All of a sudden one of my Pc's with Windows 98 won't boot. I've tried just about everything.
I've gone to the BIOS and have indicated floppy or CD as first boot drive, but I get same negative response;
the computer reads the RAM count (128Kb) - then notifies all loaded drives - 2,5 Gb HD drive on primary master - 2 Gb drive on secondary master - CD Rom drive on primary slave - CD-RW Burner on secondary slave, and then the computer just hangs there .... The funny thing is that I have no way of getting into the machine (not even with floppy boot).
Can anyone help me ??
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If the computer is hanging at the drive information point and not booting to OS, It means a hardware failure is preventing
OS to load. May be an Internal card or drives itself.
Memory cud be culprit too. Try replacing the RAM sticks if more than one and try with single stick.
Also, Try replacinfg them altogether.
Get a hardware check with the tech expert at a shop.
All the Best
Alex
I agree with AlexJ that it may be a hardware failure. If replacing memory does not do the trick and If you are the type of person to open up your PC and there are no warranty issues, I would disconnect the hard drives and cdrom and set BIOS accordingly. Leaving the floppy drive there, I would then try to boot from the floppy. If that succeeds I would connect one hard drive at a time and see if I could boot up.
Make sure you ram, cpu, & all cards & seated properly. Make sure all ide & pwr cables are connected properly. Make sure all fans are working & the cpu isn't overheating.
Boot into safe mode (F5 while booting before starting windows msg)
start - run - msconfig
Check what is starting up that might be hanging the system. You can unchk 3-5 items at a time, save settings, & reboot. If it comes up in normal mode ok then one of those is the culprit - if not check them again & unchk 3-5 more & repeat process.
BTW on the win & sytem tabs only need to check for things starting up in the following locations.
- Win.ini (windows section load = or run = stmts)
- System.ini (boot section)
I've done what both AlexJ and proziath have suggested. Unfortunately, I think I must have some sort of hardware failure. Could be the motherboard itself not functioning properly. I'm not getting any response at all . What I'll try to do is save all the components (HD drive - Ram - Cards etc...) and install them in another spare PC. Thanks to everyone for your help.
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by: lidskyPosted on 2003-09-15 at 08:10:40ID: 9363560
>the computer reads the RAM count (128Kb)
I hope that's a typo and that you meant 128MB