cpu question (hdd/win xp wont start in any mode)

TOOL460002 · #1 10-06-2009, 09:15 PM

so, after massive trouble shooting and determining that one of my five mobo sata ports (first) is fried (i guess... never encountered this before), i have hit a wall in getting my desk top back to life.

i finally got it to recognize all three hdd. the one with the os is second in boot priority behind the cd rom (other two storage are 3rd and 4th master [jumpers tell me nothing about slaving]).

now, when it gets to the screen where i can chose to start normally/last good settings/the three safe modes, it wont work. normal settings and best settings go to a black screen and thats it. the safe mode settings shoot off a list of commands or files or something and then freeze at the end. im about to just reformat the main hdd (74gb 10k wd raptor and a pair of 500gb seagate storage drives).

anyone got any ideas? im looking at the bios, and everything looks right, and i have mouse and keyboard support and everything i should have, but having it freeze on booting windows seems to be impossible to avoid. im really annoyed, because it happened randomly after a restart. i got nod32 virus protection up to date and frag and clean and scan regularly. should i just waste a couple hours and format the raptor?

thanks for any help. this has been a friggin nightmare and i want to bang my head against the wall. at least i will learn something, right?

playinpearls · #2 10-07-2009, 05:49 AM

you could try a repair installation from the xp disk. It replaces all windows files with new ones. put in the disk, restart, and choose the repair option when prompted.

after it goes to a blank screen with the normal start up, if you leave it, does it play the windows startup sound eventually? that could be a bad video driver...

otherwise, sounds like your os drive is fried...

another option before reformatting would be to get another hard drive, a cheap one somwhere, and install windows on that and access the files on the faulty drive from the new OS. That is, if you have any files you need to attempt to get off...no promises.

*if the sata port that this failed hard drive was plugged into has failed, more than likely you had a short somewhere and the hard drive and port failed together.

TrooperFarva · #3 10-07-2009, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playinpearls

you could try a repair installation from the xp disk. It replaces all windows files with new ones. put in the disk, restart, and choose the repair option when prompted.

This.

If I remember correctly, the first screen offers options to Install Windows, Repair Windows through the Repair Console or something like that, and to Exit.

Choose Install

A few screens later, it'll search for current installations of Windows. When it does that, it'll give you the option of repairing it. That's the one you want to go for. It'll automatically go through and replace all the Windows files.

**Eric Perry** · #4 10-07-2009, 12:46 PM

Being that ONE port is fried, I'd remove all peripherals (modem, sound card, video card, etc) and see if you can boot up. if still nothing, and you have multiple mem sticks, pull all but one and try. If you have no luck, swap sticks and mem ports and try again.

gdthomas · #5 10-08-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Perry

Being that ONE port is fried, I'd remove all peripherals (modem, sound card, video card, etc) and see if you can boot up. if still nothing, and you have multiple mem sticks, pull all but one and try. If you have no luck, swap sticks and mem ports and try again.

Big +1 on that, also see how cheap a new motherboard is. It may be easier on time/money to just replace the board with a new one and head off any future problems.

TOOL460002 · #6 10-09-2009, 04:31 AM

thanks for the help. i just got a cheap mobo with built in sound and graphics, as i only want it for pro tools and reason. i will remove all cards and one of the memory sticks as a last resort. (really, thanks A LOT for this idea... never would have thought of that, and i may just have to try it.)

anyway... so, all hdds are showing in the bios. thats good. my cd drive is too. thats good, but i have one major problem i just dont get. ive decided to just reformat the raptor, as its only got apps on it, but i cant. i put in the win xp pro cd like ive done before (had a nasty virus months ago [definitely not that though]). then it goes to the blue screen where it starts loading windows files, but after its done going through all that, it freezes at "setup is starting windows." i cant get past this screen.

any ideas why this is? im probably just going to get a new app hdd (think they got faster than 10k now) and take my mobo and go office space on that piece of ****. my second storage drive can be reformatted. its mostly empty i think. thats what i did last time, and then go the raptor up to reformat and bounced the os to that one, but i can figure out how to do that.

thanks again. this is not what id like to pour hours and hours into, but it seems i have.

playinpearls · #7 10-09-2009, 07:57 AM

if it is hanging up while trying to install windows and there is no scratch on the cd your drive is probably bad.

also, be sure you unplug any printers, usb drives, or other peripheral devices. The computer will expect certain ports to be at a default status, and if its getting signal from it, it will error out. This usually happens when its doing the "installing windows" part when it shows the "preparing installtion, installing windows, backing up files, etc" list on the left. You should only have the monitor, mouse and keyboard plugged in. internet is not recommended by some until set up is complete also...

TOOL460002 · #8 10-10-2009, 12:59 AM

wow... finally... i will put the business up front, heres what i ended up doing:

i pulled out everything except the graphics card and one memory stick and left all three hdd in. this got me past the screen i was stuck at and then showed my 3 hdd (2 have files and one is wiped clean). i couldnt do anything. the partitions were off or something (never seen whatever error it was). i took the other 2 hdd out and just left in the once clean one. this seems like it worked. i am currently formatting the drive to load windows (fingers crossed...).

question: im looking to format the raptor that was on the fried sata port (but on a working port, obviously). is this a bad idea? should i just go get a newer, faster hdd for apps? the other storage drive im not worried about. with an os on one hdd i can deal with it. the same goes for the two things i took out: the memory stick and pci firewire card. any advice? at this point i can probably just troubleshoot on my own, but thought i would ask.

lastly, thank you so much for all your help. i was hoping this pc would last me another 4-5 months, then im going with a rack unit, but for now, its either buy a mobo/cpu and not buy a netbook, or fix this and have a netbook sometime soon. thanks again. i think you just saved me a few hundred bucks.

rcarraher · #9 10-10-2009, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrooperFarva

This.

If I remember correctly, the first screen offers options to Install Windows, Repair Windows through the Repair Console or something like that, and to Exit.

Choose Install

A few screens later, it'll search for current installations of Windows. When it does that, it'll give you the option of repairing it. That's the one you want to go for. It'll automatically go through and replace all the Windows files.

Actually, at this point what you want to do instead of choosing Install is go to Repair Windows and choose Repair Console. It'll pop up a DOS window and iterate the installs, choose 1 (the number) it'll ask you for the Administrators Password, enter the password and hit enter. At the DOS prompt, type in chkdsk /r This will repair and reassign bad sectors. This will cure the problem you are experiencing about 90% of the time. If you choose Install here, it will not fix the bad sectors and you'll still have the problem. If the check disk fails, it'll give you a report as to why. Chances are it'll be because the drive had too many bad sectors in which case you'll need a new drive. If the check disk completes and you still have a problem, as a last resort, try a scrub and a reload.

TOOL460002 · #10 10-10-2009, 03:09 AM

well, thanks for the technical advice rcarreher (sp?), but i already formatted the blank 500gb drive (shouldve gone with quick format... duh... took forever), and am now on my ghetto broke laptop to get the drivers i need to get on the web, update, snag my antivirus, and be back in business. this is the same thing i had to do with the virus i got, but it was much more complicated. that seems like itll be a hardware problem with that hdd connected to the fried sata port, because i connected the seagate storage drive that had my valuable stuff, and its instantly fine. i will format the raptor and see if it plays well with others. otherwise, i can run my os off a slower drive until i buy a new wd drive (whatevers fastest that i can support).

playinpearls · #11 10-12-2009, 10:55 AM

i haven't heard good things about the quick format selection.

you formatted the whole 500? why? do you use it all?

i usually split a drive bigger than 300 gigs into 2-3 different partitions. but i dont download stuff, or put movies on the computer, i guess if you need then, then do it up! but its not necesary to format it as one partition...

TOOL460002 · #12 10-13-2009, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by playinpearls

i haven't heard good things about the quick format selection.

you formatted the whole 500? why? do you use it all?

i usually split a drive bigger than 300 gigs into 2-3 different partitions. but i dont download stuff, or put movies on the computer, i guess if you need then, then do it up! but its not necesary to format it as one partition...

hmm... you know, i never thought about partitioning off a storage drive. i do happen to store movies, tv series, etc on it along with large graphics and music files, but will mess around with partitions when i snag a new hdd in a day or two.

playinpearls · #13 10-13-2009, 05:32 AM

works great. if i wasn't such a cheap skate i'd buy a 500 gig or TB drive and section it off for music, movies, programs (setup files), BS, and then like 30 gigs for windows. Right now i just use folders on a save partition.

then you reformat windows and all your stuff is still there, no figuring out where to store all your crap while reloading windows....ya know?

but always use a good backup....
i use carbonite.com. works great. set and forget.

**Eric Perry** · #14 10-13-2009, 06:08 AM

Just remember that if the drive peters out for physical reasons, all the partitions in the world won't help.

Mechanical drives are so cheap anymore, I'm a big believer in having seperate physical drives for data. They could essentially last forever, as they are only being used when messing with said data. The rest of the time, they just sit there.

As playinpearls said though, keeping current backups cannot be stressed enough!

playinpearls · #15 10-13-2009, 07:59 AM

good point...

even solid states will go eventually...

TOOL460002 · #16 10-13-2009, 10:35 PM

trust me, im on board with multiple hdd. i backup all my music on an external (hate to lose the rest, but would REALLY hate to lose all my music), but as has been mentioned, i dont expect any of my storage drives to fail.

no matter how secure they claim it is, i will never trust online backup, or that e-safe crap wellsfargo keeps trying to get me to scan my passport or social security card into or whatever. id rather pay eigthy bucks, or however much 500gb are now and keep that around. thats gotta be cheaper long term than paying some online backup service.

now i gotta pull the trigger on a ssd in the next day or two. im just bitter as i missed a 20% off deal on a really really nice intel one yesterday. stuff like that always keeps me looking for deals. anywho, im quite pleased with my setup for now (now that it works). next time you see me spamming ot with computer questions itll be when i take on a rackmount build early next year; should be fun.

**Eric Perry** · #17 10-14-2009, 04:14 AM

Awesome. SS is the way to go man. I have an OCZ Vertex in my laptop as my OS/Apps drive and the difference over a HDD is substantial.

Just make sure you do your reading on how to optimize for SS. There are some pre and post Windows install things you should do to squeeze the most performance out of it (i.e. aligning it before you install your OS) and also to make sure it lasts as long as possible (i.e. disable defragmenting).

TOOL460002 · #18 10-14-2009, 04:18 AM

thanks eric

can you point me in the general direction of optimizing a ssd with win xp pro? sorry if i come off as lazy, because id otherwise google it, but if you have an excellent source of information, thatd be most appreciated.

tomorrow im ordering either a corsair, ocz, or intel. im excited to finally get up and running how id like.

**Eric Perry** · #19 10-14-2009, 04:38 AM

Sure. I love the OCZ forums. Lots of great information, and also frequent input from the OCZ guys as well. Naturally, any info you get is relevant regardless of what brand of drive you get!

The important things to remember are drive alignment, making sure the firmware is up to date before you install the OS, and some various tweaks post-install. XP was not designed with a SSD in mind, so there are numerous tweaks to make. Just make sure you do all your research before you install Windows!

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...play.php?f=186

Regarding brands, the Intel seems to be the one to beat right now. It's also the most expensive, but its price has come down substantially recently. The Vertex is a great performing drive and I have zero complaints with mine... Here are my HDTune results of both drives currently in my laptop. One is the Vertex, the other is my data drive, which is a Seagate Momentus 7200RPM drive. 53.8MB/sec average seek time and 15.0ms access time compared to 203.4MB/sec average seek time and 0.1ms access time. That equates to a substantial real-world improvement. Firefox literally opens immediately, and Photoshop CS3 opens in just 2 seconds or so. It's amazing.