"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:587cb3d8k9sau8aojclu22ui2lsr9s354j@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 13:55:59 GMT, "Dan"
> <someone@sonewhere.com> wrote:
>
>
>>>> I've got a problem with an XP box that has me stumped.
>>>>
>>>> The PC was set-up for a friend and was working fine, however it was
>>>> then
>>>> taken to a PC shop to have a network card installed and now the machine
>>>> refuses to boot.
>
> Network cards are pretty easy, IMO the risk of a shop doing
> *something* wrong outweighs the perceived benefit of having
> them install a nic. The problem is that there is a great
> variability in the quality and competence of different shop
> techs, you probably wouldn't get a senior tech allocated to
> installing network cards.
>
> You might now inspect the system to be sure no cards,
> cables, connectors, etc are disturbed.
>

I've now pulled everything out of the system and reconnected only the basics
(and gone into the BIOS to ensure the settings reflect the hardware that's
connected) so I'm confident that everything is connected OK.

>>>>
>>>> It completes the POST no problems and then begins to load windows and
>>>> freezes on the splash screen. I've tried booting in safe mode and the
>>>> PC
>>>> either freezes when it finishes listing the files on the DOS screen, or
>>>> I
>>>> get a black screen with 'safe mode' in each corner and the build number
>>>> at the top of the screen and then the machine freezes.
>
> Test the memory for a few hours (memtest86+).
> Try booting it to the last known good configuration (menu
> option): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852
>
>
>>>> I have removed all cards, replaced the RAM, IDE cables and tried
>>>> another
>>>> hard disk with Windows 2000 installed,
>
> What exactly does this mean? The Win2k OS was installed on
> the drive while the drive was in that system or another?
> You can't just move a drive from one system to another and
> expect it to finish booting when it's WinNT (incl. 2K or
> XP), as hardware differences between the different systems
> often matter.
>

I haven't tried testing the RAM but it has come out of a known good system,
and again if I try to boot to the last known good configuration the system
freezes on the splash screen.

Yeah, I thought the Windows 2000 idea was a bit of a long shot but was at
least hoping for some error messages or something to show that the machine
hadn't frozen, but alas nothing!

>>>>but the machine still boots to the
>>>> same point and then freezes. I've also tried booting from a bootable CD
>>>> and the machine either freezes part way through loading the CD-ROM
>>>> drivers or gets me through to the DOS prompt. However when I 'cd' C:\ I
>>>> get an 'invalid drive specification' error.
>
> Run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostics, available
> from their respective website.
>
>

I've had a crack at running Seagate's tools on the drive in question but it
begins to scan and then the system freezes, so I've formatted another HDD in
my system and installed that one in the PC in question but I'm still having
problems. I did try to install Windows 2000 from scratch on the formatted
drive (in the PC I'm having problems with) but again it begins setup and
then freezes up.

>
>>>>
>>>> So my question is, do you guys have any ideas what could be wrong as
>>>> I'm
>>>> stumped?
>>>>
>>>> Many Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Dan
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Thanks but I've already tried that to no avail, the machine still locks up
>>at the same point (I've even tried leaving it for a good 45-60 minutes to
>>see if it would eventually boot into Windows but no such luck!)
>>
>
> Leave the network card out for the time being. You didn't
> tell us much at all about the hardware, which is fairly
> important if you want a (hardware) newsgroup to
> troubleshoot. If you want troubleshooting a WinXP boot
> problem then a WinXP oriented newsgroup might have more
> experience.
>
> A couple more things to try include clearing cmos, and
> trying a fresh WinXP installation. When you were changing
> the hard drives are you certain you had/have them jumpered
> correctly?

Tbh I totally forgot about including details of the hardware;

Microstar MS6378 (Version 3) Motherboard
Athlon XP 1800+ Processor
256Mb RAM
Seagate U Series 7 ST340012A 40Gb HDD
Onboard Graphics

The fact that the machine is freezing between POSTing and loading the OS
makes me think that this is a hardware issue as the problems seem to be
occuring independant of the operating system, but the only common links I
have left are the motherboard, or the power supply.

I've also tried clearing the CMOS but again no luck and the HDD is
definatley jumpered correctly.

Thanks for bearing with me on this one :-)

Dan