Windows won't load.... this is a weird one.

[eric79xxl]

this has been irkng me for a couple of weeks now...
I have a Phenom ii x4 system I built nearly two years ago. it has been a solid PC since then.
recently, I went for a reboot and windows 7 would not get past the windows logo screen. I could get into safe mode OK, and event viewer had nothing out of the ordinary.
I rebooted, still no dice (I let it sit on the windows logo screen for over 90 minutes.)
last known good config had same result, and windows startup repair found no probs to fix.
so I decided to wipe/reload windows.

to make a long story short, using 3 different windows discs and swapping out ALL hardware except motherboard and CPU, I got the same result.
windows setup went along just fine, but when trying to load windows it just sits there on the windows logo screen - hdd led shows no activity.
I tried win7 ultimate x64 and pro x64

so I booted off Ubuntu 10.04 x64 live CD and Ubuntu loads no prob.
so I erased the hdd and installed Ubuntu 10.04 x64.
I am now running the few windows programs I need in VMware unity mode.
The system has performed flawlessly with all the original hardware and Ubuntu/vmware config since then.

why will windows 7 run perfectly in a VM, but not by itself?

I would think if it were mobo or CPU error, Ubuntu would be freaking out as well?

has anyone ever seen anything like this?

the not knowing why is severely irritating....
any thoughts, anyone?....

 

[justindadswell]

The only thought I have is, did you try different sticks of ram in different slots. That is an odd one, everything would point to a problem with your HDD boot sector; but if you changed that out-then that is not the problem. Do you have any OC going? Have you tried reseting bios? When an OC breaks down after a few years it can cause problems like this, and it could still load things like Ubuntu. My old K9A2 Platinum use to OC my processor on its own and then it would freeze loading windows, I would then have to reset bios. Funny thing is I could still run Ubuntu. Considering what you have gone through I figure you already thought of reseting bios though.

 

[eric79xxl]

righto, I did reset BIOS - pulled battery and closed jumper. system never been over clocked.
tried different RAM chips in different slots as well... this one has all of us at the shop befuddled.....

 

[justindadswell]

If you figure it out please post again. I want to know how you solve this.

 

[Outlander_04]

This is a driver problem

The VM works because the Ubuntu drivers are running the hardware

 

[justindadswell]

Ohh now I feel stupid for not thinking of that, I wonder if Eric feels the same. I will feel even dumber if he is right

 

[eric79xxl]

This is a driver problem

The VM works because the Ubuntu drivers are running the hardware

that's as good of a theory as I've heard...
initially, I had thought the crash was due to a windows update.
but I kinda dismissed that driver/windowsupdate line of thought when the same problem occured with different hardware when reinstalling windows.....

unless.... OK what do u think of this:
there is a slight hardware problem with motherboard. it affects windows b/c windows loads the exact driver for the chipset; whereas Ubuntu maybe loads a more generic driver that may not make the exact same hardware calls/references?

I will post mobo model when I go to work tomorrow....