Darryl wrote:
I am having a very puzzling boot problem. This problem is occurring
on a homebuilt Windows Vista system, 2 months old, all new components.


How it failed: while I was moving files in Explorer. Suddenly froze.
Problem started upon reboot after that. The system had worked for 2
months (since purchase) just fine.

Reboot sequence: boot process proceeds normally, moves through the
Windows progress meter on the bottom (progress displays normally),
then moves to next screen where video change causes LCD monitor to
refresh. Everything halts, black screen.

Here's an interesting fact: when boot reaches this point, Cntrl-Alt-
Delete doesn't work. The power & reset buttons on the PC case do not
work. Both of them work fine up until this point. I have to cut
power at the back of the power supply, or at the power strip to turn
the computer off. The power button DOES work to turn it on.

Software diagnostics: it boots this SAME way with:

Local Widows vista install (full, safe mode, safe mode with command-
line)
Windows Vista install DVD
BartPE XP w / diagnostics disk (requires no HD to be present to load)
Kubuntu Linux install DVD (requiring no HD to be present to load)

Hardware diagnostics, all with no success:
sent PCI-express card back under warranty, received new one
Installed normal PCI video card
Replaced LCD monitor with 15" Optiquest monitor.
Tried digital video output - analog converter instead of analog video
output.
Memory is 2 gigs, removed each to see if it would load with just 1
gig, did several memory scans using DOS-based boot memory scans,
passed.
Unplugged all unnecessary HD, USB, & peripherals to lower power load.
Power supply is 600 watt.
Voltages in BIOS all look fine.

BIOS works fine, DOS programs (the memery check programs) work fine.
I can't think of anything else to test. I've run out of ideas, and
I'm hoping for other peoples insight on this.


A proper hardware diagnostic test program would be nice, but I presume
one of those would cost money. I've never owned a program like that
for the PC, but have used them for other platforms.

A poor man's substitute, is to boot a Linux CD and watch the text messages
as the hardware drivers are loaded at startup. If something is failing,
sometimes you can see Linux struggle with the same stuff. If Linux
freezes in the same way that Windows did, then you know you have a
definite hardware problem, and the problem is not restricted to
your Windows install or Windows drivers.

The distro I use for this is Knoppix, from Knopper.net . (I prefer Knoppix,
as Ubuntu doesn't print the useful info during the boot sequence.)
Knoppix is a 700MB download, and is in the form of an ISO. (For people
on dialup, that is virtually impossible to handle at dialup data rates.)
You'll need a CD burner that can handle a 700MB file. The first time I
prepared one, I actually had to buy another burner, as the ancient burner
I had wouldn't do it.

Knoppix doesn't need to install anything to work. It uses system RAM
for temporary file space. With your 2GB of memory, in fact you could
even use the option to load the CD into memory, which allows removing
the Knoppix CD from the drive. Such a configuration actually allows
operating a desktop computer, with no rotating media at all.

Paul