computer woes

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:11 pm

I have been having some troubles with the computer lately. When I try and boot it up, it gets to various stages where it will then reboot and try to start again only to continue to get part way through the boot up process and then restart. I can boot into safe mode and the few times that I have been successful at booting into windows, I get the "Windows has recovered from an error... blah blah... and if i click on the send report information, they give me a few details about the error. It says that it is because of a device driver failed to load.

So now what? Would it help if I booted into Safe mode and uninstalled all my devices?

I am runnin winxp sp2.

Post by **Neophyte** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:12 pm

Mav said: "...it gets to various stages where it will then reboot and try to start again..."

Same place every time? Or random places?

Has any software been changed that could have caused this? (Driver updates, recently installed Service Pack 2, playing in Regedit unsupervised?)

If it's a random crash or even sometimes a BSOD, it could be some bad ram. If this is a fairly old computer, you could try re-seating the RAM and reconnecting the drives to make sure that no dust or corrosion is on the contacts. Also, while you're there, check the cooling fans and make sure they're all still working. If it's RAM and it just crashes when the RAM is filled up to the weak areas. it will give you random errors during bootup. Try this: On a good computer with a CD-R drive and a blank CD-R disk, download Windows memory Diagnostics and create a diagnostic boot CD. Then run it in the Extended tests mode. (It'll run for about 30 minutes. It should not result in any errors.) If you find an error, replace the RAM module. (If you have multiple modules, you might try testing one by one after you find a failure.)

You first want to try troubleshooting steps that won't cause harm to the system. (Defrag, Scandisk, etc...) If those fail to fix the problem, then we'll start the destructive troubleshooting and try removing devices in Safe Mode so that the hardware can reload drivers.

Windows Memory Diagnostics
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:52 am

Neophyte wrote:Mav said: "...it gets to various stages where it will then reboot and try to start again..."

Same place every time? Or random places?

Has any software been changed that could have caused this? (Driver updates, recently installed Service Pack 2, playing in Regedit unsupervised?)

If it's a random crash or even sometimes a BSOD, it could be some bad ram. If this is a fairly old computer, you could try re-seating the RAM and reconnecting the drives to make sure that no dust or corrosion is on the contacts. Also, while you're there, check the cooling fans and make sure they're all still working. If it's RAM and it just crashes when the RAM is filled up to the weak areas. it will give you random errors during bootup. Try this: On a good computer with a CD-R drive and a blank CD-R disk, download Windows memory Diagnostics and create a diagnostic boot CD. Then run it in the Extended tests mode. (It'll run for about 30 minutes. It should not result in any errors.) If you find an error, replace the RAM module. (If you have multiple modules, you might try testing one by one after you find a failure.)

You first want to try troubleshooting steps that won't cause harm to the system. (Defrag, Scandisk, etc...) If those fail to fix the problem, then we'll start the destructive troubleshooting and try removing devices in Safe Mode so that the hardware can reload drivers.

Windows Memory Diagnostics
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

it was at random places.... i took out one stick of ram and tried to boot it... and it did the same thing.... got to just before the log in page and whammo.... rebooted... so i put that stick back in and took out the other one.... and it booted up.... mucked around for a bit, then restarted to see if it may have been a fluke... and again it started (albeit much slower than b4).

Can i run that ram diagnostic thing in windows itself or do i have to do that through the command prompt?

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:54 am

about 1 month ago i downloaded and installed this program called glary utilities and use it occasionally. check my registry for errors and such...

Post by **Neophyte** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:19 pm

M4v3r1ck wrote: it was at random places.... i took out one stick of ram and tried to boot it... and it did the same thing.... got to just before the log in page and whammo.... rebooted... so i put that stick back in and took out the other one.... and it booted up.... mucked around for a bit, then restarted to see if it may have been a fluke... and again it started (albeit much slower than b4).

Can i run that ram diagnostic thing in windows itself or do i have to do that through the command prompt?

The WMD will create a DOS-like self-booting operating system. So, while you will create the CD-R disk inside of Windows. When you boot to the CD-R, it will load into a DOS-like screen and directly into the program.

Which brings up another concern, you will need to ensure that your CD-Rom drive is prioritized ahead of your Hard drive in your BIOS.

Post by **Cowl[CotC]** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:09 pm

Weird Mav, my Home Theater PC is doing the same exact thing. I can boot into safe mode okay, but when I try to go into regular ol' WinXP SP2 it gets to the windows splash screen and reboots over and over again.

I thought it might be my video card or motherboard so I actually bought a new Foxconn $50 special and same thing, used the on board video, same thing, haven't tried testing the RAM so will have to do that when I get a chance, but no idea what the heck else it can be.

I just moved into a new home (thus my relative silence lately) and have no idea where my XP disk is (the only ones I can find were old cracked versions that don't work), so I can't just do a fdisk and re-install nor do I really want to...

tried researching online and didn't really come up with much...
Let me know as well if anyone can help or if you find a solution Mav
Cheers
Cowl

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 1:38 pm

Neo...

Again this morning I went to boot up my machine with only one of the two pieces of ram in and it booted up into windows. Again, the length of time it took to boot was a little longer but perhaps that is because I am running with 1/2 the ram? I ran a memory tester called MemTest 3.6 and ran it for about an hour and no errors were reported.

I shut off my machine, swapped the other stick in the same slot as the first stick and tried to boot. Got to my login screen and it rebooted. Would it be safe to say that it is a piece of faulty ram?

The pieces of ram are a pair of OCZ PC2 5400 Special Ops 4-4-4-12 1GB. Is this memory supposed to be run in pairs and because I only have one in.... could that be affecting the time it takes my machine to boot? If this memory is indeed shot... would that mean that the other piece will not be much good to me unless I can find another stick of the exact ram? If I want to get more memory.... is it ok to run 2 pieces of pc2 5400 and 2 pieces of pc2 6400?

So many questions.... Hopefully I have found the culprit to my problem though.

Post by **D.A.R.K.[CotC]** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:15 pm

when I had a problem with a bad ram stick my computer wouldn't even boot up... it could be that, just to be safe, upgrade your ram!

Post by **Neophyte** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:08 pm

M4v3r1ck wrote:Neo...

Again this morning I went to boot up my machine with only one of the two pieces of ram in and it booted up into windows. Again, the length of time it took to boot was a little longer but perhaps that is because I am running with 1/2 the ram? I ran a memory tester called MemTest 3.6 and ran it for about an hour and no errors were reported.

I shut off my machine, swapped the other stick in the same slot as the first stick and tried to boot. Got to my login screen and it rebooted. Would it be safe to say that it is a piece of faulty ram?

The pieces of ram are a pair of OCZ PC2 5400 Special Ops 4-4-4-12 1GB. Is this memory supposed to be run in pairs and because I only have one in.... could that be affecting the time it takes my machine to boot? If this memory is indeed shot... would that mean that the other piece will not be much good to me unless I can find another stick of the exact ram? If I want to get more memory.... is it ok to run 2 pieces of pc2 5400 and 2 pieces of pc2 6400?

So many questions.... Hopefully I have found the culprit to my problem though.

Hey, I've got OCZ in my computer too!

If your motherboard support dual-channel DDR2 (kind of like RAID 0 for RAM) then you'll notice a performance drop when you run in single mode. Windows XP should still run good under 1 Gig of RAM though. (Vista, not so well.)

Memory Testers in Windows 2K, XP, Vista might not work so well as ones that boot from DOS or some other thin OS. That's because Windows does such a good job at memory management it can recover from memory errors under it's protected mode. (When you get it booted up, naturally.)

The good news is that you don't need to throw the RAM away. It's most likely matched at the factory, where they find RAM that will preform and overclock to similar frequencies when it was shipped to you. But under sane overclocking speeds (less than 15%) you're probably safe with any brand RAM that matches your latency ratings. (4,4,4,12)

Even better news than that is OCZ has a lifetime warranty! http://www.ocztechnology.com/support/warranty/
So, you can get that chip replaced for free. With the holiday season though, you probably won't see the replacement until January.

"is it ok to run 2 pieces of pc2 5400 and 2 pieces of pc2 6400?" - Generally, no. When you clock the BUS you typically cannot clock memory bank 1 with one frequency and bank 2 with another. What will happen is that the least common demonenator will win. So the slower RAM will result in the frequency negotiation (if set to auto) and the computer will use all the RAM at the reduced rate.

Also, I assume that you plan in upgrade with an additional 2 Gigs or more? Windows XP (32-bit) will not be able to offer all 4 Gigs total to you. It reserves half of your RAM for OS and provides the other half for you to use. So, even through your motherboard shows that you have 4 Gigs when you boot, Windows will only let you see 3 Gigs of that at best.

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:57 pm

alrighty then... thanks neo

M4v3r1ck · Post by **M4v3r1ck** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:38 pm

So i ran the windows memory diagnostic tool that you recommended Neo and with both sticks in, all tests failed. So I took out, what I believe to be, the faulty stick and ran the tests again. All tests succeeded this time. So obviously it is a faulty piece of ram. Now I just have to sit back and wait for an RMA from OCZ.

So Cowl, perhaps you should do some tests on your memory to see if that is the same problem that you are having????

Cheers

Mav

Post by **Cowl[CotC]** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:47 pm

I will be doing this tomorrow (or tonight if I can!)... man I'm hoping that's it... with the behaviors that Mav is (errr... was) reporting it just has to be. I'll report back as soon as I find out!

But I guess my question would be why does safe mode boot up fine everytime I go into it if a RAM stick is bad? Wouldn't that also affect a boot into safe mode?

Cheers and thanks to Neo for all the excellent help!
Cowl

Post by **Cowl[CotC]** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:42 am

Dammit no dice, all memory checks are fine. I ran it through 6 passes and everything was fine.

One thing I did while in safe mode was to unselect restart system on failure or whater that is... and the point of failure during the splash screen was a 0x0000007E error. So I researched this a bit and basically the suggestion was to load up the WinXP cd and do a repair. Well I have an XP disc (not a valid one) but just wanted to do a repair and while it was booting into the setup it gives a "vga.sys is corrupted" error. So this may be the culprit here. But I had tried using both nVidia drivers and the standard vga drivers and same thing... the endless reboot loop.

Now what is even weirder is I get crashes everytime I try to log into safe mode... the list of drivers, etc comes up and then when it tries to launch windows... reboot...

So now I'm stuck. I guess I'll have to just wipe the drive and reload everything (no big deal... time consuming but whatever). The big huge problem with this situation is how can I boot to a command prompt so I can run fdisk? If I can't I guess I can put the drive into my wife's Vista PC and wipe the drive from there... any ideas?

Cheers
Cowl

Post by **Baron[CotC]** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:10 pm

I usually do my formatting and partitioning from within the Windows Setup program after booting from the Install CD

Post by **Cowl[CotC]** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:09 pm

I tried to get there Baron, but booting with the disc setup gives a "vga.sys is corrupted" error so I can't even get to the setup menu from the install disc, nor can I boot using safe mode with command prompt. Why can't anything be easy???? ARRRGH!!!