Boot failures

About two weeks ago I started having boot problems. I cannot relate it to any particular event like a new program or update. My system information is listed below using Piriform Speccy - this is a home built system and has functioned fine for about 18 months. I have had it set up to schedule shut downs at night using my CyberPower 1000 UPS. I would simply restart in the morning. Worked fine for over a year.

Two weeks ago the machine would not restart. It hung on black screens (dual monitors)and the hard drive light showed no activity. After a number of hard reboots the system started normally. This now occurs every time the system is shutdown or restarted. The hang point varies. About 90% of the time the screens simply remain blank and boot stops. Sometimes it I will get a blinking cursor on the #1 screen and other times it will get as far as the Windows start (the POST shows no errors I can see)and freeze before the colored balls come together. When it does successfully boot it runs apparently without problem.

System Information:
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 955 47 °C
Deneb 45nm Technology
RAM
8.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24) - Patriot Sector 5
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A79XTD EVO (AM3) 43 °C
Graphics
SyncMaster (1680x1050@60Hz)
DELL E207WFP (1680x1050@60Hz)
AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series (XFX Pine Group)
Hard Drives
466GB Western Digital WDC WD5001AALS-00E3A0 ATA Device (SATA) 42 °C
466GB Western Digital WDC WD5000AAKS-00WWPA0 ATA Device (SATA) 36 °C
Optical Drives
PLEXTOR DVDR PX-L890SA ATA Device
PLEXTOR DVDR PX-880SA ATA Device
Audio
VIA High Definition Audio

I suspected, after reading some threads, it might be a bad stick of RAM. I ran the Windows memory diagnostic and it showed no problems. I also pulled all of the RAM and tried each stick in the #1 socket. Initially I thought I had found the problem when I got a successful boot with only the original stick in the #1 socket. All the other sticks failed to boot. That made me suspicious. Retesting the first "good" stick resulted in a failed boot. I replaced all the RAM.

I ran chkdsk and it showed the drive to be clean. No issues were reported.

I ran sfc /scannow and it returned "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them." I reviewed the log file and as as near as I can tell most of the files that could not be repaired have to with games - which I don't use. The log file is 675 Kb which exceeds the limit. If someone wants to see it I can break it down and do two posts.

I also attempted do a reinstall of Windows 7 Ultimate from a CD, but it would not load because the current version is newer. I am assuming that means because my updates are loaded. I will try again, but choose the option to look for the latest version of Windows 7 online.

I should also point out that I am running Bitdefender Total Security 2012 with daily checks and it identifies no problems.

One other thing. When the system is hung, soft reboots and hard reboots are generally ineffective. The system just goes back to black screens and stops. But, if I pull the power cord and wait until all the board lights are out, the next attempt gets me to at least the POST screens. The system may or may not successfully launch Windows, but it gets to the Windows start up. A subsequent hard boot usually gets a successful start.

Yea, I'm confused. Any help would be welcome.

 

Greetings, gbernier...

Hard to decide if this is a hardware or software problem - your machine is exhibiting symptoms of each.

My initial impression is to boot to a Linux distro and run the computer from a live environment - this might give some direction.

Also (if you haven't already) simplify everything. Use only one monitor, unplug any unnecessary peripherals (especially USB), boot Windows into Safe Mode, etc. - anything that will change your symptoms, which will give some baseline on which to build a troubleshooting procedure.

 

Does your PC beep when it fails to boot ?

Have you tried booting from another device, e.g., CD ROM, USB ? (if necessary you may need to change the boot order to try in your bios)

Do the fans spin ? (presumably yes)

Have considered the (admittedly unlikely) possibiity of a dodgy RAM socket on your motherboard ? (first socket maybe ?)

Have you tried replacing the coin cell (unlikely as you PC is <2yrs old)

Are you absolutely certain that your PSU is 100% functioning ?

You've probably tried all of things, but I make these suggestions just in case one of them helps.

Please keep us posted, especially if you find the fault !

Dumb_Question
16.December.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK (DT261A, Celeron 2.7 GHz) - MSI MS6577 v2.1 - XP Home SP3 - 1.5GB RAM (1GB + 512MB) - Nvidia Geforce 6200 256MB on board RAM - Octigen 300W PSU