*HELP* system won't boot

hello (bare with me this might get long and confusion)

i leave my system on 24/7 and never have a problem until today when i got home from work (the computer was obviosly in standby mode) so i hit a key on the keyboard (the down arrow witch i have done before without a problem) but this time nothing happened the computer never ummm woke up for lack of a better term....so i shut the computer off by holding the power button...i then start it back up and it starts the booting procces it pulls up the bios screen and then goes to the xp pro (black screen with the little status bar that scrolls across the bottom) then here is were it gets screwy...when that screen goes away it goes to a black screen and stays there for about 10 or so seconds and then a blew screen flashes up real fast (like 1 second if that long) and i think it says something about a system memory dump (atleast i think thats what it says it flashes so freaking fast) and then it roboots by itself....and its an endless cycle

the computer will boot up in safe mode thu so idk whats up with that

i've also took my ram out and tryed 1 stick at a time and that didn't do anything....also twice when the system did its auto-reboot it freaking shut off and would not start back up (witch leads me to think it might be power supply related)

also i a month ago i upgraded my MB,cpu,and video card but i did not reformat my HD...so i tryed that today and it worked fine till i went to restart after downloading sp2 and my ati drivers....soon as i restarted it did it all over again....so i'm back to square one....

i'd appriciate all the help and advice i could get...i'm at work right now but if there is questions you all might have feel free to ask and i'll answer the best i can

thanks

I assume you're running at stock speeds when this happens? If not, try that, or even underclock the system to see if it boots. If that doesn't work, some of your OS files may be corrupt. You could try a repair installation of Windows. If that doesn't help, you may need to reformat.

this is the board i have MSI K8N Neo4-F (only had it a month or so). i'm currently running at stock proccesr speed (cpu being a amd 64 3000+ 939 socket) i'll go in the bios and make sure everything is set to stock if i'm mistaken....but other then that i did reformat thismorning and after installing windows and downloading sp1 i rebooted with no problem...but after downloading sp2 and installing my ati graphics drivers and my MSI drivers i then went and did a reboot but it would not work (it started doing the same thing as i stated in the first paragraph of my post above) so idk its got me...thanks for the advice

Try installing all drivers (video, motherboard ect) and the programs that you will use on a daily useage then install all service packs and see what happens then. My k62 550 would not install xp till I did that first(upgrade from 98).

Just an idea.

There's some type of hardware problem that's causing corruption of your OS. Once that corruption happens, you won't be able to boot into Windows no matter what hardware changes you make. So, unfortunately I think the only way you'll be able to diagnose this problem is with a fresh, non-corrupted install of Windows. My recommendation: get a disk imaging program like Acronis True Image and make an image of your HDD right after a fresh install of Windows (don't even worry about SP2--drivers, etc.). This way you can just restore the image from a recovery disk when Windows corrupts. You'll need to put this image on a separate drive or partition from your OS.

hmmm my head hurts from trying to get my head around your recommendation (that stuff is un chartered territory for me) but what i am gathering is that reformate then get that program and make and image...so that when the OC screws up i just slap this disk in and boot from it? not to sound like an *** but it sounds like thats addressing the semtom and not the problem (i totally don't mean to be a *** i'm just having a problem undertanding you is all)

i appriciate the advise thanks

After thinking about this some more, it sounds very likely to me that the video card is the culprit. You stated that your system was working fine until you installed the video drivers and restarted. Do you have another video card you could throw in there for testing purposes?

DMac22 said:

hmmm my head hurts from trying to get my head around your recommendation (that stuff is un chartered territory for me) but what i am gathering is that reformate then get that program and make and image...so that when the OC screws up i just slap this disk in and boot from it? not to sound like an *** but it sounds like thats addressing the semtom and not the problem (i totally don't mean to be a *** i'm just having a problem undertanding you is all)

i appriciate the advise thanks

Click to expand...

The imaging suggestion is just to prevent you from having to go through the process of reformatting and reinstalling the OS every time Windows gets messed up. Yes, it is just addressing the symptom and not the problem, but what I'm saying is that it may be tough to diagnose the problem if your OS keeps dying on every reboot. I would suggest trying a different video card. If that doesn't work, try running 1 stick of RAM at a time during a Windows installation (I know you tried this, but it was after the OS got screwed up, right?).

I had a similar problem with my X600XT card. Had to go in safe mode, deinstall all ATI software. Reboot, and install an older version (the one that followed with the card).
But the latest Omega and ATI drivers works without a hassle for me.
You could try that to see if it helps, by the way, turn off autoreboot on errors in windows. That way you will be able to see the dumpscreen.

//Christian

oh i gotcha....and no unfortunatly this mb don't have any agp slots not to mention just last week i turned my old parts into a new pc for my brother....anyhoo i'll try the 1 stick of ram next time(your right about my trying the 1 stickthing after the oc messing up) thanks

Sshadow said:

I had a similar problem with my X600XT card. Had to go in safe mode, deinstall all ATI software. Reboot, and install an older version (the one that followed with the card).
But the latest Omega and ATI drivers works without a hassle for me.
You could try that to see if it helps, by the way, turn off autoreboot on errors in windows. That way you will be able to see the dumpscreen.

//Christian

Click to expand...

lol thanks yeah i was getting ****ed that i couldn't read what that blue screen said i'll be sure to do that

well its defently the ati video card drivers...i reformated again and as soon as i installed the ati drives (on the disk that came with the card) and tryed to reboot it once again started the same crap it was doing...so i guess i'll be looking on google for a fix...anyone have any sudgestions...thanks

DMac22 said:

well its defently the ati video card drivers...i reformated again and as soon as i installed the ati drives (on the disk that came with the card) and tryed to reboot it once again started the same crap it was doing...so i guess i'll be looking on google for a fix...anyone have any sudgestions...thanks

Click to expand...

This is what bothers me: the card was working fine for quite some time, and then out of the blue one day your computer gets screwed up. Now a fresh install of Windows won't run with the original video card drivers. This sounds like a hardware problem to me. The driver can't do its job if the hardware isn't functioning properly. You should try downloading the latest drivers to see if they help, but I have a strong suspicion that they won't work either. Is the card under warranty?

well it looks like i'm screwed on warranty cause i didn't buy a extended one and the 7th was my 30 day mark (got the stuff from newegg) so i'm going to try the latest drivers from ati's site and if that don't work it looks like i'm screwed....thanks for your help anyways now i'll site here and watch my blood pressure rise...later

DMac22 said:

well it looks like i'm screwed on warranty cause i didn't buy a extended one and the 7th was my 30 day mark (got the stuff from newegg) so i'm going to try the latest drivers from ati's site and if that don't work it looks like i'm screwed....thanks for your help anyways now i'll site here and watch my blood pressure rise...later

Click to expand...

Did you have your video card overclocked at the time the system failure occurred? It seems odd that it would just stop working, especially if the computer was just idling. What kind of power supply do you have (make, model)?

no i don't even know how to overclock my video card (i've been told how but have never messed with it) and about the power supply heres something weird...i think i stated above but i might not have...anyhoo twice the computer just shut off (when it did the auto reboot) and when i hit the power button it would not turn back on...so the first time i waited a couple minutes and it worked and turned back on...but about an hour later it shut off again and i said f it (i had to go to work) when i got home it still would not come on...so i did something i will regret...i went to curcit city and bought the only decent one they had witch is in my sig...so far no shutdown problems

edit: i was running a coolmax 400 watt model number AP-450x (CX-400B)
the ANTEC is model number SP-400

well crap i just downloaded the 5.7 drivers from the ati site and reboot without any problem (the cd that came with the card has the 5.5 drivers) so hmmmm i don't feel i fixed the problem but theres nothing left for me to do till it starts acting up again....now if i could only get my logitech wireless keyboard to work i'd be all set...thanks for the advice