Why is my computer so difficult to boot up recently

Hi Guys,

I have a desktop PC (2 years old) recently its been a real problem when booting up. I was running XP Pro, so thought I would replace the Systems Hard drive (C) and install Windows7 Home edition.

This had made no difference. When I had XP Pro, I removed two of the hard drives, Firewire Card, Sound Car, USB additional card, disconected both CD Roms, but nothing cured the boot-up problem.

I am wondering if It could be a BIOS problem (perhaps needs updating after 2 years use and no updates) or could it be the Graphics Card, memory or even the mother board.

Any suggestions what I should do next. It's driving me mad.

The strange thing is it will always reboot as it did several times with the (Clean install) woith Windows7. If you shut it down it's a major problem. I usually have to boot-up to the BIOS and select exit with no changed to get it to function.

------------------------------------------------------
PC Spec.

1. Motherboard: ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX


2. Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Part No BX80557E6850 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz Socket 775 4MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Retail Boxed Processor

3. RAM PC8500 (1066 MHz) 4 x Corsair 1GB PC2-8500 C5 XMS2 Dominator (2 twin packs) (4GB total)

4. Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB SATA 10KRPM 16MB Cache - OEM – 5 Year Warranty.
(20.03.2010 - Replaced with new Western Digital WD1500HLFS 150GB Hard Drive SATAII 10000rpm 16MB Cache - OEM WD VelociRaptor).

5. Hard Disc 2 (500gb) Seagate ST3500630AS 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 16MB Cache 7200RPM – OEM

6. 1 x Western Digital 750GB HD SATA300 7200rpm 32MB Cache Caviar Black OEM

7. Case – Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Full Tower Case – inv 4 large fans (all ready purchased)

8. Power Supply (PSU) Coolermaster RealPower Pro 850W Modular PSU

9. Graphic Card, Nvidia GeForce 8600GTS 512MB PCI-E - Manufacturer code: 8600GTS

10. Belkin FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 PCI Express card. (Not currently fitted - software installation required first)

11. DVD drives x 2

Hi Zepher, I had not thought of that, will try and get one first thing in the morning. Will report back tomorrow.

Hi Zepher, Just back with new battery, fitted and now change. Engineer in computershop suggested trying another keyboard, done that, still cant boot up.

Any other suggestions?

Do you have the LAN booting up at start up. If so this can really slow down your start up time from cold boot. . .just a thought.

Quasi,
Am not sure but are you saying you have win7 installed and having trouble booting? In that case do the following:
1) Boot from Win7 dvd and do a boot repair.
2) Get inside your bios settings, load default settings, then press F10 and exit.

Hi Bill2,

I had Windows XP Pro and have been experiencing this boot up problem for about three months (and getting worse each week). I tried everything I could think of. I finally decided to replace the “C” drive and at the same time do a clean install and install Windows7 Home edition. (I did wonder if it could be a hard drive fault or even a software issue). – But obviously not
The installation of Windows7 went well with all the rebooting. After the full installation I shut the computer down. I tried a cold start re-boot. And much to my disappointment it would not boot-up. I tried restarting several times and eventually managed to get to the BIOS. I selected NO CHANGES in the BIOS and then Windows7 started as normal. I had a look around in Device manager, no errors so shut down again. After a few minutes I tried a cold start. Nothing happened. (I have the Bios set to boot from the C drive now as the first boot.
I have also set the default setting in the BIOS, made no difference.
Today I fitted a new Battery to the BIOS and also tried another keyboard. I don’t understand why the F2 key does not have any effect when I have the option on the screen. I always have to enter the BIOS via F1.
Lee, I don’t know about the “LAN booting up at start-up” I think it’s unlikely to be the fault. Next time I can get it to load I will check and remove it from the start up and give it a try.
Any other thoughts?

Did you try boot repairing from win7 dvd?

Hi Bill2,

Yes one when It did not strt I booted from the installation disc and did the repair, again made no difference.

Hi All,

Some development today, I removed the ram (4 x 1gb) and installed it one at a time to see what happened. With only one ram fitted it seemed to boot-up fine, with 2 ok, the third one did boot but much slower. I removed the third on and fitted the other one, again booted-up ok. When I fitted the fourth one it took much longer to boot the first time - then a further clod start it would not boot again. I removed the last one fitted (4th) and it's fine. Obviously one unit is faulty.

With three fitted I tried to connect my third hard drive (SATA) - on re-booting it found new hardware and after this I was able to access all the hard drives.

However when I did another re-boot I got a blue Screen STOP message.

It quoted STOP: 0x00000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, OxFFFFF,8000C1F6F8C, OxFFFFF880027D00C8, OxFFFFF880027CF920)

Any idea what this error code is referring to?
Tomorrow I will get another memory module to replace the faulty one. Perhaps these should be fitted as pairs not 3 only. Would this error message be related with the missing Ram.