PC Boot problems

[Sparko]

i have a problem with my pc booting.  I switch it on and it goes through the boot sequence up until the Windows 7 loading bar.

It then decides to switch itself off.  after switching it back on 4 or 5 times it eventually loads windows fine.  Its just extremely annoying having to keep switching it back on.  It used to boot fine up until 2 or 3 weeks ago.  I haven't changed anything at all the only thing i can think it is would be a windows update or something.

anyone had any similar problems? :g:

[KKND]

Maybe you can use this link m8.

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-easily-repair-windows-7-boot-problems-using-startup-repair/

[Snokio]

There have been some window update problems recently, seems to be related to 64bit versions, this is where it freezes for a long time finishing an update after booting up.
 
All I did was I opened my 'windows update' in control panel, saw some sitting there, so clicked and updated and not had any problems since

[Sparko]

Right, looks like i have a rather more serious problem.

went to switch my pc on this afternoon and the same old thing it kept switching itself off.  Normally i keep switching it back on and eventually it boots.  after about 9 or 10 attempts i started to get a little worried as it never takes this long.  So i switched it back on and noticed the hdd light wasn't flashing....hmmm maybe the hardrive is knackered.

opened the case  up had a look around, decided to unhook my hdd and see if i could see anything.....nope, so i popped it back in.  Switched it back on and watched the bios screen load and noticed it still recognised my hd as being present...hmmm maybe its not my hdd, according to the bios it recognised all my components (ram, dvd drive etc..) So, i thought maybe only part of the hdd is knackerd, so me being me popped to the local computer shop and bought a new hdd, whitsleing away i installed the new hard drive completely convinced there was a fault with my old one.  Reset all cmos/bios settings to recognise the new hardrive, popped my windows 7 disc in to start a clean install...........still no activity from the hard drive :ranting2:  so wouldnt install windows, it just hung and then switched itself off again.

I then focused on the psu.  Maybe there isnt enought power for everything (even though it has been running fine before).  I took out my gfx card as that was probably what drained most of my power, re-hooked my hdmi cable to the onboard graphics and re-booted.  same thing again, booted to the blue windows screen then switched itself off.

i really dont have a clue what the hell is wrong with it.  Now i am a little thick when it comes to hardware (being more of a software guy), does anyone have any idea of what this could be, i cant understand as everything seems to be 'Alive'  :sad:

The main problem is, it keeps switching itself off and now there is no activity from the hdd.  I cant see how it could be my mobo as my gfx card's fan is still spinning and it is only powered directly from the pcie slot.

[lionheart]

Does it boot in safe mode?

Oh ok just noticed no activity, I thought it was booting to the windows bar,  does it boot to cd ?

Oh hang on, does it boot to the windows bar or not?

[smilodon]

If it won't boot into anything safe mode included, start with the cheap stuff. Check and replace the HDD cable and or try another four pin power connector (from something that is working such as DVD or blue ray player). Then you might want to look at the motherboard. I'm not hardware expert but I always start with the cheap stuff and work my way up.

[Sparko]

Does it boot in safe mode?

Oh ok just noticed no activity, I thought it was booting to the windows bar,  does it boot to cd ?

Oh hang on, does it boot to the windows bar or not?

It boots til the Windows 7 loading bar but then hangs and turns off.
When I try to boot from cd it gets to the Windows 7 blue screen with the little flowery things but then again switches itself off.

Also I disconnected my hdd and switched the pc on without it connected and it still got to the loading bar screen so basically the hdd isn't talking to the mobo, but that's what confuses me, how does the mobo know its there when its connected? This surely eliminates it being the cable?

[Blunt]

It sounds very much like the problem I had recently which required a visit to the PC hospital.
It was to do with W7 not liking the Hibernation mode.
The remedy was to bypass hiberfil and start normally then disable hibernate and remove it from the start options.
HTH

[lionheart]

Very weird, you say it gets to the loading screen when the Hd is not connected??

The loading screen is windows and would not be there if no Hd is present, if the hd was not there I would expect a bios error message.

What psu do you have?  The turning off and on at start up is a fairly common symptom of a failing psu and it getting worse would also be true.

Can't rule out a mobo issue as well, some hardware probs can only really be diagnosed by trying other bits or trying yours in another system. Got a mate that could help?

[smilodon]

I know from bitter experience that hardware can be aware of other hardware without actually being able to interact with it in any meaningful way. I'm having a similar problem with a graphics card. I wouldn't work on the assumption that as the BIOS can see the HDD the mobo must be fine. However it does suggest the cable is working. That being said swapping it for another one is a simple job, so it might still be worth trying it, if just to cross it off the list of possible causes.

[Sparko]

It sounds very much like the problem I had recently which required a visit to the PC hospital.
It was to do with W7 not liking the Hibernation mode.
The remedy was to bypass hiberfil and start normally then disable hibernate and remove it from the start options.
HTH

But I can't even boot to windows, did you not have any hdd activity either?

[Sparko]

Very weird, you say it gets to the loading screen when the Hd is not connected??

The loading screen is windows and would not be there if no Hd is present, if the hd was not there I would expect a bios error message.

Yeah I thought it was rather strange unless w7 stores that part of the boot sequence elsewhere, I was hoping i would get a BIOS boot error but nope nothing just switched off again after getting to the loading bar :sad:

[Blunt]

But I can't even boot to windows, did you not have any hdd activity either?

Nope, I pressed buttons, fans would start then stop after a few secs, then repeats the cycle. It would not boot to windows, didn't get as far as POST.
The repair ticket says

On boot, resuming from hibernate - fails to complete. Bypassed hiberfil, booted normally. Disabled Hibernate, hybrid sleep, and removed hibernate from start menu. checked error logs-nothing serious.

Then virus/anti-malware checks etc.

I don't know how he bypassed hiberfil, but I'm sure the instructions are out there.
Good luck

[Sparko]

Ok, will have another tinker around, thanks for the help guys much appreciated

[TheDvEight]

I had the same problem i loaded defualt bios settings and it fixed it