[Phylactery]

*hopefully I put this in the right location mods*

I’m helping my nephew figure out what’s wrong with his computer.

Specs:

OP System: XP
Chip: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8GHz
Motherboard: Abbit-IC7 (875 socket)


I was getting this message:

“CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck – CPU SOFT MENU”

…then I get the option to:

“Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter SETUP”

I pressed DEL…went to setup and changed the speed from “user defined” to “2800”.

It did take away the message and moved on to another screen but it stopped with the message:

“We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent hardware or software change might have caused this.”

And it goes on to give you the options:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Last known good Configuration………

Start Windows Normally

I’ve tried them all and I get the same result; it just restarts all over again or gets stuck trying to load the basic drivers.

Any suggestions?

He doesn't have the original OS CD's...

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You should try to reset your BIOS setting by clearing your CMOS setting (Unplug from wall, remove battery and short the CMOS jumpers) it seems like someone played with the CPU settings in BIOS.

Remember to enter the right date and time after resetting your CMOS.

Hope that helps

[Alzeimer]

You should try to reset your BIOS setting by clearing your CMOS setting (Unplug from wall, remove battery and short the CMOS jumpers) it seems like someone played with the CPU settings in BIOS.

Remember to enter the right date and time after resetting your CMOS.

Hope that helps

[Phylactery]

No luck...

Took out the battery, unplugged the mother board and defaulted to CMOS default settings.

[Alzeimer]

Was worth trying,

Do you get any BSOD before it restarts, is it XP home or pro. In the pro one when you press F8 to get to the safe mode ect screen there is an option to DO NOT RESTART AUTOMATICALY ON SYSTEM FAILURE. If you have this option choose it, it might help to diagnose the resons it restarts.

Also you can unplug everything except the necessary hardware (Video, 1 Ram, Keyboard) plus your hard disk with windows on it, unplug any other HDD if any and make sure your jumper setting are set to Master only.

I think your board has Ide and Sata option for your HDD make sure the settings in BIOS is set accordingly to your HDD type and disable the other option in the Boot option.

Also for your information the socket is 478 and the chipset is Intel 875

Edited by Alzeimer, 26 May 2010 - 05:27 PM.

[Phylactery]

BSOD?

XP Pro.

F8 isn't an option......only "DEL" or "Alt+F2".

I unplugged everything but the basics you talked about...same result.

HDD?

Right, it's 478 socket....my bad.

[Alzeimer]

BSOD = Blue Screen of Death, It is a screen that shows up when Windows has a critical failure. It has messages of what went wrong with the computer and can greatly help technicians figure out what is causing the error.

F8 is not shown in the option at your computer post but if you press F8 repeatably before windows starts loading (at first post keep on pressing) it should bring you to the menu where you can choose between:

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

Last known good Configuration………

Start Windows Normally

If you have a version of XP that offers to turn off the Automatic Restart you should have a line that says “Disable Automatic Restart”.

[Phylactery]

No need to press F8. It gets to those options all by itself. I've tried all of them. It either freezes up on me and I never get to see the usual Windows greeting of a moving bar followed by a less then a second blue screen with text too quick for me to make out. Could this be BSOD?

No option for "automatic restart" is available.

[reconman]

followed by a less then a second blue screen with text too quick for me to make out. Could this be BSOD?

Yes, that would be a BSOD.

The computer my family uses has the same error message. I don't use that computer as I've built my own a few years back and never bothered to see what caused the message.

That being said, my dad said he went into the bios and changed some settings and that fixed it but some how it came back up again. He can't remember what he changed and hasn't bothered trying a second time but pressing F1 has been the routine for booting up that computer ever since.

Have you tried pressing F1?

And when you first boot up the computer, the process is known as "POST", you're not in DOS

Edited by reconman, 27 May 2010 - 01:50 AM.

[Alzeimer]

No need to press F8. It gets to those options all by itself. I've tried all of them. It either freezes up on me and I never get to see the usual Windows greeting of a moving bar followed by a less then a second blue screen with text too quick for me to make out. Could this be BSOD?

No option for "automatic restart" is available.

Yes it is probably the BSOD that you see flashing before it restarts.

Other reasons for restarting could be:

Corrupted XP boot files
Corrupted Drivers
Malfunctionning HDD
Overheating PCU (processor)
Malfunctionning PSU (Power Supply Unit)
Malfunctionning RAM

With the error codes we could maybe pinpoint more easely the problem now you will just have to teast more things.

[Phylactery]

followed by a less then a second blue screen with text too quick for me to make out. Could this be BSOD?

Yes, that would be a BSOD.

The computer my family uses has the same error message. I don't use that computer as I've built my own a few years back and never bothered to see what caused the message.

That being said, my dad said he went into the bios and changed some settings and that fixed it but some how it came back up again. He can't remember what he changed and hasn't bothered trying a second time but pressing F1 has been the routine for booting up that computer ever since.

Have you tried pressing F1?

And when you first boot up the computer, the process is known as "POST", you're not in DOS

[font="Trebuchet MS"]F1 didn't do anything and I don't see it an option anywhere.[/font]

[Phylactery]

No need to press F8. It gets to those options all by itself. I've tried all of them. It either freezes up on me and I never get to see the usual Windows greeting of a moving bar followed by a less then a second blue screen with text too quick for me to make out. Could this be BSOD?

No option for "automatic restart" is available.

Yes it is probably the BSOD that you see flashing before it restarts.

Other reasons for restarting could be:

Corrupted XP boot files
Corrupted Drivers
Malfunctionning HDD
Overheating PCU (processor)
Malfunctionning PSU (Power Supply Unit)
Malfunctionning RAM

With the error codes we could maybe pinpoint more easely the problem now you will just have to teast more things.

What next?