Member Avatar for JRO

I just bought a new barebones PC

PC Specs...
Windows 2000 Pro service pack 4
Intel Chip: Intel Pentium 4 HT
RAM: 1.5 Gig
Video Card: GeForce FX 5200 256MB DDR AGP Graphics Card
Hard Drive #1: 13 Gig- (OS/Games and Programs installed here)
Hard Drive #2: 200 Gig- (Strictly for storage)
Sound Card is built in to MB

My issue after I've installed all hardware and then proceeded the software installations, I kept getting hung up @ the windows startup screen. It would just sit there until I crashed it for a restart. Every now and then it would start up fine, no problems what so ever, but then it would happen again. What could be the cause of this? Was it something with the Bios? Did hyperthreading have anything to do with this? I've never had a problem formatting and installing an OS on a PC before and this thing has me baffled.

I shouldn’t have an issue with a brand new PC/Motherboard. I don’t know if it’s just a stupid setting within the Bios or what. The other day I get the same problem starting up to the point of the crashes cause me to have to reformat the entire thing because upon start up when the PC is doing its routine start up checking…the Bios is not installed. Mind you that I’ve attempted the Safe Mode/ Recovery Console and all that other good stuff. I’m really annoyed now! So I figure the problem could just be a bad HDD so I proceed to try the install on just my 13-gig drive. Format will not go over 0% complete (crashes system). Not too happy so I try the Maxtor drive. Format is 100% and it starts the Windows 2K installation. Everything seems to go ok until I get to the actual Windows startup screen….the status bar shows that it has completed loading, but does it??? NO it doesn’t. It freezes right there with every now and then the little blue status bar just below the Window 2000 name moves and then it stops and moves maybe a few minutes later. I am beyond annoyed now. It’s to the point now where I get an error message that tell me it’s starting Windows, but doesn’t…the status bar never moves and it will cycle through a restart, over and over again. I had shut down my pc before going to bed and when I got up in the morning it was turned on. I figure that maybe I didn’t shut it down correctly so I shut it down holding the power button until it did. I use the bathroom, come back downstairs and it’s on again…I shut it down again and after just a little bit of time it starts up again. I fixed that problem by unplugging the pc and going to work.

I am at a complete loss as to what the problem could be and I’m totally clueless as how to “fix” my brand new pc. I am open to any suggestions. I have a new computer that I can’t even use without wanting to smash it to bits.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 1 Reply
  • 92 Views
  • 1 Day Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Joshua Gourgues
Member Avatar for Joshua Gourgues

OK, what you need to do is try and start it in SAFE MODE by pressing the F8 key while it's booting. Then just select SAFE MODE from the options. If it boots like that, then go to START, CONTROL PANEL, SYSTEM, HARDWARE tab, DEVICE MANAGER. Look for any items in here with RED CIRCLES with Xs in them or YELLOW triangles with EXCLAMATION POINTS in them. Log your findings in a new post on here. If it won't boot like that, then what you need to do is boot in SAFE MODE with ENABLED BOOT LOGGING...(get there by pressing F8 again during boot and selecting THAT option) That will create a log file in the Windows 2000 folder named ntbtlog.txt . It will also list the drivers as it's loading. Wherever your problem is, that will be the last driver that it's trying to load. So whichever one it freezes on, that's the issue (or at leasst 1 of the issues). Try that and then let me know the outcome and we'll diagnose it further from there!

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.