Intermittant Booting

Hello--

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in the last
couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn the PC on, it
returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid system disk. Replace the
disk, and then press any key". Sometimes it boots up after pressing any key
and sometimes it doesn't boot up even when I turn the PC off and try again.
The frustrating part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I formatted and
fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It seemed to work for a
couple of days but now it is giving the error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard drive
failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there a way to test
those items to see what needs replacing?

Thanks!
Paul

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 14:23:39 GMT Knowing the password "Paul"
wrote :

Hello--

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in the last
couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn the PC on, it
returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid system disk. Replace the
disk, and then press any key". Sometimes it boots up after pressing any key
and sometimes it doesn't boot up even when I turn the PC off and try again.
The frustrating part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I formatted and
fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It seemed to work for a
couple of days but now it is giving the error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard drive
failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there a way to test
those items to see what needs replacing?

Thanks!
Paul


Go here,
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
Although made for Maxtor drives it will diagnose other makes.Check the
drive at low level.
it's a freebie :P



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

Give the disk more time to become ready by making the BIOS run longer. Disable "quick boot", enable memory test, POST, etc.

Paul wrote:

Hello--

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in the last
couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn the PC on, it
returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid system disk. Replace the
disk, and then press any key". Sometimes it boots up after pressing any key
and sometimes it doesn't boot up even when I turn the PC off and try again.
The frustrating part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I formatted and
fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It seemed to work for a
couple of days but now it is giving the error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard drive
failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there a way to test
those items to see what needs replacing?

Thanks!
Paul

--
Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

Paul wrote:

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in
the last couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn
the PC on, it returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid
system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key". Sometimes
it boots up after pressing any key and sometimes it doesn't boot
up even when I turn the PC off and try again. The frustrating
part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I
formatted and fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It
seemed to work for a couple of days but now it is giving the
error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard
drive failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there
a way to test those items to see what needs replacing?

Get a replacement HD and a copy of xxcopy (from xxcopy.com,
free). Mount the replacement drive, partition it etc. and clone
your present drive onto it. Works very well with W98. Your
existing drive is probably close to death, so just hope you can do
the above on time.

--
Chuck F ) )
Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
http://cbfalconer.home.att.net USE worldnet address!

"CBFalconer" wrote in message
...
Paul wrote:

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in
the last couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn
the PC on, it returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid
system disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key". Sometimes
it boots up after pressing any key and sometimes it doesn't boot
up even when I turn the PC off and try again. The frustrating
part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I
formatted and fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It
seemed to work for a couple of days but now it is giving the
error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard
drive failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there
a way to test those items to see what needs replacing?

Get a replacement HD and a copy of xxcopy (from xxcopy.com,
free). Mount the replacement drive, partition it etc. and clone
your present drive onto it. Works very well with W98. Your
existing drive is probably close to death, so just hope you can do
the above on time.

--
Chuck F ) )
Available for consulting/temporary embedded and systems.
http://cbfalconer.home.att.net USE worldnet address!


Agree with the above: your disk is probably close to it's end of life. But
don't clone it, as this could also clone temporary errors. Because you just
did a new install, I suppose there will not be large amounts of fresh data
on it and you'd better again proceed with a clean install.

Yours is a classic symptom of failing hardware; probably the
drive. But basic repair principles were violated. You tried
to fix something without first collecting facts. For example,
Shep© demonstrates exactly what should have been done next -
which is collect facts.

No reason to use the Xcopy solution. You trashed all data -
doing something that most definitely would not fix the
problem. And still you don't know what is reasons for
failure. Did you try booting from a floppy diskette? Is power
supply failing? Then you need a 3.5 digit multimeter. Only
the ill informed would then buy more power supplies and start
swapping. Is it a failing IDE port on motherboard? Do you
have a failing memory location? If you fix things by first
replacing things, then try to guess the problem, well then,
buy a whole new computer to use as spare parts. Learning why
a problem exists first saves time and money.

Paul wrote:
I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in
the last couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn
the PC on, it returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid system
disk. Replace the disk, and then press any key". Sometimes it
boots up after pressing any key and sometimes it doesn't boot up
even when I turn the PC off and try again. The frustrating part is
that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I
formatted and fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It
seemed to work for a couple of days but now it is giving the error
again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard
drive failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there a
way to test those items to see what needs replacing?

Thanks for the advice. I performed an analysis and the hard drive came out
fine. I'll wait until it acts up and then run the tool. It is only 4
months old so it shouldn't be going bad yet!

Paul

"Shep©" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 14:23:39 GMT Knowing the password "Paul"
wrote :

Hello--

I have a Windows 98 PC that has started having trouble booting in the
last
couple of weeks. Probably about half of the time I turn the PC on, it
returns a boot failure error and says "Invalid system disk. Replace the
disk, and then press any key". Sometimes it boots up after pressing any
key
and sometimes it doesn't boot up even when I turn the PC off and try
again.
The frustrating part is that it is intermittant.

My first hypothesis was that there was a corrupt OS file so I formatted
and
fdisked the hard drive and reinstalled Win 98. It seemed to work for a
couple of days but now it is giving the error again.

Any ideas what might be causing the problem? Could it be a hard drive
failure or hard drive controller failure? If so, is there a way to test
those items to see what needs replacing?

Thanks!
Paul


Go here,
http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm
Although made for Maxtor drives it will diagnose other makes.Check the
drive at low level.
it's a freebie :P



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
email shepATpartyheld.de
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

Don't stop. Plenty of simple options to identify problem
before it gets worse - when it becomes a serious problem.
Find problem now and fix it at your leisure. For example, 30
seconds to verify PSU voltages on motherboard connector. A
procedure that not only locates reasons for failure, but
empowers the computer user. Knowledge that makes a smarter
computer user. Chart for those volt readings in a previous
discussion: http://www.tinyurl.com\2musa

Run a memory diagnostic. Defective (intermittent) memory
will often pass diagnostics until operating in normal but high
temperatures. Memory diagnostics provided, free, by your
computer manufacturer; or using 3rd party programs such as
DocMem or Memtst86. Heat memory with hairdryer on high - a
normal semiconductor temperature. Properly operating
semiconductors work just fine at these temperatures.

Hairdryer can heat chips that interface to (are typically
adjacent to) the IDE port connector. If these chips are OK,
then that disk drive diagnostic will also find no problems at
'hairdryer' temperatures.

These tests are performed rather quickly and should locate
the intermittent if intermittent was due to any of those
hardware problems. Takes little time to avoid major problems
later.

Typical reason for strange (intermittent) problems in a
system are marginal voltages which is why the multimeter
reading is the first data collected. Find the problem early.
Get new parts, if necessary, without rushing.

Paul wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I performed an analysis and the hard drive
came out fine. I'll wait until it acts up and then run the tool.
It is only 4 months old so it shouldn't be going bad yet!

Hi,

It very well could be, I had similar problems and it turned out to be
the power supply. I think it was the fan in the power supply, it
happened about a year ago. If it starts up again, try changing the power
supply and see if it keeps happening. If you can't, don't want to change
the power supply, CompUSA or some other computer store has devices that
check power supplies. The one my father saw was around 20 US dollars.

Hope this helps,
Dan


w_tom wrote:
Is power supply failing?

Please tell me what that CompUSA tester does to test a power
supply? A question one can answer before recommending a
tester. Because it is called a tester and is sold in CompUSA
- that means it is effective?

Does it get hot enough to load power supply? That would be
300 or 400 watts of electricity. Does it radiate 300 or 400
watts - get that hot - to test the power supply? If not, then
how can it accurately test a supply? At best, that power
supply tester can only test power supply with no load. Simple
Go-Nogo voltage test. And many failing power supplies (with
excessive ripple voltage) will easily pass that test. This is
the concept. If that CompUSA power supply tester is worth the
extravagent $20, then the recommendation should also say why -
also says what the tester does. No background knowledge is
why so many also bought a famous East River Bridge.

Spend $20 for a CompUSA tester AND create more potential
problems by removing and replacing supply into computer. Or
spend less time, not do all that removing and replacing, buy a
$20 multimeter that has many other purposes, and detect a
power supply failure that the CompUSA tester could not. How
many minutes to remove and replace a supply for a Go-Nogo
tester verses a real world (power supply under load)
multimeter test that is accomplished in seconds.

Flake wrote:
It very well could be, I had similar problems and it turned out
to be the power supply. I think it was the fan in the power supply,
it happened about a year ago. If it starts up again, try changing
the power supply and see if it keeps happening. If you can't,
don't want to change the power supply, CompUSA or some other
computer store has devices that check power supplies. The one my
father saw was around 20 US dollars.