am not sure which socket 775 I think I have the box at another location. ( I hope. ) I will check but what my plan is is ..
to put in a new MB. connect my win XP system drives but boot from a new OS Windows 7 install disk for upgrading and stay with 32 bit.

or... new box and usb housings for my hard drives.

Thanks

 

DocCountry...

OK. If you go with a used box, you could pick up a working used core 2 duo PC for $50-75. Those PCs that come off lease are barely used sometimes. If you go for a new box, don't think you'd be able to salvage much from your current PC other than the hard drives from the sounds of things...

Good luck how ever you go...

 

Where do you find the used Core 2 duo boxes? Off lease.
I would do that in a heartbeat.
dc

 

DocCountry...

They're all over ebay. The best core 2 rigs have the E8400 3.0 GHz. It Passmark benchmarks at 2000. The low end for acceptable performance from a core 2 duo would be one with an E6400 2.13 GHz (Passmark 1250).

You can find an i series PC for a little bit more. The trick is the search. At ebay, select Computers & Tablets, then Desktops & All in Ones, then on the left side, choose PC Desktops & All-In-Ones. Choosing that will bring up a whole new menu on the left for you to refine your search.

Best search is 4 GB or more, core 2 duo, and then your minimum for a main drive. Heck, I'm using 160 GB HDs for main drives these days. Then I just keep everything on backup drives. Best thing to do with the search is add a 0 and a 50 to your high and low price. It's over on the left, too. Just be a little bit patient. Lock in on the brand and style you want, and one will come up fairly quickly.

I should mention, that it is smart to take a look without checking a min for your hard drive. Then you can look for one that doesn't have a hard drive and really get a great deal. It should have a working key for Win 7 on the box, though, or you could get stuck having to pay for the OS. You can add No HD to the search bar at the top to help with this search.

You'll have alot of backup drives whatever you buy, which will be great. I like your idea of USB connected drives, but even the small form factors often will hold two drives. I have a HP DC7700 SFF that came stock with 2 drives. It's nice, because you can put the monitor on top if you like that idea. Best with that line to start with DC 7800, 7900, 8000 and so on and then the HP 6000 series are almost the same.

Also, remember to try to find one with a working key on the PC if the PC doesn't have the OS installed...

 

DocCountry...

Here is an example of one at ebay without a hard drive. Only 2 GB of memory, but if your memory is DDR 2 you could add it to this PC. The boards on these support up to 8 GB :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-dc7800-S...prg=20131003150253&rk=4&rkt=8&sd=331416627836

Passmark benchmark on this is around 1500 on the processor. Pretty decent, but the E8400 was so popular, I feel like you should be able to find one of those should you care to look a little extra...

Oh...feel free to run by me anything you come up with if you like. The main thing to be wary of are the ultra slim form factor PCs. They are small and work fine, but they have an external power supply that must be with the PC and in good shape. These really aren't for decently heavy loads or higher, such as 10 browser tabs or office software. This is due to minimal power available...

 

Thank you so much.
Searching now.

 

DocCountry...

Here's some more on shopping ebay for a PC. I feel like anybody can be successful with this approach:

ebay's watch list is useful I find. I go through using the searches I mentioned and then watch ones I like until I have the best 8 or 10. Then I will go back to searching again, unchecking all the boxes and sort by price lowest to highest. I'll go through about 15 pages full pages of listings just looking those over to see if there are any others to watch. Then I will add again the 0 to 50 or 0 to 100 whatever I am allowing myself to spend back into the menu for high and low price on the left. That will refine the search, so I can see more clearly my price range, and I will go through another 5-10 pages adding watches. The pictures help alot with what to watch. Sometimes, it's really possible to tell that a PC is lightly used or from a batch of lightly used PCs.

After that, I will take a look at the watch list and get a feel for what to expect. Until I make my decision, I might plug in my spending caps again and sort the listings by Items Newly Listed to keep up with what's just been put up for sale/auction.

I found this PC that way. The seller was simply looking to move them fast, so he listed 24 of them. No HD, but the total was $70 delivered for a Transource PC with 8 GB DDR3 RAM, i3 540 (1st gen), HD 4350 graphics card, a very nice 300 watt Seasonic power supply, and a very nice Asus motherboard. These were gone within about 4 hours of the listing. I just got lucky to be looking at the new listings during that time.

Good luck. Let me know if I can assist you somehow. Prices are amazing, considering I paid $200 for a DC 7700 small form factor w/2 250 GB HDs, an NVidia NVS290 graphics card, and 4 GB RAM four years ago. It was practically new and a good value, but I could stand the processor being upgraded.

Oh, with the SFF PCs (the flat ones/not tower) you can add a graphics card. There are some really cool options for that. Like the NVidia card I had for the DC 7700 only used 15 watts. There are others that use 25 watts and so on that would work amazingly. I finally blew out the NVidia playing games like QuakeLive and Silent Hunter 4, but I will replace it with something at some point. Those types of PCs use low profile cards, which are readily available these days. A good used one of those NVidia cards can be purchased for like $10-15 delivered. It was $160 new lol...