PC shutsdown prior to XP Load screen

[Dirkley Mandico]

Hi Everyone, hope you can help. I've got a Compaq Presario S3000NX Desktop w/the following spec's:

AMD2000+ 1.67HGz
256MB DDR SDRAM
40Gig HD

The PC posts normally, no beep codes, however once the Windows load screen appears, the PC freezes. After restarting, I attempt to run Safe Mode, and had the same result. At first, I figured it was the Windows OS that was having issues, however if I boot the pc and open the bios, the PC runs wihtout a problem and never locks up.

Is this problem more hard drive related?

Thanks for the help!
Bryan

[dcc]

Does this mean that you have no trouble after you boot from the BIOS or you have no trouble while you're in the BIOS?

Just curious here, is your date and time accurate? If not you need to replace the CMOS battery.

[Dirkley Mandico]

Sorry for the confusion. I have not trouble while I'm in the BIOS. And I verified that the Date and Time are accurate.

Also, when I try to use the Windows XP Install disc, it locks up while loading the drivers.

[Krispy84]

2 things i can think of...
#1 Check you're bios to see if it's recognizing the correct amount of ram. Then crack open your case and unseat/re-seat your ram. Do not do this if you have warranty issues telling you not to. Just take advantage of your warranty.

#2 While you're in your machine, check your capacitors. At my work we've run into similar issues several times where we had "swollen" capacitors. These are going to be the round cylinders sticking out of your mother board. You should be able to notice this issue fairly quickly b/c the cap on top is not going to be flush with the sides. For lack of a better description, it's going to look "swollen" If this is the case, talk to your motherboard manufacturer and see if they have some type of warranty with your board or if they'll send you out a replacement. If this isn't the case, buy yourself a new, equivalent motherboard. If you are feeling EXTREMELY experimental, go to radio shack and get an equivalent capacitor and try to replace it with your soldiering iron. I've only ever tried this once though and it was after i bought a new motherboard anyway and i didn't get it to work.

[Dirkley Mandico]

2 things i can think of...
#1 Check you're bios to see if it's recognizing the correct amount of ram. Then crack open your case and unseat/re-seat your ram. Do not do this if you have warranty issues telling you not to. Just take advantage of your warranty.

#2 While you're in your machine, check your capacitors. At my work we've run into similar issues several times where we had "swollen" capacitors. These are going to be the round cylinders sticking out of your mother board. You should be able to notice this issue fairly quickly b/c the cap on top is not going to be flush with the sides. For lack of a better description, it's going to look "swollen" If this is the case, talk to your motherboard manufacturer and see if they have some type of warranty with your board or if they'll send you out a replacement. If this isn't the case, buy yourself a new, equivalent motherboard. If you are feeling EXTREMELY experimental, go to radio shack and get an equivalent capacitor and try to replace it with your soldiering iron. I've only ever tried this once though and it was after i bought a new motherboard anyway and i didn't get it to work.

Ok, warranty with this PC is expired. I've reseated the RAM already and still have the same problems. All Capacitors look normal and are not "swollen".

It's starting to look like I may need to swap out the MB :sad:

[MidiMagic]

I'd say a necessary Windows file is missing from the hard drive.

It might be the residue from malware.

[dcc]

Does the computer get to where you see the desktop before it freezes?

[Dirkley Mandico]

No it never shows the Windows XP Loading Screen. Actaully, I've seen it twice. As soon as it appears, the PC locks up.

[Dirkley Mandico]

Ok, at this point, I'm looking to replace the Motherboard. Could someone give me a hand finding a replacement? The PC model is Presario S3000NX. From what HP support says, it has a Salsa GLA Motherboard. Thanks again for all the help

[stone_cold]

Hello!

This has happened to me once, after installing a software i download from soft32 (i guess) an application for windows interface improval. But everything happened i installed that application. I tried running windows in safe mode and everything looked to same. Windows Kept on restarting.

The reason i have for this is, windows system files are corrupt.

The only solution i came up with in the end is to reinstall windows.

You can try creating a partition to save some of your documents. If your computer comes with a recovery console, then use tat feature.

Hope this works.

Stone_Cold

[dcc]

One of the things that could cause this would be your RAM. Try downloading memtest86, you will need to make a CD to boot from, run it over night or for at least several hours for the best results.

When you used the XP installation disc did you format the hdd prior to that? With a failed installation you probably would be better off wiping the hdd with something like WipeDrive and then use the install disc to format, partition, and install XP.

If you still have a problem installing the OS you might want to find out what the manufacturer of you hdd is and download their diagnostic tool. You will need to make a disc from the download and boot from that.