xp pro locking up

okay need some advice here. working on a dell 8200 with a new w.d. h.d. using the recovery function from dell. gets to a point where i tell it what time zone i'm in and then it locks up. no keyboard access no mouse nothing. have to hard boot. ran dells diags all okay, resided all internal devices, tested memory all okay, even put in new ribbons to the h.d. and now when i turn the machine on cursor sits in top left of display and goes no further.

any thoughts.

 

Hi gghartman

That doesn't sound like a problem with the new disk, but I'd remove it anyway and test to be sure. Sounds like a more serious problem, if you mean you don't see the BIOS POST, or hear a beep. Could be the psu is failing, or a chip overheating on the mobo - ventilation problem? Old machine? Lots of possibilities, unfortunately.

 

sparrow

i was hoping you wouldnt say that but was afraid it might be more serious. installing another w.d. to see if problem persists. still doing the install so dont know yet. i have an extra dell psu so will also give that a try. system is a lot dirty inside so the psu overheating could be it plus we have had some serious storms so possible they got hit.

thanks.

 

Hello,
I've had problems in the past using the OEM versions of Windows to recover a system I've made hardware changes to. If you have access to a retail copy of windows i'd give that a go. Also, is the status bar locking up as well, or can you just not use your keyboard and mouse. If the latter, is it a USB keyboard and mouse? This could be important. Cheers.
-Chris

 

Candreae

nope both keyboard and mouse are ps2 connections. have installed 2 times on the new w.d. h.d. and both times at different points it would lock up tighter than a drum had to pull plug. 2nd drive i tried it got through the os install but locked up during the sound card install.

 

a little update and hopefully not premature. fortunately i had a new dell psu and after installing it things so far have stabilized. no lockups. so am knocking on wood. am a little surprised the psu was causing the lock ups but if it works then i'm a happy camper as is my client.

thanks to all.

 

more thoughts

Glad to hear things are looking up. PSUs do change with age like all of us and are aften just barely adaquate when new. Installing additional parts in the box can easily overtax them. I usually have 2-3 HDDs in a box and when things start to queer I have disconnected a disk to see if that straightens out the problem, and if so I replace the power supply, usually with a larger one and things are fine again.

 

sparrow

yep, machine has been up all night long as well as doing other installs. only problem with dell is that there psu's are apparently cross wired so you just cant go and buy a psu off the shelf. but the new dell psu seems to have fixed the lock ups.

thanks again.