Forum Articles
  Welcome back Join CF
You are here You are here: Home | Forum | PC won't boot up

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most of the discussions, articles and other free features. By joining our Virgin Media community you will have full access to all discussions, be able to view and post threads, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload your own images/photos, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please join our community today.


Welcome to Cable Forum
Go Back   Cable Forum > Computers & IT > General IT Discussion

PC won't boot up
Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 21-02-2009, 20:04   #1
Mike
cf.mega poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 63
Posts: 2,242
Mike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful one
PC won't boot up

Hi all

Just been around to my mums and her PC will not boot up.....

Get to the blue window load screen then goes to a black screen which

Master Drive *********
Slave Drive Nothing
Secondary master *********
Secondary slave ***********

Etc etc

All had details apart from Slave drive I think.....

Then get to bottom of screen and states something like

ACTPI load from CD-rom failure

And then goes back to the first window load screen

Tried safe mode and went through all the options but nothing worked.

I did find a CD installation disc for a wireless router in one of the drives but took that out and still would not boot up.

If would be great if someone had some ideas on a possible fix

Many thanks for your time

Regards

Mike
Mike is offline   Reply With Quote
Advertisement
Old 21-02-2009, 20:17   #2
Dai
Inactive
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lincoln UK
Age: 77
Services: 50Mb, TV & Phone
Posts: 3,673
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Send a message via MSN to Dai
Re: PC won't boot up

The system is not finding a master boot disk.

The ACPI error message probably resulted from it trying to boot from the CD and not finding valid boot files on there.

First thing I would do is check the cable connections to the hard disk. Pull and re-connect the data and power cables. Also try listening to the hard disk or putting a finger on the top to try and tell if it is spinning up.
Dai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-02-2009, 21:07   #3
Strzelecki
Inactive
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Essex
Age: 43
Services: 80/20Mbps FTTC on Freeola
Posts: 871
Strzelecki has reached the bronze age
Strzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze age
Re: PC won't boot up

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaiNasty View Post
The system is not finding a master boot disk.

The ACPI error message probably resulted from it trying to boot from the CD and not finding valid boot files on there.
If he's managed to try Safe Mode then he's getting it to boot from the hard disk but windows is refusing to load. The CD boot message is probably just a standard one it display on POST when no bootable CD is in the drive because the BIOS is set to check the optical drive first.

If you have tried Safe Mode do you get a Blue Screen Of Death or does it just flick on the screen and then reboot? Things to try would be a memory test using memtest (www.ultimatebootcd.com) and a chkdsk /r from booting off the windows disk and going into rescue mode.

If this doesn't work and the machine doesn't endless reboot but hald on a BSOD then let us know what the error says.
Strzelecki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-02-2009, 21:28   #4
Dai
Inactive
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lincoln UK
Age: 77
Services: 50Mb, TV & Phone
Posts: 3,673
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Send a message via MSN to Dai
Re: PC won't boot up

My mistake.. I looked at the rows of asterisks and misunderstood. Thought he meant that no data was showing.

Forget I was here.. Move along now, nothing to see..
Dai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-02-2009, 21:32   #5
zing_deleted
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Re: PC won't boot up

He does not say he gets into safe mode he says he has tried all the options.

The fail to load from cd rom simply means there is not a disc in the drive its meaningless. As it appears he is getting the option of safe mode the disc is seem its just corrupt so my advice is a repair install

There is a complicated way of running a system restore from recovery console if you fancy a challenge

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarge...167895,00.html#
  Reply With Quote
Old 21-02-2009, 23:16   #6
Strzelecki
Inactive
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Essex
Age: 43
Services: 80/20Mbps FTTC on Freeola
Posts: 871
Strzelecki has reached the bronze age
Strzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze ageStrzelecki has reached the bronze age
Re: PC won't boot up

Never said he was getting into safe mode, I said 'If he's managed to try Safe Mode..'. As well as the link Zing suggested you could try building a Ultimate Boot CD 4 Win (modified bartPe boot cd), which boots into an XP environment straight from a CD (much like Linux 'Live' CDs) and has a restore program on it which can use the windows restore points to try and get the machine up and running. It also has loads of other stuff to try and diagnose problems.
Strzelecki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-02-2009, 23:19   #7
zing_deleted
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Re: PC won't boot up

And I never said you did
  Reply With Quote
Old 22-02-2009, 15:06   #8
Mike
cf.mega poster
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 63
Posts: 2,242
Mike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful oneMike is the helpful one
Re: PC won't boot up

Quote:
Originally Posted by zinglebarb View Post
He does not say he gets into safe mode he says he has tried all the options.

The fail to load from cd rom simply means there is not a disc in the drive its meaningless. As it appears he is getting the option of safe mode the disc is seem its just corrupt so my advice is a repair install

There is a complicated way of running a system restore from recovery console if you fancy a challenge

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarge...167895,00.html#
Just to confirm I get to then screen which offers safe mode, last know good configuration, etc etc but which ever option I chose it just goes back to the load windows screen and then CR rom failure as mentioned in my first post.

Problem is the PC is old and mum has not got any of the original discs such as windows etc.

Any more ideas gratefully received.

Many thanks

Mike
Mike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-02-2009, 18:28   #9
Noggo
Inactive
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Kidderminster
Services: VM XL broadband, Sky+ TV and BT phone
Posts: 670
Noggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation eraNoggo has entered a golden reputation era
Re: PC won't boot up

I would suggest getting SeaTools for DOS and test the master HDD. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...ls/seatooldreg
either Floppy or CD-rom image available
Noggo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-02-2009, 18:37   #10
Dai
Inactive
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lincoln UK
Age: 77
Services: 50Mb, TV & Phone
Posts: 3,673
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Dai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronzeDai is cast in bronze
Send a message via MSN to Dai
Re: PC won't boot up

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike View Post
Just to confirm I get to then screen which offers safe mode, last know good configuration, etc etc but which ever option I chose it just goes back to the load windows screen and then CR rom failure as mentioned in my first post.

Mike
Just an 'off the wall' thought, as the CD drive keeps cropping up.

I'm thinking perhaps that drive is borked in some way.
Try disconnecting this drive and trying boot again.

It's a long shot but it shouldn't keep giving any error message.
Dai is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:40.


Server: osmium.zmnt.uk
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
All Posts and Content are © Cable Forum