Help Computer won't start up all of a sudden was ok?

[lordgalla]

Hi All; I don't know what happend,I have a older Athlon 1gig cpu and it has a cd rom and Wd 160gig harddrive.This just happend now. I turn on the computer it beeps once,shows cpu,detecting drives,shows hard disk primary master,cdrom secondary master,displays Irq's ect.Then (Verifying DMI Pool Data)and it stops right there???Won't go just sit's there???..........What happend? How can I fix this?? I booted from the cd rom with xp pro disk and went into the hard disk,seem's harddisk is ok,I can see all the files on my c drive 160 gig,through the recovery console???...........Is there a way to fix this,without loosing all my data,I don't know what happened here,was Running excellent,before this?? Please help if you can.Thankyou

 

[linney]

Have you tried running ChkDsk /r from the Recovery Console? You can also look at the FixMbr and FixBoot commands


How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q314/0/79.asp

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q305/5/95.asp

Have you tried setting the Bios to it Safe default settings, or even checking for a Bios update?

If the error occurred after installing a device driver or application, try using Safe Mode and removing the driver or program.

To check your RAM via bootable media.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

http://www.simmtester.com/PAGE/products/doc/docinfo.asp

To check your Hard Drive.

The drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software that is bootable to check your drive for problems.

 

[kewldood]

Another thing to try is change your hard drive jumper to either master or cable select (whichever one of these 2 it is currently not set to). I have encountered picky (junk) motherboards that won't boot a hard drive if it doesn't "like" the jumper settings of the hard drive.

This is probably not the case here, but only takes a minute, so it's worth a shot.

 

[lordgalla]

ok,I downloaded Western digitals data lifeguard Diagnostic software and made a floppy to test the drive.Booted to floppy and diag.software came up,ran quick test on the dive and no errors..ok,where should I go next? I don't want to loose any data if at all possible? Ya I know that's asking a lot.Will I loose Data with fixboot command?what about fixmbr? I did not install any device drivers or programs prior to this no boot?

 

[kewldood]

One more thing, connect your cdrom to the secondary ide port on your motherboard via its own ribbon cable. This is good practice, & it just may fix your issue.

 

[lordgalla]

allready have the cdrom on it's own cable,on the secondary ide port,and set as master.Has been working fine.This just happened today turning on the computer,was fine last night.

 

[firewolfrl]

This may fix your issue or it will not fix anything at all... Your drive may have lost what partition is active.
this can be a vague problem as windows XP cd will see the drive and other programs see the drive as a good drive with no issues ...even chkdsk /r


this fix is from microsoft...though there may be better fixs out there with other software

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...ddocs/en-us/dm_active_partition.mspx?mfr=true

I have used the above fix before and it does work

I also use partition magic

also look for hirens's boot CD that has lots of utilities for boot type issues.

 

[lordgalla]

I'm running chkdsk /r in the recover console now.Taking forever only on 51% it's been a hour or so now? Should it take this long??on a 160gig drive,or do you think my drive crapped out,Totaly?

 

[linney]

Patience is required when running ChkDsk on a 160GB drive, there is something like 5 checks that are run, and a percentage complete indicator is displayed but that relates only to the current task not the complete job. For that size of drive 90 minutes to 2 hours would not be unreasonable.

266745 - Error Message When You Run fixmbr Command

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266745&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Have a look at the excellent piece of software, MBRwork, mentioned in this thread.

Hard drive won't boot
thread779-1308446

 

[firewolfrl]

I have seen chkdsk /r take 5 or 6 hours on large drives especially if there is any issues