• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

HELP: Windows won't boot

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
WeaponX6X

WeaponX6X

Member
​
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Location
UT
I bought an AX-500A PSU and another OCZ 512 MB PC4200 stick of RAM yesterday. After installing them, the computer boot to windows once and then crashed before fully loading startup programs. Now the computer will post and say "Now booting from operating system" and then I'm sitting at a black screen. I've taken the new stick of RAM out, swapped in the old PSU, unplugged all but one HD. I'm not sure what else to try. The only thing I can think of is the video card. It's a brand new XFX 6600GT. Help me please...what should I do to fix my brand new computer?

Edit: I have flashed to CMOS...nothing changed. I can't boot in safe mode or from CD. I don't get a chance to press F8 to see the boot menu.
 
Last edited:
WeaponX6X said:
I bought an AX-500A PSU and another OCZ 512 MB PC4200 stick of RAM yesterday. After installing them, the computer boot to windows once and then crashed before fully loading startup programs. Now the computer will post and say "Now booting from operating system" and then I'm sitting at a black screen. I've taken the new stick of RAM out, swapped in the old PSU, unplugged all but one HD. I'm not sure what else to try. The only thing I can think of is the video card. It's a brand new XFX 6600GT. Help me please...what should I do to fix my brand new computer?
Click to expand...

Boot into safe mode or get ur winxp CD and boot into the recovery consol. Most likely your video card isn't installed right so uninstall it in safe mode, then reinstall it when you boot into windows. If safe mode won't boot then run the recovery consol and do a chkdsk /r on ur HD to check for errors. That should fix things enough to get into safe mode.
 
orion456 said:
Boot into safe mode or get ur winxp CD and boot into the recovery consol. Most likely your video card isn't installed right so uninstall it in safe mode, then reinstall it when you boot into windows. If safe mode won't boot then run the recovery consol and do a chkdsk /r on ur HD to check for errors. That should fix things enough to get into safe mode.
Click to expand...

How could the video card be installed incorrectly if I had been using the computer for roughly a month mostly running video intensive programs(aka games)? I'll try what you suggested but I don't get it :eh?:
 
I can't get to safe mode because the option to boot in safe mode never comes up. I put in the WindowsXP CD and selected Boot from CD-Rom Drive from the boot menu. It says press any key to boot from cd...I press any key...and nothing happens. I'm sitting a black screen. Any other ideas? I'm resetting the CMOS right now im hopes that maybe it'll fix something. I don't know. Help me please :(
 
NsOmNiA91130 said:
You have to press F8 when XP is loading
Click to expand...

I'm not a complete n00b thank you :) I never get the chance to press F8 the computer fails to get that far in the booting sequence.
 
WeaponX6X said:
How could the video card be installed incorrectly if I had been using the computer for roughly a month mostly running video intensive programs(aka games)? I'll try what you suggested but I don't get it :eh?:
Click to expand...

When you boot to the windows CD it just hangs there.....do you have a special hard drive that needs its own driver(SATA, RAID)? If so you have to press f6 and have the driver ready to install from floppy or windows will just hang on a blank screen.

"How can the video card be installed incorrectly?" The video card software drivers can get corrupted or deleted and that leads to problems booting.

If you still can't boot from a windows CD then I would try going to the bios and turning off caching, changing any memory setting to as slow as possible, reducing the cpu speed and turning off any performance enhancements you have. If your mobo has built in video, remove the video card and enable the mobo video or borrow a video card. If you have two sticks of memory, remove one. Remove all the devices you don't need like floppy, extra hard drives and plug in boards as well as unplugging extra fans.
 
I have no SATA drives, no RAID drives. I will try disconnecting everything except for one hd. About turning off things in the BIOS...what would caching be under? There is no built in video, I'm going to attempt to borrow a friends for a day to see if that's the problem. I'm not sure what other performance enhancements I should be looking for.
 
There is a possibility that your CD isn't being correctly read on bootup. Check your cables and orientation(jumpers), and make sure that the CD is clean.
 
I'm pretty sure my CD is being read correctly. This just doesn't make sense. Help please :(
 
Do you have a linux livecd to test with? That would eliminate a Windows only issue. Then narrow it down to hardware related. Just a thought on it.
 
No I don't but I suppose I could get the Linux that runs off of CD? Would that do the trick?
 
That is what a LiveCd is. It fires up off the CD. It can help eliminate other than windows and harddrive issues. If it still don't fire up(livecd) you have narrowed down most of your issue to were it is failing. Since it don't use your hard drive.
I always have a livecd around for things just like this. The computer fires up but stalls at the load of windows or trying to boot off a windows cd. Plus it will show were it is going wrong if it detects issues for hardware I think. It will at least give some clue to were your issue is.
I had a live cd that wouldn't boot right. It was due to an older knoppix and the nForce3/64bit. I soon found out after it started its dectection process. I then got Unbuntu. I use older knoppix for non 64 bit pc's that have issues booting. Very usful tool for trouble shooting.
 
Last edited:
Good one Kendan.
Knoppix is a great pick. Good hardware detection. Easy to use, and has some really fun games to "test" your video card out on... or just to have some fun.
 
I downloaded Ubuntu I will dl Knoppix as well. How should I go about diagnosing the source of error?

Edit: After booting the normal live method using Ubuntu...I come to a screen that consists of blue vertical lines. After a few seconds there are also yellow vertical lines. After a few more seconds there are also rainbow colored lines towards the bottom 1/4 the of the screen. I thought to myself that maybe I picked the wrong resolution or something but after trying several the same problem persists. What's going on? Does this sound like my video card is the problem?
 
Last edited:
I downloaded Knoppix and booted from it. I am able to go online as I am doing so to write this post. However I did notice that Knoppix did not recognize my video card when it was booting. This only confuses me more. What shall I do wihin in Knoppix to figure out the problem? Should i try installing a hard drive based Linux and then boot from that.
 
If the video card was not detected, but you are using it right now, then most likely Knoppix was unsure of what video card it was so it loaded a standard driver.
 
yeah I was thinking that but wasn't sure. What should I do to figure out the problem?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
Really need help - cannot boot from USB to reinstall windows + more
Replies
9
Views
412
magellan
magellan
c627627
What is the LONGEST you can disable downloading Windows 10/11 updates and how?
Replies
12
Views
693
Janus67
Janus67
pinky33
add secondary boot drive to dell Latitude E7470
Replies
1
Views
635
pinky33
pinky33
M
Sabertooth 990FX Help
2
Replies
28
Views
1K
MisterEd
MisterEd
S
Gigabyte MB , CPU fan won't turn off
Replies
3
Views
446
EarthDog
EarthDog
Back