Computer problems... Can someone help?

[deevergote]

Ok, I got the blue screen of death tonight on my winXP PC.

After the BSOD, it would go to the boot menu ("windows did not shut down properly... blah blah blah... safe mode, safe with command prompt, start normally...")

When i do normal or safe mode, it just restarts. When I do safe with command prompt, it flies through a list of programs, hangs at sptd.sys, and restarts.


Am I looking at a hard disk failure (I hope not!), a motherboard failure, or a power supply failure?


I texted a few of my more computer savvy friends, and mchaley was the only to reply so far. He suggested the power supply... which is the only thing I can replace with parts on hand to test out... just too late to bother tonight!
My mobo is a Biostar, about 4 years old. My HD is a Maxtor, about 2 years old. My power supply is CompUSA brand, about 2 years old. HOPEFULLY it's the crappy power supply that's doing it!


Also, I've tried to boot from CD, and that isn't working (I have a win2000 CD that I KNOW is bootable... no dice) I can't seem to get to the boot device menu in the BIOS as I should... dunno why.

I'm really hoping it's not the hard drive. All of my work records are on there! I already have to do my paperwork in the morning, making it late I'm falling asleep already, and I've been messing with my stupid desktop since 8pm.

[C91BLX7]

PSU is shitty so it could be that.

Maxtor's are shitty also so it could be that. Unplug the HDD and see if you can get into the bios.

[GenDBlade]

i have a baseball bat if you would like to borrow it.

[jewinabox]

Use the OS Re-install disc. Just follow the directions, you're going to have to delete the partion of the harddrive that has WinXP on it and reinstall it completely. I ran into the same thing a while back with shitty HP Laptop. Just try that.

[deevergote]

I can't get it to boot from the CD at all. I don't have a bootable XP disc (as with all my software, it's a pirated copy... I installed it over win2k. My win2k disc won't boot, and it should. it has in the past.)

[verothacamaro]

could be an ini file that's corrupt. if thats the case, located and renaming the specific file would fix the bug. but that requires someone with windows savvy.

[C91BLX7]

Also see if you can get a copy of any windows xp and put the disk in and do a repair.

[deevergote]

I need to find a way to force a boot... it doesn't go much further than the BIOS. It does seem to get into Windows somewhat, though, so it has to be possible.


i don't know what happened. I started my paperwork, was sending an IM... less stuff running than usual, and I haven't downloaded anything questionable in a long time. it just blue screened, restarted, and that's where I'm at now I'm on this stinkin laptop, and i have to do my work on it tomorrow

[foamypirate]

I put my money on the motherboard honestly. While the symptoms can point to a power supply, the fact that you can't even load a bootable disc makes it seem like more of a motherboard issue. It is, however, interesting that it is hanging on sptd.sys...that's a installed by Daemon Tools 4...

[accordaffair]

Try reseating your memory, take it out, maybe blow on it like a nintendo game and set it neatly and firmly back in place

Power supply? It either works or doesn't, or it can just cause the computer to shut down or freeze at random, inopportune times...I can't say I've had a no-good psu cause a blue screen or prevent windows from starting in safe mode.

Did you make any changes to the registry last time you shut down proper? Perhaps you made some without realizing it?

If it crashes while booting from a cd, I doubt it has to do with the hard drive, unless it waits until reading/writing to the drive to crash.

Sometimes it comes down to working with just the base components. Unplug everything but the cpu, memory, and the psu, and boot.

If you have a working computer, download memtest and write it to a floppy. Or if you don't use floppies, write it to a bootable cd. That will test the memory for faults.

GL and LMK

[jewinabox]

Well, I don't know there seeing as you stated you haven't downloaded anything questionable. Usually its the porn addicts that get the BSOD.

Try and call the Customer Service for the computer that you have.

They walked me through it one time, it just aggravating having to wait on hold.

I'll read up on the BSOD some more and see if I can come up with any explanation or fixes.

It's probably just the fact that it's a Windows OS. ha.

[deevergote]

Cool, thanks.

I'll rip everything out in the morning and see how that works. I'll replace the psu and hope for the best. In the worst case, I'll order a new motherboard.



It's just good that the hard drive seems to be the last thing everyone suspects. I don't really want to spend the money to replace/upgrade my computer, but I'd much rather do that than lose all my data! I have work records on there since 2006 that I really don't want to lose!

[deevergote]

Well, I don't know there seeing as you stated you haven't downloaded anything questionable. Usually its the porn addicts that get the BSOD.

Try and call the Customer Service for the computer that you have.

They walked me through it one time, it just aggravating having to wait on hold.

I'll read up on the BSOD some more and see if I can come up with any explanation or fixes.

It's probably just the fact that it's a Windows OS. ha.

No need to download porn. It's all available without saving to disk I'm running Norton and Spybot (which also alerts for any registry changes). Not the most secure, but not bad.

I built the computer myself... so the person that built my computer has already failed me

[jewinabox]

Check this article out, I am amazed at the fact that I still have it bookmarked.

It was a good resource to me back when I encountered BSOD.

Mine was a Software failure from trying to partion my computer with Linux/Windows XP

But anyways here the link.


http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1647

[cp[mike]]

sorry i missed your txt mike! my phone was dead.

anyhoo its very unlikely that its the power supply, because they generally cause more severe power issues, like the PC not turning on at all, or just a few rails running making various motherboard lights light up/flash without ever turning the computer on. if youre getting any sort of POST, your motherboard is powered... if youre getting any sort of WinXP, your hard drive is powered.... not likely the PSU

formatting and reinstalling windows would most likely help for sure, but thats a hassle and hopefully not necessary.

when you boot normally, it just "reboots" ? when? during the Windows XP screen? does it bluescreen for a second and then reboot?

the most important question here, is what did the BSOD say? the winXP ones should give a cryptic line toward the top of the screen, like the third line down. often pinpoints the issue.

have you tried "last known good configuration" ? worst case try letting it boot up with Logging enabled, then use an old DOS boot floppy and read through to the most recent line of C:\WINNT\ntbtlog.txt and see what it says. what other boot options does it give you on the list? i cant remember the XP options off the top of my head, plus they vary sometimes...

so youre saying its hanging on sptd.sys? apparently thats a cdrom system driver used by daemontools and alcohol120%.

can you get into the BIOS configuration screen at all?

if this is somehow hardware related and is related to the HDD, i can see how it could be a hdd that is slowly dying/getting bad sectors, and finally some system file went to shit. have you ever run a scandisk?