Member Avatar for WayneStatic

Hi all,

First of all, thanks for this great forum and I apologize ahead of time if this is maddeningly incomplete; I'm trying to work on a machine for a friend of mine.

So, here's the dealio: I was told in a very generic fashion that this Dimension 4500 would not boot. When I tried it myself, I was greeted with the boot options menu indicating the last boot was invalid, etc with the options to boot from Safe Mode, etc. If I select either Start Windows Normally or Boot From Last Known Good Configuration, I get a BSOD, but only for a second; I can't tell what is being reported. The machine immediately leaves that screen and gets to a flash of the OEM logo before going back to the Boot Options Menu. If I try any of the Safe Boot options, I get as far at agp440.sys before the system, again, goes back to the Boot Options Menu.

So, to recap, I can't tell what is being reported. The fans are working and the machine was dirty, but I've seen dirtier. Has anyone there experienced this? Can anyone suggest how I can get that BSOD message? I've actually considered trying to take a picture of the screen while it was booting.......

Thanks in advance.

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Short practical note for the thread: the symptom you describe — a fleeting BSOD and a hang around agp440.sys before returning to the boot menu — usually points at the AGP/video/chipset layer (driver mismatch or hardware fault). Microsoft’s KB article on this exact hang explains that an incompatible motherboard‑chipset video driver can cause XP to stop while loading Agp440.sys and outlines using the Recovery Console to make Windows fall back to the generic VGA driver. Microsoft KB 324764. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

Before making changes, capture diagnostics so you know what failed. Enable “Boot Logging” (F8 Advanced Options or msconfig) so Windows writes C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt; open it with notepad %SystemRoot%\ntbtlog.txt and look for the last “Loaded”/“Did not load” entries — that often points to the offending driver. If the system hangs before the log is created, Microsoft documents that condition and the need for offline inspection. [KB 275735 / boot‑log notes]. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

Do lightweight hardware triage next: unplug all external USB drives/peripherals, reseat RAM and try one stick at a time, remove add‑in cards (especially the AGP card) and test with onboard or a known‑good video card. Run a bootable memory tester such as MemTest86 from USB/CD for multiple passes to rule out RAM errors before chasing drivers or reinstalling the OS. [MemTest86 official]. (memtest86.com)

If the boot log or tests point at agp440.sys, follow the Recovery Console approach in the Microsoft article to disable that service so XP uses the generic VGA driver — but back up data first. ’s disk‑check suggestion and ’s advice about making the BSOD stay on screen are good complements for gathering info. If none of the above isolates it, the AGP/video subsystem or motherboard is a likely hardware failure; at that point image/backup the disk and test the drive in another machine or replace the board. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

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Member Avatar for Chaky

I'm affraid that you would need to boot atleast in safe mode to make the necessary change, so your BSOD would remain on screen.
(My computer/Properties/Advanced/Startup and Recovery/Automatically restart (uncheck it))

Giving from what you've posted, you either have:
a) wrong drivers installed
b) corrupt driver files
c) M/B malfunction
d) any combination from above

I suggest you try clean windows install if chkdsk doesn't remedy your problem. Make sure that all the BIOS settings are default. (No O/Cing)

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