PC Won't start up!

chipbeck

Not been on for a few days.......but my daughter has.
Any mode I try to start my xp machine up in including safe mode. I get to windows is starting up screen then the screen goes black and after a clicking sound the machine switches off and trys all over again.

Any help would be appreciated.

Browntoa

clicking sound sounds bad...could be hard disk problems

open the PC up and try reseating all the graphics card + ram etc

but i would fear the worst

chipbeck

Me dismantling the machine is not an option Browntoa. It does display a message about a missing system32 file. VCINIT or something similar, doesn't come up everytime so I don't know the exact name.

Browntoa

do you have restore/rescue disks for the machine ??

Joe_Bloggs

It sounds quite encouraging compared to my old sytem (R.I.Pieces ). Can you get into the bios menu and change your boot options ? . It might be wise at this time to disconnect your hard disks totally and check out your system with a boot floppy or cd that can check if the motherboard, processor and memory are fully functional . Ultimate boot CD and memtest86 spring to mind. An inspection of the electrolytic capacitors may be worth a look.
J_B.

chipbeck

No restore so I think the best option will be to format and re install the OS

chipbeck

Last hope. Is there anything I can load onto a data stick on my daughters machine and then somehow transfer this to my corrupt/broken machine. I know I'm grasping at straws but needs must.

Dennis99

Early on when the machiine is booting you should have an option to interupt to get the diagnostics (eg F12 on my Dell). It may have an option for hard drive diagnostics. I know all this because the Maxtor hard drive in my 14 month old Dell has just failed for the second time. *@&*@&!!!

Joe_Bloggs

It is pointless to undertake actions involving software when the hardware that has to interperet the software instructions may be a fault. By formatting at this stage you risk all the data you have and your hardware could still have a fault that would prevent you from sucessfully installing a new system.
J_B. (Speaking Logically)

herbert_goon

IMHO it's a drive failure. Clicking sounds can come from electronic components but normally would stop a boot. Clicks normally indicate drive head problems.

Go into the bios (switch on, then F1 normally) and (normally) on the first blue screen you will see IDE0 Master and Slave and IDE1 master and slave. Let us know what IDE0 Master is.

If you can derive the manufacturer, download one of the bootable utilities from http://tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 , pop them on a floppy and boot the machine with the floppy in.

Good luck and HTH

chipbeck

believe it or not I'm in. Went in in vga mode