Question

Startup failures

Asked by: westone

Hi,
I have a Lenovo Vista Home Premium PC. It's about 2 years old. According to the user, about 2 months ago it began locking up during boot. I found that every time it is starting, when the progress/scroll bar is at the bottom of an otherwise black screen and Windows is starting, it just reboots. After about 3 or 4 attempts it will get to the desktop and runs okay. In Safe Mode it boots right to the desktop everytime.

First went into MSCONFIG and thing turned off everything on the Startup tab. However this did not make a difference. Then I loaded all available MS updates, including some non-high priority updates, including some video drivers for the NVIDIA GeForce 6100. This did not help. Then I downloaded a much newer driver for the video card from NVIDIA. After this the computer booted normally for over a dozen times in a row. I thought I had resolved the issue, when it crashed again during startup.

Next I ran a MemTest86+ test which has been running for 2.5 hours, is on it's second pass, and has generated 0 errors.

There are no entries in the App or Sys logs regarding the crashes. What should I do next?

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Asked On
2009-10-30 at 08:20:39ID24858322
Topics

Windows Vista

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

,

Microsoft Operating Systems

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
9

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Answers

 

by: vikshiPosted on 2009-10-30 at 10:36:58ID: 25705189

Run Check disk and  Defragment the disk

 

by: cmptch04Posted on 2009-10-30 at 13:31:09ID: 25706552

and then maybe try getting newer drivers for all devices

 

by: westonePosted on 2009-10-30 at 13:45:07ID: 25706658

Yeah, I ran a chkdsk /r and it did not resolve the issue. Will pursue the drivers on Monday. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2009-10-31 at 02:54:59ID: 25709042

i would test the basics, ram and disk
download ubcd, and run memtest for a couple of full passes, then the proprer disk diag to know it's status :
 http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/      

btw chkdsk is NOT a disk diag, it checks the file structure...

 

by: snazyPosted on 2009-10-31 at 15:57:14ID: 25711934

So the new video driver solved the problem for a while? Is the video card using shared memory?
I would be thinking the problem is the video card if updating the driver worked for some time. It boots in Safe Mode because the generic video driver is used.
I would advise that customer to backup their data and do a clean install. If it still crashes, then look into that video card if it could be changed.
If the video card is using shared memory, you obviously need to troubleshoot the memory also.

 

by: westonePosted on 2009-11-03 at 08:42:42ID: 25730789

Okay, the HDD is a Hitachi DeskStar. I downloaded the appropriate test utility. When the test is run, it test several items, then a test titled "Analyzing Mechanics" comes up it and it apparently freezes: There is no progress on the test status bar, and the computer HDD activity indicator stays solid green, no flashing like activity going on with the drive.

I've run the utility twice so far, both the quick test and the advanced test, and they both freeze at the same point, Analyzing Mechanics. Looks like a physical problem to me, what do you think?

 

by: nobusPosted on 2009-11-03 at 08:45:48ID: 25730835

yes, it looks that way - replace the drive

 

by: westonePosted on 2009-11-03 at 09:01:13ID: 31648058

Thanks!

 

by: nobusPosted on 2009-11-03 at 09:31:17ID: 25731338

you're welcome !

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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