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ntfsbill

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PC hangs after initial restart after XP installation

Hi all,
         new problem to me. Hope someone else has encountered this. Here's a history.
Repaired a PC. It was brought in after PS failed. Client said that PC made a high pitched whirring sound, than shut down, and would not restart. I immediately tested PS and replaced it. PC now posts, but no boot. I reinstall XP. Boot from CD, XP sets up and install fine. When XP installation tries it's first restart after initial install, it hangs. Timer counts back on screen, than freezes. I tried using enter and spacebar to restart. Nothing. But by hitting enter or space bar, it does stop the timer.
 So I try reset, PC posts, I see just the slightest bit of light on the screen, like a line or similiar, than black screen and hang.
I've swapped AGP cards. Tried PCI Vid cards. Swapped memory. Reset CMOS. Removed all unneccessary hardware. No luck.
I than swap Hard drive. I put in a HD with pre-installed XP. Proper post, but no boot. I put in another empty HD. Boot and install from XP cd, same results. PC hangs after initial restart.
 I than placed a HD in PC with a WinME OS pre-installed. PC booted to OS. But than hung.
I've tried WinXP Home and WinXP Pro installs, same results.
I've never encountered this before. If Mainboard or CPU were damaged from PS failure, I would think that I wouldn't have been able to boot and install from CD, Arghhh!! Hopefully I'm missing something!!

Any comments would be greatly welcomed!!

Thanks,
          bill
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ntfsbill

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BTW,
        it's an Asus TUV4X Mainboard and Celeron 700 CPU.
Thanks,
           bill
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simpswr
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Thanks,
            I'll check!!

bill
Avatar of dbrunton
Sounds like motherboard.  

Check the temperature of the power plug on the motherboard and see if there's any warmth there.  Like too much power getting pulled into motherboard.  Have struck this problem recently.  Also check the power plug socket on the motherboard and look for brown burn marks.
Those are not usual symptoms of bad caps, but not outside the realm of possibility either.  Expect to see either a failure to boot or random reboots/shutdowns.  If any caps are bulged or leaking might as well replace motherboard or have it recapped.

Have you tried another power supply?  That should be your next step if not already done.

My next suspect would be either memory or memory controller.  Download and run Memtest86+ to check memory and memory controller.

http://www.memtest.org/
I'll try another PS. Memory has already been swapped twice!!

Thanks,
           bill
Swapping memory does not affect memory controller though.  Still need to test if power supply doesn't fix the problem.
OK,
     will test!

Thanks,
            bill
As weird as it sounds I have come across this as well and it was the main board but both HDD added to the problem and untill we changed them together we got problems. Try the System board, as a main fault.

As a sidepoint - I was reminded by 1 of the experts on here about the paging file/ virtual memory and that would have the same effect if it was too small, as it stands you cannot get into Windows to change it but if you upgrade the memory as large as possible instead of just changing it then XP will have enough to use- if it was memory caused the fault may not be so much a fault as XP being greedy. (should explain loading but not running)
Freshcafe,
                so you saying that Win XP is using the incorrect paging file/virtual memory after the install?
Also, you stated that a similiar problem was caused by a faulty Mainboard?

Thanks,
           bill
       
OK,
     I found a swollen Capacitor that was actually defective on one side. Pins were still in Mobo, but 1 pin was pulled out from capacitor.
The Capacitor rating is 1500  6.3v  Can I replace it with a 2200 6.3v capacitor? All I have on hand right now!
Thanks,
           bill
Ouch . . I ani't geeky enough to advise on capacitor replacement, but others here may be
I forgot to add.....Swapped PSUs', same results. Ran Memtest, and everything checks out fine. Has got be the capacitor!

Thanks,
           bill
no dear u can not place 2200 6.3 in place of 1500 6.3v
That would do it? hope there is nothing else , which country are you in and was it 1500micro or nano farad - let me know - if you're close I'll check if I have it and send 1 1st class post - may be with you tomorrow.

MOBO - probably micro and you'd have to buy 1 from your local shop!
Glad you found it - well done.
Sorry , meant -- That would do it !
Good!  Consider replacing all caps or at least caps in power regulation circuit if any additional ones show any signs of swollen tops (not flat) or leakage through crimp.
Thanks to all for the help! It turns out it was a bad capacitor.
Thanks simpswr.

Regards,
            bill
I am seeing more an more of those these days . . good luck with the replacement
Thanks,
            bill