[kazzagreen]

I have been having problems getting my pc to boot for a while now and I have been using 'last known good configuration' to get it going for about 2 months.

The that stopped working and it just wouldn't boot. I tried various things and ended up with just a blinking cursor when I switch on.

I sent it to a pc repair shop who said they tested the hard drives and seeing as they are fine then the MB or disc controller must be bad. They said I should buy a new MB or scrap the pc.

I just wondered if a boot problem could be causing the problem rather than the MB and if there is anything i can try before scrapping the machine.

The OS is OEM and I don't have discs but I have a copy of XP home from another PC.

Will try anything before scrapping the PC so suggestions gratefully received.

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Welcome to G2G

Yes, there are a number of things you could try....

1. An obvious one which you may have already tried is booting up in safe mode.

2. It's shame you don't have a copy of the OEM OS for that system but if your copy of XP from another system is a retail version then you could use that to reinstall XP on the computer (so long as it's only installed on one system at any one time to be in accordance with the EULA requirements). If you do this though, I would recommend completely wiping the drive (re-partitioning or at least reformatting) first.

3. If the problem looks like it isn't a software/driver/OS issue, then it could be caused by another bit of hardware. other than the motherboard. While this doesn't help much at the moment, it's worth bearing in mind before scrapping the system!

4. If you want to double check the repair shops opinion that the hard disk is fine, then I suggest you go to the hard drive manufacturer's website & download the appropriate diagnostic tool (most manufacturers provide a DOD based tool to allow you to boot the system from floppy/CD).


Let me know if you decide to try any of these ideas & if so, what the outcome is....

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G

Yes, there are a number of things you could try....

1. An obvious one which you may have already tried is booting up in safe mode.

2. It's shame you don't have a copy of the OEM OS for that system but if your copy of XP from another system is a retail version then you could use that to reinstall XP on the computer (so long as it's only installed on one system at any one time to be in accordance with the EULA requirements). If you do this though, I would recommend completely wiping the drive (re-partitioning or at least reformatting) first.

3. If the problem looks like it isn't a software/driver/OS issue, then it could be caused by another bit of hardware. other than the motherboard. While this doesn't help much at the moment, it's worth bearing in mind before scrapping the system!

4. If you want to double check the repair shops opinion that the hard disk is fine, then I suggest you go to the hard drive manufacturer's website & download the appropriate diagnostic tool (most manufacturers provide a DOD based tool to allow you to boot the system from floppy/CD).


Let me know if you decide to try any of these ideas & if so, what the outcome is....