Booting Problem

I need help on First of all, here are my computer specs:

Processor: AMD Duron 800 Mhz
RAM: 256Mb
Hdisk Space: 40gb
OS: WinXP PRO SP2


I'm having trouble booting to my OS. It won't go through the pre-fetch phase (I think...) and then hangs. I tried reinstalling the OS but it also hangs when it's setup is detecting the hardware configuration :cry. Do I need to reconfigure my BIOS? I tried doing the "Load to Fail-safe" settings and "Optimized Defaults" Settings but it also committed the same problem. Please help.

 

Bump!!! Really sorry for the double post... T.T PLS HELP!!!

 

XD... Actually, it loads less than a minute...

Well, let me answer you anyway.

A. Just 1 beep.
B. My computer fails to reach that part. When it should be showing the logo, it just hangs.
C. No BSOD's.

Anyways, the "pre-fetch phase" I'm talking about is the white bar that loads before the windows logo. Well, there you go.

Thanks for the first post. I thought noone is going to notice me. Anyways, ill wait for your reply.

 

I was going to ask the same thing. Clearly plodr is a genius. LOL

Depending on the outcome of what plodr suggested, put in an OS disk in your CD drive and then reboot. Does it boot to that CD now or does it get stuck again?

Can you get to your BIOS setup? If you can boot to setup then your hardware is probably fine and the problem is with your OS... but we'll want to verify that before moving on.

 

Thanks for taking part with my problem mimsy. Anyways...

I tried booting with the CD but it still gets stuck before the windows logo.

Well, I can get to the bios setup but still fails at booting.
My hard disk ha two partitions. I reformatted the partition where I installed the OS but I still fail at installing. I made my CDROM to be booted first and tried to reinstall but it still stops after the text "setup is inspecting your hardware configuration" disappears. It still stayed black after 30-40 mins. Still can't get anything done.

 

What type of CD was that...? If you boot from an XP installation disc, it should never get to the logo.

Is everything in your BIOS setup working? And by that I mean everything. We want to make sure your hardware is okay.

 

Its an XP installation disc.

I dont know how to read the BIOS. I mean, I dont understand anything that is in there. Im a noob with computers. XD

 

If you can move around in there with your arrow keys, and bring up every single menu, it's a safe assumption that you're probably fine as far as your hardware goes

Do you have a menu in there with a name similar to "boot options" or "advanced boot options"? If you do, make double-sure that you have the CD/DVD drive listed as the first option and if not, make it the first. Then put the XP CD in the drive and try booting from it again. If all else fails you should at least be able to do a clean reinstall.

The major drawback with one of those is that it'll wipe your hard drive completely clean of all data that was on it... so if you need that data, a clean reinstall is probably not a good idea.

 

:wave Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

If you boot to a Windows XP install CD, you will not see any logos besides the PC/motherboard manufacturer's logo. You should see a black screen with white letters that says "Press any key to boot from CD....". It looks like this:

http://z.about.com/d/pcsupport/1/5/6/0/-/-/rc1.jpg

If you never see this screen, then the BIOS boot order is set to where the CD is not being booted to before the hard drive. So, despite your lack of BIOS knowledge, you'll need to access the BIOS (usually by pressing either F2 or F1 or Del right after powering on) and set the boot order so the CD is first. Then, with your XP install disc in the drive, you can start a repair install of WinXP by following the steps in this thread. You will usually see a prompt on-screen right when powering on that looks like "Press <Del> for Setup" or possibly "[F2] for BIOS" or something similar. This is the key you're after. If you cannot access the BIOS, please post the make/model of your PC or motherboard and we'll do our best.
:-D

 

What he said

 

My hard disk has two partitions. Transfered it using a different computer. Don't worry.

>.>

My CDROM is already being booted first and the text;

"Boot from ATAPI CDROM:
Press any key to boot from CD."

appears.
And yes, pressed any key to continue (FYI, I only have 1 CDROM).
I already know how to reinstall/clean install/reformat then reinstall my OS but what I dont get is that I suddenly can't reach the setup menu screen.

I pressed any key...

The text "setup is inspecting your hardware configuration..." appears...

then it disappears...

I was expecting that a blue screen should appear but it stays black. Waited 3 hours. Nothing happened....

My computer is getting on my nerves... :boxing
I think someone should help me before I destroy it....:cry

 

I'm starting to lean towards a theory that your computer is possessed by something evil and wicked that is trying to kill you by spiking your blood pressure...

It's either that, or something wrong with your hardware, which would suck.

Depending on if you feel up to trying it or not, you might be able to get around your installation problems by installing a different OS, then installing XP again over that install. (I'm hoping that made sense.) I've managed to get around "impossible" Windows installations in the past by doing that, but to be honest, the fact your XP install stops while inspecting your hardware configuration makes it more likely the problem is with your hardware.

So we may want to start looking at that. Which part of the hardware? Have you added any new components recently? Do you have dedicated media cards? (sound video, et cetera)

 

What about when it starts to boot up can you press F5 or F8 depending on the computer make and try and boot up in safe mode to see if that works. press it straight after when the bios disappears if this don't work then it's looking more like a fresh reinstall of your operating system.

 

I'll try that but my Win98 CD is waaaaaayyyy too old...

I don't have new components added since 3 years ago and I don't know what you mean about dedicated media cards...

 

If you want to try something other than the Win98 CD, try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

It will run the Ubuntu OS off the CD without installation, which means it's comparatively quick and easy to test. If that works without a hitch, that clears your hardware.

What I mean with dedicated media cards (a term I suspect I may have made up in a fit of confusion--that is, even more confusion that normally live with) is a specific graphics card or sound card, installed in the PCI slots. Those slots tend to be white-ish in color and can be found in the lower left region of the motherboard. To rule out if the sound card is the one that is causing issues, you would take it out, and see if the computer starts up fine without it. If not, take out the network card next, and so on...

No, troubleshooting hardware is not an easy or fun thing to do.

 

Ubuntu OS? Then I'm going to burn it first huh? Should i need to make it bootable or just a normal burn?

As for hardware, my sound device, network adapter, and USB ports are all built in on my motherboard. Only the Graphics, hard disk, ram and CDROM are separate.

 

Not sure what you mean with "normal burn"... when I burn Ubuntu discs I use CDBurnerXP and use the option to burn iso as an image. That will automaticallly make it bootalbe, and since the Ubuntu file is an iso that's the only way to burn it in a usable fashion.

 

Have you run any diagnostics? Like a memory diagnostic and a hard drive diagnostic? Download and burn yourself a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD. It's full of many helpful diagnostic tools. It includes hard drive diagnostics from all the hard drive makers, has several different memory diagnostics (I like the Microsoft one; it's easy to use and interpret; press "T" to run the extended tests and run at least 3 passes). If you have any extra drive cables laying around, you may want to swap out your data cables on your hard drive(s) and CD/DVD drive(s), or at least double check to make sure the inside of the PC is as it should be: all cables and cards firmly connected.

 

Is "Ultimate Boot CD" similar to the Ubuntu's Memtest or is it way better?
Will still download it though. XD

@Mimsy

Well, I downloaded Ubuntu and used it.
These are the things that happened:

Burned Ubuntu...

Failed it's installation at 50-60%. Maybe due to imperfect burn...

Tried the WinXP again and I finally reached the setup menu....

Reformatted drive C: to NTFS and continued...

Format successful...

Setup file copying successful...

rebooted...

On boot, suddenly stopped at the text "Verifying DMI Pool Data..."
Waited nearly an hour...still nothing...

That is now my problem. The cursor is still blinking though.
What strange is, I can still press the "CTRL+ALT+DELETE" combination to restart or press the power button to shut the computer down.

What should I do now?

 

Bump!!! Double post again!!!

Very very sorry. Still in desperation mode.

 

Triple post! (lolque...sorry)


Used Ultimate Boot CD and got new developments:


1. Used UBCD to wipe HDD.

2. Partitioned and installed WinXP successfully.

3. Not getting stucked at "Verifying DMI..."

Now my new problem is that whenever I shutdown my PC, its not automatically turning itself down. It prompts me:

"Its now safe to turn off the computer"

I read somewhere that all I have to do is to enable the ACPI function in the BIOS setting. I did that but I still have the same problem.