computer freezes on boot up

Hi ,
I thought I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that on the first day, it was the Virus protection loading ? Nothing was mentioned about a virus itself loading. It does it quick and I think it's the McAfee virus protection logo that I'm referring too. If I did not word it right, my apologies. I also beleive I stated something about I was able to get into safe mode once but the computer freezes and I can not get it to do anything. The next day, I could not get into safe mode (and yes I do so by pressing F8) because all that comes up now is the self test pop up I mentioned and I can not get past that either. Because of the angle I was looking at the power supply, I did not notice the fan at first and no I did not watch to see if that spins or not but I will. The hard drive makes no noise what-so-ever, just the floppy drive (which like the previous speaker remarked is common). I took & placed my troubleshooting thoughts at the video card at first because the icons and taskbar would not load up. I then questioned the power supply because the computer freezes right after the Window 98 logo. The hard drive I felt was use-less without the other two (not sure). I however will admit I can not remember what effects will appear if just the hard drive died. Anyways, I can not get the computer to respond to "anything "...

 

Have you tried to use a floppy to boot, yet? It will tell you if the problem lies with the computer or with Windows.

 

Not yet because I honestly did not know about that method. I will try it and report back in a couple of days. Thanks

 

Hmmm I am sure we have mentioned booting off a floppy disk about 3 times before

I think the problem is it seems to be getting worse on every bootup you do trying to get into the operating system, you problem is you have more than one problem.

1. Freezing on bootup

2. Able to get into Safe Mode but no icons present.

3. Power supply fan not working (Maybe)?

4. Power supply not working at all?

5. Virus message (Probably logo)?

6. Now unable to do anything, does this mean nothing at all, is there no power to anything?

7. Hard drive not making a noise at all (Some are very quiet and we cant hear it this end to tell you if it is or not)

8. Floppy light coming on (Although this is common, hard drives themselves, dont have this light unless its on the hard drive PCB itself(PCB=Printed Circuit Board)

9. Graphics card problem (Maybe) unlikely but you never know.

10. No beeping from pc, might be a motherboard failure, although some motherboards dont beep on startup, did yours beep before?

As you can see the list is very long!

we have to try and diagnose what the fault is from here without even seeing the pc, its hard and with the list of problems you have it could be all manner of things and any of the above problems can cause similar symptoms

As mentioned many times before, try the floopy disk booting now, its your last hope of seeing if it is the pc or the hardware, if it can boot into dos and you can see the c drive then its most likely a software fault.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards
tel33

 

Good Morning,
Maybe it was mentioned before, not sure but I think I was trying other processes of elimination first and when it came down to trying the floppy I felt then it was time. To touch base again,the screen freezes "before" the icons and taskbar would normally appear. I'll asssume there's power going to the unit because it turns on but thats basically all it does. I can not get into "safe mode" at all. I press F8, It brings up safe mode (all four corners say safe mode) and it stops/freezes. Once it freezes, no matter what I have done, the computer stays in that frozen mode. As for the power supply I am going to double check it and see if the fan is turning and if it is then I will try the floppy. The computer is not mine so I have to wait till the people are home and thats the reason for the delays to act upon some of the suggestions provided. I sense everyones frustration but it's equally as frustrating here too. As a reminder, I repeat that the computer freezes up and once it does, it will not accept whatever I try and do...

 

Dont worry on the frustration part, I like a challange.

One important factor you have said ifs that you have a screen come up and thats all, well the pc has to do a lot before that screen comes up so its not all bad news yet.

I think that the power supply is probably ok and the hard drive is otherwise an error would appear saying that you dont have a boot device when you start the pc and if the power supply was not working at all, nothing would work full stop.

This also included the video card not being faulty as you have a display with Safe Mode in all four corners.

This is mostly likely a software fault which probably can be solved.

I know what you are saying is happening and its difficult, I will stay on this till a solution is found ok

Try the floppy disc on bootup

On pressing F8 choose MsDos Mode, once in msdos mode, type scandisk after the prompt, tell me what happens.

Regards
tel33

 

Hi,
Thanks for your patience and understanding...Regarding Safe Mode, once the safe mode screen comes up, it freezes and I can not pick and choose anything...So picking your suggested option is not an option if you know what I mean...Thanks again

 

Hi there

I am not talking of going into safe mode at all, I mean going into msdos mode after you press F8 on startup.

You normally get a list of options to choose from 1 to 5 etc, you need msdos mode. Once in there you can run scandisk too.

I dont see how you cannot get into that if you can nearly get into safe mode, its the same procedure except you choose a different option.

Regards
tel33

 

You don't need to press f8 or anything else. Just put a win98 rescue (or setup or boot up) disk in the floppy drive and turn the machine on. When asked, chose the option to have a CD drive installed. After a little time this should result in an a:\ prompt. Type "c:" (without quotes) and the c:\ prompt will appear. Type
"dir /p" and a list of files and folders on the c: drive will appear. You can scroll through one screen at a time by touching a key. If this drive contains a "Windows" folder, you're in luck, of a sort. If the C: drive doesn't have much on it, let us know what's there. In any event, report back after you've done this.

 

If you do not have a boot floppy, you can go to Bootdisk's and download a file that will create one for you. Put a floppy in the drive, and doubleclick the file. Just copying the file to a floppy will not work.
When at the startup menu when not using the floppy, if you choose Command Prompt instead of Safe Mode, you will be in msdos mode.
Regardless of method of bootup, accessing the drive through dos and seeing what files are there will be a big help. Running Scandisk should be first, as I am guessing at this point there is a corrupted file somewhere, and will need to be replaced. An overlay install may be the ticket here.

 

Sounds familier eh?

 

Did you get it working?

 

Hi,
Thanks for keeping in touch...I got bogged down with several other computer calls. I did make another attempt and I do beleive the hard drive crashed...It will be awhile before they make a decision as to the future of the computer. So I thank everyone and until I hear otherwise we can close this case and get ready for the next one (ha, ha)...

 

Did you say when you do a regular boot it fails just after your antivirus program begins to load? If so, and if you can get into the safe mode, try uninstalling the antivirus program from there, then rebooting.

Or perhaps I read you incorrectly.

Dusterpilot

 

Hi,
I put that computer out on the highway, atleast I suggested it. I could "not" get into safe mode, no way, no how. It was dead in the water sort of speaking. I tried almost every trick in the book, and a few suggestive ones and nothing made a difference. Until the owner of the computer could fianacially purchase a new hard drive, I'm on hold...Hopefully they will buy a newer one...Thanks for keeping in touch...

 

Did you try this command in the Autoexec.bat file, or at the prompt?
win /d:m << Safe Mode
win /d:n << Safe Mode with Networking

 

Can you, as suggested before, get into dos?

 

Hi,
The computer does "absolutely" nothing...When I first looked at the computer problem, it would start up, windows would come up on the screen, virus protection would start then disappear. The icons would come up on the screen but the screen looked like the pixels/resolution were at in-correct settings. Thats as far as the computer would go. You could not access nothing. I re-booted and tried to access safe mode. The computer then would only go as far as the Windows (98) screen and freeze up. I rebooted again and tried the same thing, except this time a monitor testing prompt came up and since then, nothing would happen, no access into anything, safe mode, BIOS, etc. I then took the casing apart, reseated the video card and maybe sure the memory modules were all in place and secured. This still did not change anything. The fan is part of the power supply and appeared to be working. Like I said, I beleive all options have been exhausted but always open for more...

 

Oh well scrap it

 

I hear the sound of a bugler playing Taps for the motherboard.