Intermittent Windows boots (Linux boots just fine).

[shassouneh 0]

Hi All,

let me first start by saying that my Linux boots up every time so this may likely be a hardware issue with Windows XP.

 

Breif System Specs:

 

motherboard: Soyo Dragon Plus K7V

bus/clock speed: DDR 266 (133 Mhz)

Installed memory: 1 GB

video card: Nvidia geForce 4 MX 440 128MB AGP 4x

 

Here is a breif description of the problem:

 

Windows will freeze at the splash screen (the one with the sliding bar) when it attempts to boot. Pressing the reset button and doing this 2 or 3 times eventually gets it to boot properly. Also, the BIOS seems to disable my USB ports sometimes and SOMETIMES re enabling the USB ports does the trick!

 

NOTE: Linux boots fine, and completely EVERY SINGLE TIME.

 

Can someone offer some iinsight on what's going on?

 

PS: I already searched the forum to see if I can find a similar topic, so please don't flame me

[Tomay 0]

Run memtest to see if you have memory errors.

IMHO Linux is less sensitive to most errors than windows.

 

Then try prime95 to test stability of the system (torture test for a couple of hours).

 

add /sos after /fastdetect in boot.ini found in your c:\

This setting lists the drivers when windows loads them (no sliding bar screen) and you will be able to see where it stops.

[shassouneh 0]

Thanx for the reply.

 

Is there a memtest in specific you would recommend i try or just any mem test out there? Also where can I get this prime95 ???

 

Thanx

[Brian Frank 0]

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm

 

Google is thy friend.

[shassouneh 0]

Thanx brian, I will give this a shot, and report back in this topic with my results.

 

NOTE: I don't seem to have ANY problems under Linux of this sort. Could it be a Win32 issue?

[shassouneh 0]

OK I have some data to report, based on my observations.

 

I used the /sos trick (described previously) to kind of get a more "verbose" boot up, and here is what I have to report:

 

The system boots 1 in every 4 attempts as follows

 

Boot I: freeze (see below)

Boot II: freeze (see below)

Boot III: freeze (see below)

Boot IV: Boots OK!

 

freeze: All drivers are loaded, and then I am presented with a screen that says I have one processor, and 1024Mb of installed memory, then nothing happens! Even Ctrl-Alt-Del has no effect. The reset button has to be pressed to get anywhere

 

REMINDER: My Linux boots EVERY TIME with nor problems whatsoever,

 

I am begginging to think this is something s***y with Windows XP (or win32).

 

I have not tries priime95 or memtest just yet as I was trying to get windows to boot (but I doubt its a memory issue since Linux doesn't suffer at all)

 

Can someone please offer some insight how this annoying problem (booting 25% of the time) can be fixed? Thanx

 

PS: I already have the latest version of the BIOS installed