Compaq Presario boot issues. Help plz.

Discussion in 'Software' started by fifthmanstanding, May 3, 2009.

  1. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    Hi all

    I'm working on a Compaq Presario S4020SWM desktop. PheonixBios Pentium IV. 512 megs of RAM. 30 gig hardrive. I think it was manufactured around 2001. The sticker says it runs XP home edition.


    I booted it up and saw a black screen with a status message saying some file or another had been deleted and couldn't start windows. The previous owner said there was a virus problem and it crashed and then went on to send it to me for fixing. I went on to install an OEM copy of windows xp home sp2 . It booted the disc successfully and continued to install. Upon the restart it black screens and sits there. It goes no further. It doesn't technically boot loop by restarting but it doesn't boot beyond the windows xp logo and the loading bar.

    I've tried a number of xp versions I have with no success. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here. I figured if i matched the version to the sticker it would be a simple reformat/reinstall.

    I thought maybe it might be a total hardrive failure, though it's not making any wierd noises. I tried an install on one of my hardrives that I know for sure works and after a full reformat/reinstall/reboot I'm left with the same black screen and no startup.

    any ideas?
    thanks in advace for help.
     
  2. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    any ideas? anyone?
     
  3. Novice

    Novice MajorGeek

    Have you tried starting in Safe Mode ?
     
  4. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    how would i go about accessing safe mode before it black screens?
     
  5. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    ok upon tapping f8 to boot in safe mode it runs a long string of code and then boots into safe mode. From here I'm not too sure what to do.
     
  6. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    I'm well aware of how to use safe mode in most instances. In the past it's been my experience that a black screen is caused by a lack of visual driver or a visual driver inconsistancy all together. I've encountered this on a number of eMachines in the past, one even had a bad PSU that caused problems with the onboard graphics, which is what I'm hoping is not going on here. Generally speaking I've booted into safe mode and either installed/enable/disabled drivers. But from what I can tell from this system, the drivers seem to be read and all the hardware seems to be successfully installed if the device manager is telling the truth.

    There is, at this point, no malware to be removed as I've ran through about 6 different versions of xp. The hardrive has been reformatted enough as it is. It's getting a compatible install that's my concern at the moment.

    So to recap: the system boots, shows the POST, shows the COMPAQ logo, the windows logo and load bar and then black screen. Tapping f8 throughout this process boots successfully into safe mode. From there I reinstalled the audio driver that seemed to be missing, rebooted and was met by this black screen again.
     
  7. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    So, you can boot to the Windows desktop in Safe Mode? If so, jump to the Device Manager and uninstall the video driver. Make note of what it is, or boot in Safe Mode with Networking, then download the video driver before uninstalling it. Once the video driver is uninstalled, reboot in Normal mode and install the video driver you just downloaded. That should do it. However, once you're in safe mode, you might want to take a look at the Event Viewer. There's a real good chance that the cause of the problem will be listed there, especially if it's a driver issue. Click Start > Run, type compmgmt.msc and press Enter, then double-click Event Viewer > System and scroll down looking for errors that happened at the correct time, or any errors for that matter. Make note and research 'em or post here and we'll try to help.
    Good luck!
     
  8. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    From even viewer I've got a good number of errors over the past hour. They all have either DCOM or Service Control Manager as sources of the errors. If I look at the properties of the error message it states that

    'DCOM got error that "this service cannot be started in Safe Mode attempting to start the service wuauserv with arguments '' in order to run the server'

    the Service Control Manager has a most interesting description, stating that ' the following boot start or system start drivers failed to load : AFD AMDK7 FIPS IPSec MRxSmb NetBios, NetBT, RasAcd, RBdbsse and Tcpip' which I'm assuming are all integral drivers to say...things like booting up. i know the AMDk7 driver is the processor driver. So I'm assuming this is the tip of something. I think it's this one that's more applicable to what's going on, since based on the time it was when I attempted to start windows normally.


    On the note of the visual driver. I'm working off the onboard graphics and I'm wondering if disabling the Display adaptor (which is the only visual related thing on the device manager) will keep me from being able to see anything upon boot up. I also don't have a graph card handy to use as an alternative. Is there a chance that this will complicate the problem more?
     
  9. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    The DCOM errors are no big deal; the service cannot be started in safe mode. This is normal so those messages are nothing. However, the other messages could also be related to safe mode since most drivers do not load in safe mode. What I was suggesting was to look for an error with the same date/time of when you tried to start in normal mode and got only a black screen.
    I am in no way suggesting that you disable the video adapter. I am suggesting that you uninstall the driver for it. You can do this in the device manager (right click > uninstall) or go to Add/Remove Programs and see if the display driver is listed, then uninstall it. Another thing to look at, would be to go to your startup list (click Start > Run, type msconfig and press Enter, click the 'Startup' tab) and disable any items there that might be problematic. You can probably disable about 90% of the listed programs (at least temporarily). Many of the things listed in the startup list are not required for successful stable operation of Windows. Most items are loaded to make things easier and quicker (like printer software, or digital camera software, or itunes, etc). But too many things in this list can cause major slowdowns and startup problems. Many pointless things get added to this list too, like the Adobe Reader update scheduler for example. You don't need Adobe Reader's updater running at all times. You can still use Adobe Reader 5.0 to open just about any PDF file, and v5 is like 4 years old (or more). This illustrates the lack of importance of just one of the many things commonly added to the startup list. Like I said, most of this stuff is fluff, and not required for successful bootup, and sometimes the fluff gets in the way.

    (I just read your first post again; you mention "a simple reformat/reinstall". Did you reformat? Or did you reload Windows without formatting? Are you certain that there's no video card in the PC? Many people overlook the fact that a video is installed because it is further down on the back of the PC, and they're just accustomed to the monitor plugging in to the same panel where the mouse and keyboard plug in)
     
  10. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    Well. You called it. I bit the bullet and did it. System restarted fine. Looks like it was the graph driver. I'm assuming I should download from the manufacturer and then reinstall.
     
  11. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    :celebrate Excellent! Glad to hear all is well! Happy to help! :-D

    And, yes, you should download and install all the system drivers from this link. Scroll down to the 'Original Drivers' section and install the chipset drivers first. It's a good idea to burn all the drivers to a CD once everything is installed just so you have 'em for future use.

    [dlb]
    :major
     
  12. fifthmanstanding

    fifthmanstanding Private E-2

    alright so I downloaded the drivers, started the execute installation, which pops up 'driver is installed in (path to the drivers folder) you should install the driver from device manager' at which point i go to the device manager, right click on said device and click 'update' and then find the folder in system32 where the drivers were installed. At that point it tells me it can find no update to the driver in question. This is the same for the audio, the network adaptor, the chipset ect; any ideas?
     

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