XP Crashed!!!

[graham]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

Using XP SP2

While using Outlook Express (connected via broadband) my mouse pointer just
froze completely, had to reboot, that has NEVER happened with XP before.

On reboot all I got was a blank black screen with a single line dash
flashing in the bottom left corner while my PC seemed to spend ages trying
to read my floppy drive, then it would stop reading the floppy drive (note
no disk in this drive) and still blank screen, no XP logo at any point, just
sitting there blank screen. 5 minutes later still blank screen with no
noise from my HD so had to switch off, this happened three or four times.
On one of the reboots I tried to access the BIOS to see why it was suddenly
looking so hard at my floppy drive but the BIOS wouldn't come up.

I feared my CPU had blown so took the case cover off to make sure fan was
running, it was, so tried to start with the cover off and it worked. Not
sure what I disturbed? Now I am scared to turn it off tonight again when I
am finished!

Anyone got any ideas what could have happened. I have just done a full
virus scan and it found nothing. The fact it was looking so hard at my
floppy drive tells me it wasn't seeing XP on my Hard drive and so was
looking elsewhere, correct?

Graham

 

[Jerry]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

Could be something internal was shorting out against the case cover and,
therefore, stopping the boot process. When you removed the cover you removed
the short. I would carefully look all through the case for any loose wires.
burn spots, etc.

"Graham" <graham.me(nospam)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:d3p699$jtg$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> Using XP SP2
>
> While using Outlook Express (connected via broadband) my mouse pointer
> just froze completely, had to reboot, that has NEVER happened with XP
> before.
>
> On reboot all I got was a blank black screen with a single line dash
> flashing in the bottom left corner while my PC seemed to spend ages trying
> to read my floppy drive, then it would stop reading the floppy drive (note
> no disk in this drive) and still blank screen, no XP logo at any point,
> just sitting there blank screen. 5 minutes later still blank screen with
> no noise from my HD so had to switch off, this happened three or four
> times. On one of the reboots I tried to access the BIOS to see why it was
> suddenly looking so hard at my floppy drive but the BIOS wouldn't come up.
>
> I feared my CPU had blown so took the case cover off to make sure fan was
> running, it was, so tried to start with the cover off and it worked. Not
> sure what I disturbed? Now I am scared to turn it off tonight again when
> I am finished!
>
> Anyone got any ideas what could have happened. I have just done a full
> virus scan and it found nothing. The fact it was looking so hard at my
> floppy drive tells me it wasn't seeing XP on my Hard drive and so was
> looking elsewhere, correct?
>
> Graham
>
>

 

[graham]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Jerry" <NoSpamChiefZeke@MSN.com> wrote in message
news:enH9pvfQFHA.244@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Could be something internal was shorting out against the case cover and,
> therefore, stopping the boot process. When you removed the cover you
> removed the short. I would carefully look all through the case for any
> loose wires. burn spots, etc.

Cannot see anything obvious, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[graham]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

"Graham" <graham.me(nospam)@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:d3p9jk$kfi$1@hercules.btinternet.com...
>
> "Jerry" <NoSpamChiefZeke@MSN.com> wrote in message
> news:enH9pvfQFHA.244@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> Could be something internal was shorting out against the case cover and,
>> therefore, stopping the boot process. When you removed the cover you
>> removed the short. I would carefully look all through the case for any
>> loose wires. burn spots, etc.
>
> Cannot see anything obvious, but thanks for the suggestion.
>
>
>

Guys

Have double checked all leads etc and nothing is loose or shorting. The
panel I took off the case was not the one next to the mobo. I think the
fact I took the panel off the case and it booted up ok was incidental.

I know you can eliminate some things from what happens during the boot
sequence, can someone kindly tell me what mine could or could not have been
from this.........

To recap...

Mouse pointer froze while using Outlook Express.
CTRL ALT DEL would not work so had to switch power off at the wall.
Tried to turn on PC several times and each time this is what happened.....

Monitor initialises with green light on (not flashing)
Intel Inside logo on screen first
Then blank screen with small flashing dash line in very bottom left corner
of screen
Floppy drive light comes on and stays on for a while (10 maybe 15 seconds)
Floppy drive light goes out and screen still blank
5 minutes later still blank screen with no hard disk sound
Tried again and again but still the same.
Took panel off case to check fans running and everything looked ok
Tried to boot once more (with lid off) and after Intel Inside logo got the
usual Windows XP splash screen and it continued to boot up ok with no error
messages anywhere. Have turned on and off several times since and this
morning everything seems fine.

Anyone got any ideas what could have caused this, it's kinda scary that I
didn't get any of the XP option screens to recover. If this hadn't of
sorted itself out I would have lost everything and that is what worries me.

Anyone any ideas, please? Memory? CPU?

Graham