Vista will not boot and/or stay on

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jbmwsu

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Hello, I've tried everything I can think of to fix this problem. Vista begins to load and then shuts down the computer. I can stay in BIOS forever, but once it tries to boot Vista it crashes. I have put the recovery disk in and when it begin to start Vista it crashes. I take the disk out and start windows normally, it will start up and then crash after about 5-20 minutes. I have been looking for days on the internet and have tried everything. I've even replaced the power supply, re-applied the heat sink on the processor, and reseated everything. Is there something I'm missing? Is there a diagnostic test I can run? I'd hate to take it to a place if it is something minor that I can fix.

Thank you
 

jbmwsu

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Hi, sorry didn't realize I had a message.

It will not boot to vista with the recovery disk in. I put the disk in, it does it's little window files boot and when it gets to the end it shuts the computer down. Then I turn the computer back on and it will load windows for and stay on for about 15 minutes and then shut off. I turn it back on and when it gets to windows boot it shuts off unless I repeat the process again. It was giving me problems so I reinstalled windows and now it is doing this non-stop. I have no idea how to fix it. I've pulled out each of the RAM separately and this has not helped the situation. I've used a new power supply...same problem. I don't know what else to do. Oh, and it still has this problem when/if I am able to boot into safe mode.
 

jbmwsu

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I've tried that already. It continues to have the same problem. Could my motherboard be shot? I don't understand why it will come on sometimes and then shut off and other times it will just kick off as soon as the windows screen pops up. Very annoying that I cannot figure it out. I would really like to fix it ASAP.
 

aim001

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Ur hardware is not compatible i guess, please provide us all the specifications!! so we can help! Can u please tell me ur hardware of ur pc! ever ur lcd screen or what ever u have!
 

jbmwsu

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http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=W5243


It is an emachine model w5243. I use my Sanyo 32" tv as my monitor. I've had it this way for about 5 months or so. One day I tried to download my movie to my external hardrive Seagate 1.5 Tara. I have done this many times, but this time, for some reason it just went a little haywire and started freaking out on me. Now it sits in the corner and I have to use my old laptop :( Thanks for your reply :) If I can give you anymore info let me know!
 

jbmwsu

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The computer came with Vista installed on it so I would assume that it would be able to support it. But you're saying that it could be my RAM that is failing? Is that a good assumption or is there any other plausible reasons?
 

jbmwsu

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Well if it helps...I just tried to turn it on and I've got nothing now but a fan that is spinning really fast. The little blue power light isn't even coming on now... SO, is that a helpful indicator of what the problem could be?
 

jbmwsu

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The problem is, it won't even boot into BIOS. The fan just spins super fast and little power light doesn't come on and won't shut the computer down if I hit it again...so I'm thinking either my MB is fried or my HD.
 

jbmwsu

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"Well if it helps...I just tried to turn it on and I've got nothing now but a fan that is spinning really fast. The little blue power light isn't even coming on now... SO, is that a helpful indicator of what the problem could be? "


I don't know what has changed in the past two weeks or so, but now this happens. everything in the system is original and from the manufacturer. I took the PSU back since that did not help the situation. No need to buy what I don't need. I'm planning on building a new computer sometime this year, so if it is my HD that's fine, I can reuse it later.
 
Unplug everything except for the PSU, CPU/HSF, power switch, and 1 RAM chip. Try booting with just that hardware.

If nothing changes, remove the motherboard battery for ~5 minutes, and then put it back in. This will reset the BIOS.

If that doesn't help, try reseating the CPU.
 

dhay13

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I'm working on the exact same issue with a customers PC. It is also an eMachines W5243. It will go through POST but will shut down after that. When I disconnect the HD it will run fine (not shut down). I went in to check the BIOS settings but the password was set so I removed the battery to reset it so that isn't the issue.

I have 2 theories:

1. the PSU is failing and isn't powerful enough to run the OS (not likely, especially considering the OP changed the PSU)

2. There is some sort of virus that is preventing the OS from loading. I removed the drive and connected it as a slave to another PC and scanned it with MalwareBytes. Not a lot showed up, and nothing that I think would cause this.

It is also odd that two PC's of the same brand and model would have this issue if it were a virus problem so I'm not sure that that is the issue either.

Any other ideas?
 


With your customer's situation, it could be something as simple as enabling AHCI in the BIOS. It could be a cable causing a short. It could be a bad PCB board on the hard drive. A few things could cause that kind of boot loop.

It's no longer the same situation jbmwsu has though. The fact that jbmwsu can't get into the BIOS, tells me the PC isn't POSTing.
 

dhay13

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Yes but the problem is the same as the OP's initial problem. This PC recently started doing this. Is it going to end up the way jbmwsu's computer is? I'd rather fix it before it gets to that point as this appears to stem from the same issue.

I went to boot into safe mode and as it was loading it went into chkdsk mode. I left the room and came back and it was off.

I just think that these to are related.

This customer has brought me computers before that are loaded with viruses. Whoever uses them aren't very careful about what they click on so my initial thought was a virus but I think I can rule that out. But it is related to the HD being connected. It is a Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA drive. I haven't researched to see if this is a common issue related to the drive. Wonder what drive jbmwsu has?
 

dhay13

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UPDATE: I connected another SATA drive to it (no OS installed) and it stayed running. I unplugged the CD/DVD drive and re-connected the original HD and it booted to the desktop. I thought "wow, i figured it out". But it shut down soon after that. Tried to re-start and only made it through POST. So now I'm wondering if it is HD related. Maybe I'll partition my extra drive and install Vista on it to see if it boots. I wish I had an extra SATA drive laying around here. I wonder if I can replicate the problem with a PATA drive? I guess if I did that and it still failed then I could rule out the HD as the problem. If it works then it is either a HD problem, or something in the SATA cable, header, or MB.
 
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