Ok, so I am resurrecting this thread, because the same thing is happening to me once again. This time I have a little more info. Issue: a. Windows will fail to load (from a cold start) b. Windows will load if I let the system warm up for abit (just figured this out) c. no error messages in event viewer d. no error "beeps" at start up e. no visual ques to indiciate an issue (artifacting, physical dmg, etc) Background: The problem is this: from a cold start (only when the PC has been shut off for a few hours) will the PC fail to boot into windows. However, if I don't shut the PC off - everything works just fine. Last time I couldn't get into windows and thought windows loader was screwed up, or possibly some nasty piece of malware, so I put in another hard drive, full format, and reinstall - worked great for the last couple of weeks or so .. bam shut the PC off last night cause it was ridiculously hot in here, and voila same issue when I woke up this morning and tried to get in to windows. I have tested the memory, seems to check out. No issues, but memory tests aren't always 100% This has happened on 2 different hard drives (what I had finally decided was the issue last time) so this is a fresh install, of a different version of windows 7 even, had been running fine. I have tried to call a couple of shops in town, but of course they aren't going to be of any help over the phone, they want me to bring it in so they can charge me 65$/hr to figure out the issue. So, I am really hoping someone can help me narrow this down please. All my fans seem to be working, there is no smell, or wierd sounds. I am thinking a couple of possible issue: 1 - It's the thermal creme on the cpu + heatsink, it's wearing out and causing an issue possibly (hence when it warms up and gets a little more liquid it makes that connection and it works. 2 - motherboard issue - though I have no idea why it would work better warm than cold - so not 100% convinced on this 3 - PSU issue - not a cheap PSU, it's a 1000w Thermaltake, again, no smell, fans working, no noise I am at a loss, I have a considerable amount of experience with computers and I have never had this problem, so I have no idea what the issue is, any help would be appreciated it. Cheers.
No, when I try to boot into safe mode, it does the same thing...I will see the mouse cursor appear and boom, it will hang. No backup disc or anything, like I said I do have a few system restore points, I only tried one, but it didn't work didn't see any point in trying ones further back.
Hmmmmm ... never had this issue. But being a radical sort of guy, and knowing this has happened before and likely will happen again, I'd wipe the drive and reinstall Windows. But that is a mite extreme at this early stage in the game.
any reason that bootsec command isn't there? is there another version of the command for win7 x64 I have to use? or is there some way I can fix this while I am on the other hdd? I'd really rather not have to format if possible - I hate have to rebuild, basically shoots down an entire day to get everything installed again. I am running scans in the background atm, hasn't found anything as of yet. P.s. thanks for the very speedy replies!
Just a thought. If this is happening after power outages, maybe your surge protection is not what it needs to be. Both power spikes and power droops can be bad for a computer.
no no I am just saying this happened today after a power outage. (Ie: the system was shut off for a few hrs before the power came back on). I have the system plugged into a battery back up system, but the battery life is short due to the 1000w PSU, etc.
The reason I said what I did was because you said, "Last time this happened..." and I assumed your meaning was this exact situation had happened before. Your battery backup may protect you from surges and droops, but that depends on how it's constructed. Some are simple backups with no protection circuitry; some are more elaborate. Not every battery backup has surge protection and even those that do can are not necessarily adequate for the job.
mine is splint into 2 halves, one half is surge protected the other is not. The pc and peripherals are plugged into the surge protected side =)
I have re-written the entire opening post, detailing the issue a little more clearly this time. still having this problem and hoping someone can help me out. Thanks
Ya PSU or Motherboard I was leaning towards - but I'm just not sure, I was also thinking that possibly it could be the thermal creme on the cpu has dried / thinned out. Going to try to test today see if I can figure this out a bit, but I am scared to turn it off and not be able to get back in.
You're going to have to power down sooner or later and you may as well do it now that you're refreshed this thread and people are watching it again.
Heh if I can't get back on then having this thread being watched isn't going to do me any good since I won't be able to see it =) Really trying to exhaust all the possible causes before shutting down. At least that way if I don't get back up I can narrow down what the issue is to as low a number as I can get. I don't have a lot of money and thus can't afford to be buying multiple parts just to "see what happens" ya know?
Hmm... I had a similar issue on my ThinkPad once (the one with the defective Nvidia graphics chips that will all inevitably fail at one point). The issue was a manufacturing defect that causes the chip material to degrade due to temperature cycles, until at one point it would only boot up when the temperature was high enough (one workaround here was to turn it on and wrap the machine in a blanket to heat it up). However, the only true fix in this case was a mainboard replacement (of course, until the chip on the replacement board dies...). Luckily the machine still produced error beeps so it wasn't that difficult to figure out. Definitely sounds like a thermal issue. If possible, try a different mainboard or CPU.
Ya, that is what makes this so difficult to diagnose, there are no error beeps. It boots just fine at post, 2 different hdd's, clean install, different copy of windows even - still the issue persists. Which led me to believe it was a hardware issue, the tricky bit is trying to figure out which piece of hardware is at fault. Like I said, I've never experienced anything like this. Usually if there is a hardware malfunction it's rather easy to diagnose (far easier than software) because there is some indication that there is something wrong, but in this case ... there isn't. Other than windows doesn't like to load if I leave the machine off for too long. Although, thinking back, I used to run 2 hdds, one was a IDE and the other a SATA. I had the computer freeze on me a couple of times, which is what made me think it was the hdd. So i stopped using the SATA (it was my main) and ran everything on the IDE. Which was fine for a few days, then it started doing the freezing as well. Thought I might have had some malware or something - so I formatted my drive (the SATA) and disconnected the IDE (just in case there was an issue there) and everything was great for like a week or so, until today when I tried to boot the system this morning and it was doing that same windows won't load thing. I did notice something though, I was going through the event log and there was 1 error that said I didn't shut down windows correctly. So, it's like even though it appears frozen on the screen something was still active in the background maybe? I've been running it all day and haven't had any issues yet (knocks on wood). I just wish I could figure out a way to know for sure what the issue is, or find someone that has had a similar issue. Surely I can't be the only person on the planet this has ever happened to hehe. See part of the problem I am having is that it works better hot than cold. Which goes against everything that has ever happened to me in the past. Usually all the problems happen the other way around. Be it fans malfunctioning, or thermal creme drying out, etc etc. In every instance of a hardware issue, it always got worse when it was warm, than when it was cool. Until now. I really wish I had the money to just buy a bunch of parts and then it wouldn't matter but sadly I don't.
I don't think you're alone in that regard. Times are tough all over; for some more so than others. But what would you do if your computer failed completely? Are you simply going to live with your problem indefinitely? Sometimes you have to "bite the bullet" and start planning for the worst case yet hope for the best case and quite often that means spending some money. Given the long term nature of your problem, lack of responses that help you fix it, steady worsening of your problem (or at least its periodic re-occurrence) I'd say you're moving inexorably toward a non recoverable failure of some sort. If not that, and you don't secure repair parts (assuming it is in fact a hardware problem) then you're stuck with a computer whose operation is flawed and at least a little maddening. I guess the computer could spontaneously heal itself, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen. Is there a friend locally that can lend you a computer while you work on yours? Is there another in the house you can use for a time? Maybe a friend has some old but usable parts you might try. One thing is certain, you either fix your problem or you don't. And obviously since it's your machine, that's your call. Good luck with fixing your problem...