Shoutbox

I just rebooted my PC because my sound card wasn't working and windows didn't boot for some reason.  I thought there may be a conflict so I tried booting from the CD and couldn't do that.  the video card is fine because the monitor is on and not flashing on standby.  What the hell is going on???  I'm freaking out big time because I have alot of stuff on there and for the life of me can't figure out what is happening.  Please help me if you can. 

BTW I can't but into safe mode or anything none of those settings come up and NO post what's so ever.

could it be a dud Memory stick?

Could it be a hard drive issue? because my bios sees my hd's

quote:

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Originally posted by YourNeibour
the video card is fine because the monitor is on ...  I tried booting from the CD and couldn't do that.  I can't but into safe mode or anything none of those settings come up and NO post what's so ever.

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Hmm.  Perhaps I am not quite awake yet, but that seems to contain conflicting statements and doesn't tell me anything.

Please pick the best match to your condition from the following choices:

a) "No/Failed POST" = Nothing ever appears on screen.  Abnormal or no beeps are heard (describe in detail).

b) "POST OK" = BIOS boot logos and messages appear on the screen and you can enter BIOS setup, but it doesn't boot the OS at the end (please describe last messages you get and what exactly happens).

c) "OS starts to boot, then something goes wrong" = Some indication of your OS starting to boot appears, such as Windows logo screen or boot loader error messages (please describe in detail).

In case it's the latter two, I'd also like to know why you couldn't boot from the CD and what exactly happened there.

b) "POST OK" = BIOS boot logos and messages appear on the screen and you can enter BIOS setup, but it doesn't boot the OS at the end and just hangs on the black screen., mouse light is on but no OS (Windows XP Pro doesn't boot)


Can't boot from CD no errors, I see the intel logo and everything CD rom spins but nothing happens.

Are you sure the cd is bootable?
Can you try booting from it on another computer?
Is your BIOS set to boot from computer and then from the HardDisk?

The CD is bootable because it gives me that line
(To boot from CD press any key) and when I do just a black screen.  and in the bios the boot sequence is CD, HD

Here are a few things you can try (although it won't surprise me if it turns out you have a serious hardware failure):

1) Enter BIOS setup and load the default settings.  If you have several choices, load safe defaults.  Make sure the boot sequence is still set to CD first, then hard drive, save and exit.

2) Turn the computer off, open it up and reseat (remove and put back in) all the cards and memory.  If you have more than one memory module, also try starting the computer with just one installed at a time.  When the computer is open and turned on, pay attention to all the fans you can see -- are they running?

Edit -- mind static when doing the above.  Touch the metal chassis frequently to discharge any static buildup, try to handle memory modules and cards by their edges, not touching any chips of contacts.

3) Also in BIOS setup, there should be a screen that displays CPU temperature, voltages from power supply, etc.  See if anything looks wrong.  Voltages should be close to what they are listed as and I wouldn't be concerned if your CPU temperature is under 50-60C (depending on what kind of CPU you have). 

This is interesting, as I also have problem b) with my family home desktop computer, although if I reboot it enough times windows will eventually load. What I find is that the PC will generally have more chance of booting if there is a beep and the CD drive lights flash, if neither of these things happen then my PC wont load at all and I have to power off and on (wall socket or holding power button for 5 secs).

before all this happened, I couldn't get into my device manager in windows xp and my firewall was off and couldn't initiallize it.  The last thing I installed with Java run time (but don't think that is an issue?)  Someone suggested it may be a HD issue but I don't think it's right either because my BIOS sees both my HD's.  Also my BIOS is set to default and I did reseat my RAM, Video card and wireless card.  This ALL started when my onboard sound card wasn't working.