Crashing Issues (Yet again)

[Adster]

Hi all,

So my very first post on here a while back, was me asking for help to solve an issue where my pc died, ending up regularly hanging with a black screen. The problem later progressed to booting up at the login screen, but no further, the desktop kicking me back out each time I typed my password.
Anyways, since then I'd got myself a XP Pro disc and completely reformatted my HD ( was previously XP home). For a good long while, my PC was turning like a set of well oiled gears...that was until last night.
Sitting in front of my PC, I actually witnessed the crash this time, my PC monitor blinking out and the tower rebooting itself but not actually going through the loading cycle.
Right now, I can turn the PC on, the case still doesn't boot up and the screen is still black.
Every now and again, it will show the manufacturers logo on screen but that's about it.

When I saw it die the first time a message told me that the System folder was missing and I would need to repair it.

Do any of you know what's going on?
Some help would be greatly appreciated.

[majestic0110]

Hmm that is odd, perhaps a hard drive failure? Judging by the fact that it reports a missing System folder and that this happened after a reformat also. I will do some googling for you for similar events.

[Adster]

Much appreciated. At first when I reformatted the HD and it was working, I assumed it was a software error and the O/S change fixed it. But now that the same thing has happened to XP Pro, it's starting to look more hardware based.

Bugger.

[majestic0110]

yeah I think so too Im afraid mate

[majestic0110]

Have been doing some research, it seems that this is a rare problem as I have not found anything that might be helpful....perhaps wait here for an answer from someone else who might have experienced this before. I will continue my research/.....

[majestic0110]

have you tried getting into safe mode? Hold F8 at boot up...Run a virus scan (full scan) These folks seem to have run iinto a similar problem. Good luck and let us know how you get on:

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/System32-folder-missing-Windows-t25890.html

Its possible you have a virus/worm especially if you use Peer 2 peer software such as Azureus etc - this could account for the duplication of your problem after reformatting.

[Adster]

THanks. Really I guess it's not much of an problem. If it IS my HD then I've only recently reformatted and there's not much on there of value. Heck, I had to give up and start from scratch the first time round. lol I'd probably be better off just buying a new HD.

[majestic0110]

yeah but the above post may save you some bucks so try that 1st!

[Adster]

The PC isn't running through a boot cycle at the moment, but I'll give it a shot later if it starts trying to load again.

Though I'd like to get this problem fixed, really I was most likely going to get shot of the machine anyways. I think it's reached the end of the road as far as PCs go.

[majestic0110]

ok, well best of luck on whatever you decide.

[steven woodman]

did you try reseting the bios? That has helped me in a similar situation. To do this just remove the power cord from the back of the pc and on the motherboard there should be a battery, remove and replace the battery or if there is a button next to it press the button. This will reset you bios. Now if the unit begins to go through boot, press del right away to enter the bios menu and check to see that you hardware is recognizing. You will then have to reconfigure your boot sequence.

Hope this works for you.