[chris547]

I have a nice HP Phoenix H9-1033 which is now 6 years old which is standard spec except that I fitted an extra 3TB Seagate hard drive.  I upgraded from Windows 7 to windows 8 to windows 10. It has run great for ages however now it does not want to boot up. It will awaken if I put it to sleep however I prefer to close it down every night.

 

HP have a blue screen which appears however it sometimes hangs. If I go away for an hour or repeatedly switch it on and off it does open a recovery function which often works but sometimes not.

 

At other times I get a black screen and it stays black.

 

At other times the black screen can have a flashing cursor top left. Sometimes the circle of dots runs, sometimes not.

 

I have used the diagnostics provided by HP and their SMART test on the hardware which tests OK. I concluded that I might have corrupt windows files and did try replacing the windows apps files which did not produce a miracle cure.

 

I thought now I should ask for some expert advice from  someone with special knowledge and appeal for some help please. 

 

 

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Thank you for such a prompt response.

 

I checked the drivers and quite a few, 12, did update on the chipset, and also the express controller, enhanced host controller. After doing this (over an hour) I rebooted as Windows instructed however it did not start. I left it on the HP Blue Screen (HPBS) and went to make tea, returned 5 mins later and saw a few Orange blinks on the case (hard disk activity) so I left it, the HPBS disappeared, black screen appeared with the blinking cursor top left.After half an hour the 4 blue paned window came up on the black screen, much hard disk activity for a few minutes and then the circle of dots appeared about 15 minutes later and spun round. The dots turned for about half an hour and finally the blue wireless adapter light on the case appeared followed by the Windows log in screen.

 

                                                   --------------------oOo------------------

 

 I don't have any Minidump files so decided to switch off. Bad idea as it would not reboot. Kept getting the HPBS and kept switching off and then on again 4 times which triggers the recovery partition , then a black screen, 4 paned windows, then circle of dots, then windows log on screen  however all this takes about 15 minutes

 

                                               --------------------oOo------------------

 

I used powershell (admin) to configure automatic dumps and logged out and back in. I had a lot of bother to reboot as above only to find there were no dump files. Still have the same difficulty trying to boot up. I tried the sfc /scannow without a switch to fix any errors however it never found any integrity issues. I had done this myself about a week ago and never found any violation.

 

I looked at the Corrona site however I do not get a windows blue screen of death, just the HPBS which is stage 1 of a boot but I just hang rather than an actual crash. I just come to a halt before windows starts up. There are no bleeps from the mother board. Startup just halts.

 

If I look under "computer management" there are loads of log files but none are to do with booting or crashes, they are just routine events and stuff and audits which are all passes.

 

The computer runs fine, it regularly updates most days however it just will not boot up unless you trigger the recovery files on the hidden partition on the C drive. I'll do an "F2" interruption if you like to see where the PC is looking and the order when it needs to boot if you think that might help. It's as if it looks where there is no boot info to read and the only place it can be read is on the recovery partition

[chris547]

Thank you for such a prompt response.

 

I checked the drivers and quite a few, 12, did update on the chipset, and also the express controller, enhanced host controller. After doing this (over an hour) I rebooted as Windows instructed however it did not start. I left it on the HP Blue Screen (HPBS) and went to make tea, returned 5 mins later and saw a few Orange blinks on the case (hard disk activity) so I left it, the HPBS disappeared, black screen appeared with the blinking cursor top left.After half an hour the 4 blue paned window came up on the black screen, much hard disk activity for a few minutes and then the circle of dots appeared about 15 minutes later and spun round. The dots turned for about half an hour and finally the blue wireless adapter light on the case appeared followed by the Windows log in screen.

 

                                                   --------------------oOo------------------

 

 I don't have any Minidump files so decided to switch off. Bad idea as it would not reboot. Kept getting the HPBS and kept switching off and then on again 4 times which triggers the recovery partition , then a black screen, 4 paned windows, then circle of dots, then windows log on screen  however all this takes about 15 minutes

 

                                               --------------------oOo------------------

 

I used powershell (admin) to configure automatic dumps and logged out and back in. I had a lot of bother to reboot as above only to find there were no dump files. Still have the same difficulty trying to boot up. I tried the sfc /scannow without a switch to fix any errors however it never found any integrity issues. I had done this myself about a week ago and never found any violation.

 

I looked at the Corrona site however I do not get a windows blue screen of death, just the HPBS which is stage 1 of a boot but I just hang rather than an actual crash. I just come to a halt before windows starts up. There are no bleeps from the mother board. Startup just halts.

 

If I look under "computer management" there are loads of log files but none are to do with booting or crashes, they are just routine events and stuff and audits which are all passes.

 

The computer runs fine, it regularly updates most days however it just will not boot up unless you trigger the recovery files on the hidden partition on the C drive. I'll do an "F2" interruption if you like to see where the PC is looking and the order when it needs to boot if you think that might help. It's as if it looks where there is no boot info to read and the only place it can be read is on the recovery partition

[chris547]

 SeaTools for Windows v1.4.0.4 ---------------

02/08/2017 02:37:50

Model Number: Hitachi HDS721010DLE630

Serial Number: MSK5215H133T0G

Firmware Revision: MS2OA5R0

SMART - Started 02/08/2017 02:37:50

SMART - Pass 02/08/2017 02:37:55

SMART - Started 02/08/2017 02:45:53

SMART - Pass 02/08/2017 02:45:59

Long Generic - Started 02/08/2017 02:50:58

Long Generic - Pass 02/08/2017 04:54:50

[chris547]

I have looked at the HP Vision Hardware Diagnostics and the following all pass;

 

CPU

Hard Drive connection

Boot Test

SMART test

Memory test

 

                                  -----------------------------------oOo----------------------

 

I have also looked at the boot up device sequence and the computer is using the first option:

 

UEFI Boot Source

ATAPI CD/DVD Drive

SATA 2

Hard Drive

SATA 0

SATA 3

Network Controller (Realtek PXE B06 D00)

 

 

                               -------------------oOo---------------------

 

If I make a guess it is updating the drivers that is solving things as my last 2 boots were fast and trouble free. I am going to check all the drivers again while I wait for your next response. I suspect we have fixed the problem however I am being cautious. I have a automatic update program for Intel and it looks like it was not functional however getting windows to check each hardware component for the latest driver seems to be a more effective thing to do at least for the chipsets.

[chris547]

I have installed Intel Driver Update Utility and further updating resulted. My logon screen now appears in about 30 seconds so I believe I should mark my issue as solved unless you have any further advice.

 

Thank you for your clear thinking.