Slow or failed startup of XP professional

Hi,

When XP starts it sometimes resets, sometimes works ok. When it does work it's painfully slow to boot up then seems ok when it's loaded.

I'm no IT expert but I've managed to get an ntbtlog file and it has a host of "file not loaded lines" and seems to cycle through them as shown in a small portion below.

Any ideas?



Did not load driver Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices
Did not load driver Video Codecs
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices
Did not load driver Video Codecs
Did not load driver AMD K7 Processor
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices
Did not load driver Video Codecs
Did not load driver AMD K7 Processor
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices
Did not load driver Video Codecs
Did not load driver AMD K7 Processor
Did not load driver Audio Codecs
Did not load driver Legacy Audio Drivers
Did not load driver Media Control Devices
Did not load driver Legacy Video Capture Devices

 

Did not load driver Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC is a bit worrysome. Check the BIOS for ACPI settings and post back with how you are set now. Also toggle your APM settings (off it now on or on if now off).

Try start~run~eventvwr and take a look in your event logs. Hopefully there will be more detail there.

If you find entries (errors and warnings) that look related and they don't make lots of sense to you, open an event, click on the icon below the up/down arrows to send a text copy to the clipboard, and paste it here.

This smells sorta like a hardware issue although hard to tell at this point. Was your system working fine and then suddenly not working so well?

 

It's a long story, my harddrive failed 6 weeks ago and I had a new one installed. It worked ok for 4 weeks and went the same as the last one. I got a new one under warranty, but when I got it back from the store it was having this intermittent boot issue.

I know I should just take it back, but the guy at the store tells me it was working fine on his bench test for 3 days. I want to try to fix it myself if possible or tell them exactly what's wrong at least.

I turned off the automatic restart last night and the error message is:
UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME

Microsoft knowledge base tells me if hard disk controller is UDMA then maybe I have the wrong cable (why did it work ok for so long?)
or (sounds more likely) I have a damaged file system.

Either way, it sounds like nows the time to take it back to the shop to fix under warranty???



I'll check the BIOS settings as described and check event viewer.

Thanks for the help

 

Don't want to sound like a cop out and I understnd your interest in getting to the cause, however, your best bet is probably to take it back. This could be either software or hardware related but general description (which isn't much) leads me to question memory integrity and/or potential power problems - either of these can cause bad writes and corrupted files. Could be as simple as a memory timing issue but if the guy bench tested this, that should have been flushed out. Have you checked voltage readings on your PSU? How clean is your power at home/office? Are you running off of a battery backup or straight into an outlet? Its also possible that you just plain beat the oddsmakers and got two bad HDD's - doubtful though.

edit - looking at your log - what sound card do you have in there and did you change it at some point in time. Also, do you have or did you have any type of video capture card in there?

 

I've disconnected my DVD writer as slave off the hard drive and it seems to working ok now.

Could the technician be so stupid as to wire it up wrong or maybe a faulty cable?

Still getting errors in the ntbtlog file, but doesn't look so serious:

Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\lbrtfdc.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Sfloppy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\i2omgmt.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Changer.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdaudio.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\processr.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\PCIDump.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\ousbehci.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys

Thanks for the help

 

Running an optical drive on the same IDE cable as the HD *may* cause problems. You need to get another cable (if there isn't one already) and try running your DVD drive separate from the HD. Also make sure your connections are *snug*(that includes the power connectors).

B

 

I've only got the 2 IDE ports and I have the HD (and did have the DVD writer on the other) and a DVD Rom and a CD Writer on the other.

I've disconnected the CD Writer and Connected the DVD Rom and Writer together.

Can I put one with the HD or will this still cause problems?

Any other options?

 

I would check for current drivers, upgrade if available. If you really need that third optical drive, have you considered running it externally (USB/Firewire)? I run some HDs externally, you can also use these enclosures for cd/dvd drives... look HERE. HTH

B

 

Just a note on the ntbtlog... that should show the drivers that did *install*, but it also shows the a list of Windows drivers that did *not* install. Windows has a large driver database so it can accommodate a large variety of hardware. You shouldn't be concerned with this unless you are missing drivers for hardware you have installed.

B

 

Thanks for the help, been really useful.

And no, I don't need that third drive, I'll sell it.

Thanks again - Case closed.