XP wont boot since video crash

[trawks]

So, playing WoW recently and my game crashes(which isnt uncommon.) A video driver switch solved the problem for a few weeks then it returned, I decided to live with it. After the last crash though, instead of freezing at that screen my monitor turned black, then gave me a no signal message. Scary stuff. I pressed the power button and shut my pc off. I restarted it, and everything seemed normal, after it got past the boot screen it just hung there forever on a lit up black screen, so I tried restarting twice - once with the last configuration that worked, and once in safe mod. Neither would start. Now im scared something is broken. First bet would be the video card, which is obviously still functioning to some degree at least. There is no visual mess on the bios screen/boot screens. (This is my second video card, RMA'd first one) I think maybe my power supply is killing video cards. Any thoughts/suggestions to fixing this?

edit* this is what im operating on

amd 3200
1gb ram
bfg 7900gt
windows xp
asus k8N mobo
420 watt psu

[kevinwebster83]

Hi

I'd say it could be a problem with the slot on your motherboard that your video card slots into (AGP or PCI-E). Could be that if you've taken your card in and out repeatedly then it could have worn out the pins on the socket - i've had exactly this problem, even bought a new video card.

Don't think it would be the power supply as if it was faulty it'd take out more than your video card

Do you get any beeps when your computer starts up? If you try powering your PC up without a video card in, does it beep? If not, then do you have any speakers to indicate that Windows has loaded (the little jingle at the start) without the video card?

Hope this helps

Kev

[trawks]

Well ive somewhat isolated the problem. I have managed to get the computer to boot into linux. When i did that it displayed the same errors for about 10 minutes but eventually started. this is what the error was:

ata1: translated ATA stat/err 0x51/40 to SCSI SK/ASC/ASCQ 0x3/11/04
ata1: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
ata1: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }

I couldnt find a windows cd anywhere, and I have no experience with linux at all. A lan i went to they gave away the cd's so i figured id give it a shot. The problem is linux wont use my HD i dont think. When I try and click the HD it says unable to mount partition or something. It wont let me access my hd, but I can view the folders and files on it I just cant open any files. The hard drive light is off, except when i try and do something with it in linux.

i get 1 beep from bios at start.

[MidiMagic]

I would say the crash from the buggy software ate the disk format.

Don't use buggy software. A crash can do ANYTHING, including erasing disks and changing settings.

[caperjack]

I would say the crash from the buggy software ate the disk format.

what buggy software !!

Hard to help with a serious problem like this when you have no windows cd.
do you by chance happen to have onboard video or a older PCI video card ,not a PCI-E card just old pci one to try .it sounds more like a bad harddrive to me or just corrupt winxp install .

[trawks]

Yea, its something wrong with the HD, i cant seem to do anything with it. Ive gotten ahold of a windows cd, it freezes during the setup at some point every time and wont continue. It always freezes once the HD turns on. The video card is fine, I tried it in another computer. Cant check my pcie slot though.

Linux was able to run off the cd, but thats it and it has a billion errors when i use it. I cant reformat either, because my computer always freezes before it starts reformatting. If anyone knows a way to like, restart my HD somehow I would be greatful.

WoW was what i was running when it crashed. I then leaned on the power button to restart. My theory is that my PSU is causing the problems by starving the system of power and making corrupt video drivers, and then causing the crashes. Unfortunately the last crash happened while my HD was doing something really important apparently.

[bobbyraw]

use the XP cd to do a MBR repair on the hard drive then do a CHKDSK /F and as a last resort you might want to spring for a new HArd Drive

[caperjack]

Yea, its something wrong with the HD, i cant seem to do anything with it. Ive gotten ahold of a windows cd, it freezes during the setup at some point every time and wont continue. It always freezes once the HD turns on. .

I have only been fixing computer for about 10 yrs now so i could be wrong but i think the harddrive turns on as soon as you turn on the power to the computer ,at no point in the setup dose it turn on the harddrive ,almost sound to me like its either a dead hdd or you are having a overheating problem with your processor ,or you do really have a bad power supply, really BAD!!!!.

[trawks]

well the light on the HD stays off until I try to reinstall windows/reformat it. once it comes on everything freezes and I cant get through reformatting.

[caperjack]

the lite only indicate that something is making an attempt to access the drive ,it has been on all a long ,like i said ,the drive is bad ,in my opinion ,you will need to try a new or good used one to find out for sure though .

[trawks]

yea, im gonna need a new HD it looks like. if i try from dos the cmd

"format c:"

it returns "invalid drive specification"

[caperjack]

try "dir c:\"