Boot Issue, Please Help

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by CrazyMythic, Aug 18, 2012.

  1. CrazyMythic

    CrazyMythic Private E-2

    My primary computer has been experiencing boot issues for several months now. Initially, the problem presented by the system freezing approximately 1-2 minutes after logging in to Windows. I was able to circumvent this issue by logging into SafeMode. While I was working to find the problem, the computer got to a point where it it would get stuck on the mobo splash screen during boot-up, and not proceed any further. After trying a few things, I figured it was a hardware issue and sent to repair shop to let them find the culprit.

    I knew things were hinky when the repair shop told me that it booted fine. They spent some time "testing" it, and I eventually just told them to reformat and do a clean windows install. When I got it back, after about 15 minutes of use, it was very laggy. I ignored this and proceeded to install an anti-virus (Norton). When I went to reboot, the machine was stuck on the mobo screen again.

    I sent it back to the shop and told them to test the hardware like I had asked them to the first time. Eventually they told me that the HD had a few bad sectors in it, and the GPU was performing poorly so they upgraded the drivers. Otherwise, they said it was working fine. I got it back last night, and it worked fine all night. I reinstalled COD:MW3, and WoW...played both games, everything was good. This morning, the machine is stuck on the mobo screen AGAIN.

    I've never seen this sort of behavior before. Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm a student, and school has just started back...it would be nice to be able to use my larger, faster computer since I take classes online. It's a Windows 7 machine...I can provide more specifics if needed. Thanks...
     
  2. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Is this a laptop?

    I find that freezing on the BIOS or Logo screen is usually the HD or optical drive. Since they said the HD had a few bad sectors and you are lagging even if the comuter boots up initially it seems like it would likely be the HD. Go to Computer and right click the C: drive and select Properties. Then under the Hardware tab you will see a list of devices. What are they? You are looking for the brand of your HD, it will probably include the model number so something like Hitachi320b456.
     
  3. CrazyMythic

    CrazyMythic Private E-2

    No, it is not a laptop. I'm not at the computer right his moment, but the HD is a Western Digital, 150gb raptor drive.
     
  4. sach2

    sach2 Major Geek Extraordinaire

    I think you should test the HD yourself to see what the WD diagnostic says about the health of the drive. Since they saw a few errors and a reformat and reinstall didn't work the drive may have more fundamental problems.

    You should get the bootable CD version from here and burn it to a blank CD as an image file. Imgburn's "Write Image File to Disc" option will work or you can use your own burning software.

    Then boot from the CD and run both the Short and Long diagnostic. See if they both pass.

    You can try the Windows version for preliminary results but only the CD version will attempt to fix errors.

    It doesn't matter if that is your exact drive the diagnostic software is standard.
     

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