System locks up at start up

[osequi]

My sister has a 3-4 yr old pc celeron ( I believe compaq or hp) recently she started having problems when she turns her system on. At start up the system goes through and loads win 98 very very slow. The system will give her a fatal error message and the system goes down. I looked at the computer last night, didn't open the box. I tried to get to safe mode and couldn't remember which friggin key initiated the progrom. I was able to to delete norton utilties, one of the programs locking up, and run resource meter. The program showed continous use of 100%.

She has approximately a gig of hd space available and on the surface everything seems ok. I don't know if the cpu is going bad or the ram sticks or the mb for that matter.

I know it would help to have the specs but any clues as to what might be going on.

osequi

[newme]

have youdone full virus scan, check for viruses, what is the error box description.if its hp you can get into safe mode with f10 or f8

[osequi]

She had an old anti virus program that came with the system. It's a packard bell not an hp. I doubt she ever upgraded the program. I tried logging on to the interent to download pc cillin. I connected at 7200 and then the system crashed.

osequi

[newme]

do you know what the fatal exception error log said that will give a clue to what is wrong

[osequi]

I know this sound strange but it was 11:00 p.m. so I wasn't in the best of moods. One was an explorer error and I can't remember the other one. The task manager showed explorer not responding and one other item. When you tried to end task I got the blue screen which stated the system was busy or stop responding.
If I could get into safe mode I could disable all the startup programs which is where it seemed to hang. One more thing I ran the system information to see if there any conflicts and none were reported.
osequi

[newme]

well if there was internet explorer error it will say >internet explorer cause an error in (here it should give the module in question) see if you can find that out.and if you want ot get to startup items >go to run>type"msconfig">select startup

[Cricket]

Hi osequi,

Do you know if the system restore CD was ever used on that Packard Bell? The reason I'm asking is because Windows will start to get pretty funky the longer it'sleft on the hard drive...it actually degrades over time. That's why a lot of us will format and re-install Windows at least once a year (some will do it twice a year or more). Using the restore CD will make your sister's computer run like new again...only problem is the computer must be in the same configuration as when it was purchased.

Cricket

[osequi]

Hi Cricket she screwed up her pc about a year or two ago and had to use the restore. So I believe she still has it. No upgrades to this pc. I do have a new hd to install but I can wait till after we try and restore the system.

osequi

[osequi]

Thanks Newme will try that. She put a bunch of junk that might be taking up valuable resources.

osequi

[GaryRouth]

Just a reminder note: the Packard Bell system restore will probably erase all her personal data, so she'll want to have backups of what she wishes to keep. And scan those backups for viruses before restoring them to the system after the reinstall is complete.

An up-to-date free online scan is available at the same site you were at for PC Cillin, but it takes a long, long time to download the definitions and program on a slow modem. If you can get a satisfactory connection (at least 33.6k), then give HouseCall a try at http://www.trendmicro.com

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[GoldenSpike]

If the system constantly lock up at startup or just after windows desktop is displayed it might be that the cach is going bad. I've had 2 CPU's do the same thing you posted and both had bad cach. I hope not! Good luck.

[osequi]

Gary, I'm almost tempted to pull her hd and put in mine and scan it and back up the info for her because you can't do anything without it locking up!

Paul

[osequi]

Golden if that's the case, the system is old enough that I don't think I could even come up with a cpu for her. I might as well go out and get a new mb, cpu and ram and build one. ( I'm starting to like this building stuff! Lol

osequi

[GaryRouth]

Can't see why you couldn't slave the drive for an antivirus scan. Sounds like a time-saver in the long run, if it behaves itself when slaved anyway. If you suspect hardware is at fault for any of her troubles, you might as well help her check that too. Test the memory with something like DocMemory http://www.simmtester.com. Use disk diagnostics from her hard drive's manufacturer's website. Check the system temps in the motherboard's bios setup screens (usually under "Hardware Monitor" or "PC Health"). To test GoldenSpikes suspicion about the cache going bad: you can disable it in the bios setup also. Things will run very slowly when you do this of course, but if the system is all of a not-so-sudden stable, then it could point to bad cache.

If it's locking up badly in Safe Mode, then it really does seem like you want to test the hardware as much as you can. Especially if it locks up in Safe Mode even after you run the System Restore disks. That would almost certainly point to hardware.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[osequi]

Gary thanks for the simtester site. I downloaded the info and will run it this weekend. Thanks

paul