BP6 won't boot into Windows

[Dave Rave]

sounds a bit like mine.
won't go into windows.....
mine gets into safe mode fine... does yours ?

also, did you change your vga to plain vga before you changed it ?

[hugoc]

Sounds like it might be a driver hangup. How long did you leave it before you decided it was out to lunch and gave up?

You can try getting into safe mode. You can also try booting from the XP CD-ROM and repairing the installation, but I'd try the safe mode first. It may be that you'll need to update your graphics driver in safe mode before you can boot properly. What card is it?

I don't think this is necessarily due to ill motherboard health. Generally, if you have no deformed or leaking capacitors and your mobo power-plug and the components around it don't look blackened or scorched the mobo should be fine. Take a look for that. Caps should have nice, flat tops and no brownish gunk seeping out of them anywhere.

Sometimes Windows just throws a wobbly. I've had a problem where I installed a new NIC, which would not work, and then I replaced the old one, and it didn't work either. A re-install solved the problem.

[purrkur]

Try booting into Knoppix Linux. It is the easiest way to see if it is your current OS is the problem or not.

[hugoc]

Or Slax, if you want a faster download. There's less stuff in the distro but for testing it should be good.

[Billl]

Sheesh! Doesn't anyone use floppies anymore? The simplist way to see if it's hardware or OS is to put a floopy in the drive and boot the thing. You never want to add complications to a trouble shooting problem. I'm not for or against any of those OS selections. But make your life easier and use the KISS (keep it simple stupid!) principle.


Billl

[Billl]

sorry about the double post


Billl

[davd_bob]

after eliminating the monitor as the source of the problem

How did you eliminate the monitor as the source?

[purrkur]

Sheesh! Doesn't anyone use floppies anymore? The simplist way to see if it's hardware or OS is to put a floopy in the drive and boot the thing. You never want to add complications to a trouble shooting problem. I'm not for or against any of those OS selections. But make your life easier and use the KISS (keep it simple stupid!) principle.
Billl

What OS are you talking about? If it is DOS then I don't quite agree since that won't load specific drivers for chipsets, NIC's, video adapters etc. If something is out of order then the problem will usually surface when you try to load a driver for the adapter/chipset in question. And in my mind, if you have a Knoppix CD around then popping it into the CD player and rebooting is as much KISS as you can get because it boots a fully loaded OS with drivers into your computer without you having to do anything at all. It can't get any easier than that.

[Billl]

Sheesh! Doesn't anyone use floppies anymore? The simplist way to see if it's hardware or OS is to put a floopy in the drive and boot the thing. You never want to add complications to a trouble shooting problem. I'm not for or against any of those OS selections. But make your life easier and use the KISS (keep it simple stupid!) principle.
Billl

What OS are you talking about? If it is DOS then I don't quite agree since that won't load specific drivers for chipsets, NIC's, video adapters etc. If something is out of order then the problem will usually surface when you try to load a driver for the adapter/chipset in question. And in my mind, if you have a Knoppix CD around then popping it into the CD player and rebooting is as much KISS as you can get because it boots a fully loaded OS with drivers into your computer without you having to do anything at all. It can't get any easier than that.

Yes I was refering to Dos and/or Windows startup. And I still hold my position. First of all not everyone has a copy Knoppix sitting around, but I'd be willing to bet he does indeed have a boot floppy. Second he may not have any experience using Knoppix. Or have a clue how it works on his hardware. You might consider that not everyone is comfortable in a linux setting. If Knoppiix fails to load will he even know if it's the cd or his machine? Third this is a first line attack to see if he has a serious hardware problem. If the Cap's are bad enough to stop it from booting, then whats the point in going further? I'm not claiming this to be a full diagnosis. But you always start at the basics first then move to more complex solutions as the problem solving proceeds. Ive been trouble shooting computer ill's for years and after learning the hard way, you always start at the very basics. Then move on to more involved processes. I actually do think that Knoppix is an excelent resouce to use. But when you have no idea of the sophistication of your target audience, it's always best to use the simplest solutions possible.

So my advice to him is as follows. Try a boot disk, then if he has a copy and is comfortable using it then try knoppix. If all that fails then strip the machine of all cards except the video and try booting to a Dos disk and then into Windows again. If that solves his problem he now at least has an idea that he has a bad card or driver. By the sounds of it though I'd be willing to bet on a Windows problem and not a hardware problem. The boot floppy will tell you that immediately.

It just kinda drives me a little nuts when people forget the very basics first. A boot disk could be all he needs to find his problem. then again he may have quite a battle ahead of him to find the solution. This wasn't actually directed at you Purrkur, but at the whole tread.


Billl

[purrkur]

First of all not everyone has a copy Knoppix sitting around, but I'd be willing to bet he does indeed have a boot floppy.

He might not have Knoppix lying around but anyone with a somewhat good internet connection can download it from several sites around the world. Good thing you weren't betting on me having a boot floppy because I don't! I haven't had one around for quite some time actually and I always end up having problems when I have to flash a BIOS (which is the only thing I use boot floppies for now). I usually download something from the net for temporary use and then I throw it away. I got a fat pipe so I don't see the use in keeping these things around.

Second he may not have any experience using Knoppix. Or have a clue how it works on his hardware. You might consider that not everyone is comfortable in a linux setting. If Knoppiix fails to load will he even know if it's the cd or his machine?

Point taken.

But you always start at the basics first then move to more complex solutions as the problem solving proceeds. Ive been trouble shooting computer ill's for years and after learning the hard way, you always start at the very basics.

OK, but the basics may look different from my standpoint. If I wanted to boot a floppy to solve a problem I would use Toms rootboot disk. It contains more useful analysis programs than DOS has. Your assumption that "the basics" is something that comes from Microsoft. I don't.

I actually do think that Knoppix is an excelent resouce to use. But when you have no idea of the sophistication of your target audience, it's always best to use the simplest solutions possible.

Again, point taken. I sometimes forget that it is not me doing the analyzing But I will actually stand by the fact that Knoppix is pretty good at booting and identifying hardware, especially on older machines so I thought that in this case, even if he has no Linux knowhow, just to boot it to see if it works when Windows obviously doesn't could provide him with a hint.

So my advice to him is as follows. Try a boot disk, then if he has a copy and is comfortable using it then try knoppix. If all that fails then strip the machine of all cards except the video and try booting to a Dos disk and then into Windows again.

Yeah, stripping cards is usually what I do when my regular checkups don't reveal the problem.

It just kinda drives me a little nuts when people forget the very basics first. A boot disk could be all he needs to find his problem. then again he may have quite a battle ahead of him to find the solution. This wasn't actually directed at you Purrkur, but at the whole tread.

No worries! I think we are pretty much on the same level but we have slightly different viewpoints. First because of operating systems and second is that I also work on other hardware than just PC's where the way to do things doesn't always match what I would do with a PC.

[davd_bob]

Billl and Purrkur,

Wow, you two sure a lot alike. Im just glad you are both pretty light hearted. I've seen some real flaming posts on other boards by people that were saying the same thing from diff sides of the same fence...any you could tell they HATED each other.

Anyway, happy new year to both of you, and everyone else listening in.

[hyperspace]

Billl and Purrkur,

Wow, you two sure a lot alike. Im just glad you are both pretty light hearted. I've seen some real flaming posts on other boards by people that were saying the same thing from diff sides of the same fence...any you could tell they HATED each other.

Anyway, happy new year to both of you, and everyone else listening in.

It is a great example of how people can learn from their differences.

I wish the rest of the World would follow their lead!

[purrkur]

Sometimes discussions move off-track simply because of the written word. I am sure that if Billl and I were sitting in front of each other with a beer in our hand having a similar discussion, we would be hot on exchanging experiences, talking of methods for fault-finding and having a good laugh at it all

[Billl]

Billl and Purrkur,

Wow, you two sure a lot alike. Im just glad you are both pretty light hearted. I've seen some real flaming posts on other boards by people that were saying the same thing from diff sides of the same fence...any you could tell they HATED each other.

Anyway, happy new year to both of you, and everyone else listening in.

Sometimes it's just fun to exchange points of view. I rarely get mad when posting to these forums. Whats the point? I think we do pretty much have the same ideas. Just seen from different perspectives is all.

Sometimes discussions move off-track simply because of the written word. I am sure that if Billl and I were sitting in front of each other with a beer in our hand having a similar discussion, we would be hot on exchanging experiences, talking of methods for fault-finding and having a good laugh at it all

I totally agree. Oh and btw Purrkur I have had problems using Knoppix in the past. In fact I was just playing with the Koppix-STD version and couldn't get it to run on tha machine I have here. A Via C4 pile of crap with on board sound and video. I was kind of suprised that it crashes out of X each time I load it.

[Billl]

Billl and Purrkur,

Wow, you two sure a lot alike. Im just glad you are both pretty light hearted. I've seen some real flaming posts on other boards by people that were saying the same thing from diff sides of the same fence...any you could tell they HATED each other.

Anyway, happy new year to both of you, and everyone else listening in.

It is a great example of how people can learn from their differences.

I wish the rest of the World would follow their lead!

I think we both just enjoy the banter, I know I do.


Billl

[Dave Rave]

anyhoo, about the machines ... hmmm ? ...

i changed my bad color obviously dying vga out of one machine into another....
it now only boots into safe mode .... so it's the vga

I put the 'good' vga and a cd-rom in the first machine and booted knoppix, and it stalled, so i says
hmmm, damn, two dead machines now....
but then, i took out the cd-rom and it's fine now.

so, seeing as you had a dying vga, and diff pci one, did you get around to actually changing the vga card

AND !!!

setting bios to boot from the pci over agp ? (bp6 does have this option ? yes ? i hate rtfm.!! )