Topic: A right turn off

[cleo]

This has me baffled.My machine is old it`s true. I`m running windows XP and if I shut down normally it re-boots OK the next time I want to use it.

BUT..............if I shut down normally and then turn off at the mains it`s a nightmare to get the machine to load windows again-an hour is the record but 20 mins of frustration is common.

OK I leave the mains on now,but the next time we have a power cut??

Is there any logic behind this?,if so is there a cure? ???

[cleo]

Hee Hee-20 looks and no answer-told you it was odd ???

[saddad]

Mine is so old it won't run XP at all...
 :-[

[Riffster]

Cleo,

Can you describe exactly what happens when you try to get the machine going after a "cold" start.

Does the Bios Screens show up ( i.e. the black & white screens )

Does it try to boot into windows ?

Does it appear if there is no power at all ?

Any messages at all ?

[cleo]

Hi ,thanks for replying.

Yes the BIOS screen appears,then windows starts to load but then fails. It can take ages of re-booting etc to get windows to load. I`ve tried it in different modes but nothing much seems to help.

I always get the `countdown` message saying windows could not open properly.

[asbean]

have you tried booting into safe mode, then shutting down normally?  A good idea would be then to run scandisk to check for any probs.

[davholla]

I think that maybe the battery in the PC could be flat, but I could be wrong.

[cleo]

A good idea would be then to run scandisk to check for any probs.

Yes-someone on a site in the US suggested that. Her prognosis was not too good. So I`m hanging on hoping that the hard drive will last long enough for me to afford a new machine

[cleo]

I think that maybe the battery in the PC could be flat, but I could be wrong.
 
 
 
Well this dear thing is getting on a bit-thanks for the tip

[cleo]

Thanks everyone. I ran scan disk and no problems. But thanks to your replies I now know the questions to ask -so I rang a mate of mine who knows about these things and was told there is a battery on the mother board that might be dead.

Beyond me but a local chap charges £17.50 an hour -cheaper than buying a new computer ;D

[Baccy Man]

If it was a cmos battery problem then the time and date should be wrong every time you boot up, it would also hang at the bios screen not whilst windows is loading.
I would start by looking at the drives as you have already run scandisk to confirm the hard drive is healthy the next step would be to disconnect the cd/dvd drives (link showing connections here) if it boots normally then you've found the problem. If not then I would check through the bios settings to ensure all drives are identified correctly. If everything appeares to be correct but the computer still won't boot normally then I would strip it back to a barebone system & rebuild it one component at a time until I found the problem.

[davholla]

If it was a cmos battery problem then the time and date should be wrong every time you boot up, it would also hang at the bios screen not whilst windows is loading.
I would start by looking at the drives as you have already run scandisk to confirm the hard drive is healthy the next step would be to disconnect the cd/dvd drives (link showing connections here) if it boots normally then you've found the problem. If not then I would check through the bios settings to ensure all drives are identified correctly. If everything appeares to be correct but the computer still won't boot normally then I would strip it back to a barebone system & rebuild it one component at a time until I found the problem.

Good advice.  Cleo is the time correct or not when you turn it on ?

[cleo]

Thanks again for all the help and advice. The clock is running fine so I guess it`s not the battery then.

Maybe it`s time to get someone round to give it the once over-and £17.50 an hour sounds pretty reasonable to me

[Cuke]

It makes no real sense (aren't computers great....), there shouldn't be a difference between the mains being on or off... Once the PC is off it's not taking power from the mains regardless of the plug being on or off....

You say you have to do loads of re-boots to get Windows to load, the implication being that you keep hitting the same problem a load of times before Windows, at some point, decides to get past that point and load normally.

Is there any message other than the 'countdown' message you describe, perhaps one that appears just before this one even if it's only on screen for a second?

The random way it boots once in a blue moon sounds to me like a hard disk problem of some kind (don't trust scandisk to be foolproof on that front) but that doesn't explain why it only happens when the mains has been turned off. Unless something somewhere is still drawing power when it's been turned off for some reason....

lol not very helpful I admit....

[calendula]

I don't know about PC's as I'm a mac fan but one reason it could be a problem only when the mains are turned off is that it isn't actually shutting down properly, i.e. if you don't turn the mains off it is actually in some sort of sleep mode and so starts up ok - this can and does happen sometimes, even though it appears to be shut down - just a thought

[cleo]

It makes no real sense (aren't computers great....),

 just a thought

Thanks both ;D

Who knows what is up?-it`s still booting up fine at the moment,but then I haven`t turned the mains off and we haven`t had a power cut!!. If I `vanish` for more than a week then

1-I`m on holiday

2-It died and I`m in the process of getting a new machine

[Multiveg]

If you can, do backups of anything - pictures, documents. Put them onto a cd, or perhaps look into online storage.
I know that some motherboards still draw power if the mains plug is in and switched on, even if the computer is off.
Perhaps turn mains switch on and wait a few minutes before turning on the computer?