Page 1 of PC Constantly Crashes upon Start Up..Help Please?

I have a P4, 1800mhz, 768 MB Ram (with cacheman running to manage the extra 256MB), Win ME (i know, i know) PC which is almost 2 years old now. For the last 2 months (long after installing the extra RAM) i`ve had a lot of trouble with the PC hanging/crashing upon start up.

Usually on the black screen with white text that gives PC info and then once i`ve performed the `ctrl,alt,del` combination to re-boot it gain hangs on the completely black screen without the flashing white cursor in top left corner, the one before the desktop comes up, from which i then need to perform the 10 second power in button trick to restart and go into safe mode, run scan disk fix the errors and again restart.

I then get a `Safe mode Quality` looking desktop (but not actually safe mode) with a message about my Display Driver not working properly...believe me i`ve removed it over and over again and re-installed this driver afresh from every possible source going. The PC works fine for one or two shut downs and then does the whole sequence over again.

It`s very frustrating and the only answer at the moment seems to be to leave the PC on 24/7, inevitably a restart is required and the sequence begins again, sometimes it can take 15 mins of toil and stress just to get the PC up and running properly as the problem might replicate the sequence over and over again. I`ve checked System Properties and Device Manager but it seems that everything is ok in there (no exclamation marks etc). I always keep a tidy and well maintained PC, regular defrags, full scan disks etc.

Any tips or advice would be fully welcomed no matter how trivial they may seem.

Thanks in advance.

M.

Fat Bob

Not being an expert I can only guess at the problem so here goes for what it is worth :)

Only things I can think of are either your motherboard CMOS battery is on the way out or more likely your video card needs removing and refitting.

Regarding the video card. If it is a PCI video card try it in another free slot or if no slots available switch it with your modem say. If it is an AGP video card then remove and refit and if the AGP slot has a locking mechanism at the right hand side of the slot make sure it is engaged.
Try buying a new battery for your CMOS, 3v CR2025 or such. You will have to change your BIOS settings if you change the battery as the battery powers the CMOS Ram/ motherboard configuration so removing the battery will reset the CMOS to factory defaults.
The fact that you are eventually reaching Safe Mode might mean it is the video card but as before I am only guessing.

HTH

Choagy :)

I had a similar problem when I put extra memory in when running windows ME with system hanging and crashing. I emailed Crucial and here is what I was was asked to try.

"It may also be a windows problem so here is something else to check
If you come across this issue and you are using Windows 95, 98 or ME, the problem could be related to one of several things. The first thing to do is boot the computer in Safe Mode (press the F8 key repeatedly after the memory count). If booting in Safe Mode works you should try editing your Vcache settings and your Virtual Memory. The Vcache will need to be changed, to limit the amount of memory that Windows caches. The MinFileCache should be set to 51200 and the MaxFileCache to 56320. This is done by editing the system.ini file.
Here is how to do this, from the Windows Desktop:


Click on Start → Run → type notepad c:windowssystem.ini → click OK
Locate a line in this file that reads [vcache]
Insert 2 new lines after this reading the following:
MinFileCache=51200
MaxFileCache=56320
Also insert the following line in the [386Enh] section:
MinSPs=16
Save the changes and reboot the system"

Once I had changed the cache settings my system remained stable.

It is also in microsoft knowledge base at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;253912

Thanks Choagy and Gavin57 I`ll give these a try tomorrow evening and let you know :)

M.

when you do get it to start run MSconfig and see whats happening at the startup to cause it.

Sorry for delay in replying but damn social life keeps getting in the way...nights out don`t happen for weeks and then just like the bus several come along at once!

I`ve tried all of the above now except for the CMOS battery. Still got the same problem though...I tried a diagnostic start up from system configuration utility in msconfig and got the following error message:

"There is a problem with a system file. Windows might not be able to run correctly. You mght be able to fix the problem by running system restore. If this does not fix the problem try re-installing windows ( 8) cool!!!).

VxD dynamic link call : VSDATA95(01) + 000236F0 to "0028" , service 800A

To continue running windows choose Yes. Be aware your PC might become unstable >:( , to quit windows, choose No. You will lose any unsaved info. Do you want to continue running windows Y or N"

Well i tried both options (naturally) and here`s what happened:

Y = [While initiallizing device VSDATA95]
Windows protection error. You need to restart your PC. System Halted

N = [While initiallizing device VSDATA95]
Invalid VxD dynamic link call to device number 28 Service 74. Your windows config is invalid. Run the windows setup program again to correct this problem. System Halted.

The result being that the PC locked up completely both times again.

Does anyone know what this all means, could this be the main cause or just a coincidence? I`ll almost certainly go for a system restore at some stage tomorrow. I like the sound of the battery issue as it seems to make some sense as to why the PC works some times and not others but then again i`m no expert myself!

I really don`t like the idea of re-installing windows (i`d go XP in that event anyway) as the time involved in saving and reloading 35GB of saved data, software and updates isn`t that appealing so if anyone can add any further help it will as always be much appreciated.

M.

Hi, i did have the same thing happein with my pc.
It always does it to me when work men are p***in about with the roads & paths.
Hope this helps

Why yes thank you very much Mr Animal kind sir. I shall take out the old trusty baseball bat forthwith and "go a huntin to see whom i can catch!" :D

M.

here`s something worth a try...

use a boot disc to get a dos prompt and then type scanreg /restore

it should then show you some working versions of your registry, try them one by one until you get a good one (go for two days before the problem started to be on the safe side).

Once this is done, restart windows and hold your breath!

if it works ok then you`ll have to remember anything installed after that date won`t exisit in your registry so will need re-installing.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help and those that tried to make me laugh ;) . Sadly system restore completely screwed up windows beyond all hope. I nuked the hard drive and have now installed XP good move or so i thought. Only problem is i now have the new worm32 virus and one called werchia or something like that and the damn system keeps shutting down every 10 mins or so :( . I guess a new post is inevitable now unless i can get Norton A/V to fix the quarantined infected files >:( . Cheers everyone for trying to help me again!

M.