[rowdog]

Greetings all,

I have recently begun having a boot-up problem with Windows XP.

My Specs:

I have a Dell Workstation 370
XP Pro SP3
2.8 P4 HT
2 gigs ram
Radeon HD 4670 512MB PCI-e 16x

Recently upon rebooting, it will start to boot as normal, but before it hits the XP splash screen it will sit with only a prompt showing on the screen, and it appears as it is attempting to read from the floppy drive. After about 30 seconds, it will continue to the XP Splash screen, will get past it, and then sit idle on a black screen. At this point I have to remove the power to shut it back down, and attempt to boot again, only this time it will go to the option screen to boot in safe mode, last known good configuration, or as normal. Selecting boot as normal here allows it to boot up just fine.

The only things that changed on my computer before this started happening was that, I installed and played Champions Online a bit. I also updated to the most recent ATI drivers for my video card (although it rebooted just fine after installing the new drivers). The game crashed to the desktop at one point, and everything on the system was running slow, so I attempted to reboot, and it seemed locked up, so I pulled the power......this is when the problem occurred first to my knowledge.

As far as Champions crashing, I am pretty sure it was not because of my computer itself, but merely the game, as the crashes have been pretty commonly known to players at this point. However the problems loading up are new to me. Once I do get it loaded it does seem to run just fine however.

Not sure what is causing it, so I am just going through the motions here. Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated. Info you need any more info, just let me know, and thanks in advance.

Additional Info: I have since run a chkdsk with no errors found, run adaware with no issues found, and uninstalled Champions Online (just in case). Just ran malwarebytes scanner tonight, and while it was running all of the sudden my resident protection on Avast caught this.

"C:\documents and settings\administrator\local settings\temp\Tlx9C6Ng.exe.part\nsis.hdr

NSIS:FakeAV-E [Trj]"

I sent it to the chest, and the MBAM scan is still running now. Not sure if this is related or not.

Thanks again for any help.

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I suggest you go to the Malware Removal and Spyware Removal Forum and run all the steps located in the START HERE. These self-help tools will help you clean up 70% of problems on your own. If you are still having problems after doing the steps, then please post the reguested logs in THAT forum. If you are unable to run any of the tools then start a new topic in the malware forum and put this in the subject line...I am unable to run any malware tools

If you are still having problems after being given a clean bill of health from the malware expert, then please return to THIS thread and we will pursue other options to help you solve your current problem(s).

[rshaffer61]

I suggest you go to the Malware Removal and Spyware Removal Forum and run all the steps located in the START HERE. These self-help tools will help you clean up 70% of problems on your own. If you are still having problems after doing the steps, then please post the reguested logs in THAT forum. If you are unable to run any of the tools then start a new topic in the malware forum and put this in the subject line...I am unable to run any malware tools

If you are still having problems after being given a clean bill of health from the malware expert, then please return to THIS thread and we will pursue other options to help you solve your current problem(s).

[rowdog]

Thank you very much, and I will do that, much appreciated.

[rowdog]

It seems as though my system is clean as a whistle, so I am back. During the process I have narrowed down the issue I do believe, and any insight on what might be doing this would be appreciated.

At the end of my virus checkup, I went ahead and uninstalled and reinstalled Avast, and removed Avira, and sure enough, upon reboot the same problem arose. I could not get it to boot at all after several tries. So in desperation, I entered the BIOS. I checked the boot read order in there, and as one would figure, it was floppy, CD, IDE HD, usb HD (I believe that was the order). Oddly next to the IDE HD is was saying (not present). This dismayed me greatly. So I exited, and tried another boot, with no luck. At this point in a bit more desperation, I started systematically unplugging USB devices that were plugged in on bootup. I started by pulling both of my external HD's, and attempting to boot up. Sure enough it booted right up quickly, and stable. Just to be sure, I tried rebooting 3 more times....all quick, and stable. Never once did it try and read from the floppy, or hang up.

So this leads me to believe that the issue lies with the externals, or the way windows or the bios is trying to recognize them maybe? I must admit, I am miffed by this, and haven't the slightest clue on how this would happen, as I have been booting up with both those externals attached, for....well since I've had the computer. (2 years).

So, in essence I know how to fix the problem for the most part (don't attach the externals at startup), however I am left wondering why/how this could happen, and if it can be fixed, as I am a little afraid that connecting them even with the system booted could cause issues at this point.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[rshaffer61]

Do you have a floppy drive in your system?
If not then in the bios disable the floppy drive and then also look for the floppy drive seek option and disable that.
Disconnect all usb devices until we narrow this down.
In the bios make sure the boot sequence is set to
IDE HD
Cd rom
Nothing more.
Save and exit.
Does this allow boot to happen with no issues?

[rowdog]

I do in fact have a floppy drive (although it has never been used, so I am unsure if its in working order persay).

Currently it is set to read:

1: Floppy drive
2: Cd drive
3: IDE HD

There is only 1 USB connected at this point, and that is for my keyboard (it is a logitech G15, that is connected with a USB cable).

Right now it is starting fine. The problem seemed to be resolved by removing the USB's for both of my external HD's. Once this was done, it booted correctly (fast, and stable), even with the current setup above, and having the keyboard still attached.

It is just very perplexing that the external HD's that had always been connected at bootup since I got the system, would all of the sudden begin to be the cause of it hanging on startup.

Let me know if you would like me to, and I'll change the boot order to IDE HD, Cd Drive, and remove Floppy, however it does seem to be booting fine in the present order with those externals disconnected.