Metropol

hello everyone,

My pc running windows xp always crashes / freezes up at some point during a cold boot up. I can press the restart button on the pc and eventually get to a full boot up, but it is mystifying me what is wrong.

I have tried reformating the C drive, reinstalling xp from disc, reapplying the xp updates and service pack 2 from windows update, and checking (as best I know how) that all hardware drivers are up to date.
Yet the problem continues.

However if I was to shutdown my pc now, then start a 'cold' boot up straight away, the likelihood is that it would start up fine. ie it seems to be a problem when the pc has been totally shutdown for at least 20 minutes or so.

In case it helps for detail, I can say that during a totally cold boot up I can hear some kind of low level 'whining' from somewhere within the pc, which stops after a minute or so. This makes me wonder if there is something mechanical going wrong, but only when the pc is cold.

thanks for any wisdom,
lee

this sounds to me like your hard disk is on the verge of failure and this symptom is very common.

the hard disk is one of the few moving parts inside your pc and it's just one of those things which can and does fail frequently. what you're hearing is the internal parts of drive contracting and expanding as it heats up and cools down with use. usually a squeaking or whirring noise. it will evetually turn into a banging noise which is not good and indicates catastropic failure.

the only solution to this really to buy another hard disk. you can get a high capacity drive (80-100gb) for under 50 quid, even from pc world.

i'd recommend you backup anything you want to keep straightaway and think about getting a hard drive to replace it. it could last months like this or it could fail tomorrow.

thanks for that;
It sounds like you've made a considered reply there.

Is a hard disc something I could take out / fit myself ? I'm not specifically a pc expert or anything.

thanks again,
lee

Replacing a hard drive is surprisingly easy, and there are lots of advice sites with illustrations. As you are only swapping one drive for another, making the connections is straightforward.

Advice on replacing a drive

The whirring or scaping noise is a dead giveaway that your drive is on its last legs. I've consigned a couple to the dustbin. I would do what the Dr advised and back up all your data.

Have a look at http://www.ebuyer.co.uk for a replacement.

The link Gavin has provided is specific to IDE drives.

If your motherboard supports SATA drives, you might consider replacing with one of these types of drives, or if not, purchasing a PCI card with SATA connectors along with a SATA drive.

The advantage of SATA is that there is no longer any bother over master / slave drive jumper settings, and the cables are much narrower, thereby not preventing good ventilation like the old parallel IDE cables, and importantly the data transfer rate over the cable is higher at 150 MByte/s, rather than 133 MByte/s or perhaps 100 MByte/s for the IDE driver.

For a good overview on the relative merits of different drives, take a look at

<http://www.storagereview.COM>

thanks for your further replies;
you see, it's the increasing detail there which kind of confirms I need to take the pc to a shop to get the job done for me !
It so happens the pc was bought locally in 2003 and the store still exists.
I suppose the labour will probably double the cost, though, but that's life I suppose.

By the way, just to backtrack to my originally mentioned problem of freezing during boot up ... do you believe that it is indeed my hard drive which is causing that?

thanks again,
lee

fernando wrote:thanks for your further replies;
you see, it's the increasing detail there which kind of confirms I need to take the pc to a shop to get the job done for me !

Please don't be intimidated by the additional detail Corin presented. Whilst it is interesting reading for advanced pc users, it wasn't particularly helpful to what was clearly a novice request. No offense, Corin.

It so happens the pc was bought locally in 2003 and the store still exists.

It's your choice, but you can either do it yourself for the cost of a hard drive (£35 for an 80Gb from ebuyer), or spend up to £200 for someone to do it for you in the shop. You will also be paying for the hard drive with the usual high street mark-up slapped on.

The hard drive in your pc has all the information you need to replace it on a label stuck on the back of it. Read the site I linked to above and familiarise yourself with the inside of a pc.

By the way, just to backtrack to my originally mentioned problem of freezing during boot up ... do you believe that it is indeed my hard drive which is causing that?

It is the most likely cause of your problem.

Gavin Scott wrote:No offense, Corin.

None taken, but how do you know for sure that Fernando has an IDE disk in his PC, or where you just taking a guess based on probability?

Corin wrote:

Gavin Scott wrote:No offense, Corin.

None taken, but how do you know for sure that Fernando has an IDE disk in his PC, or where you just taking a guess based on probability?

I am indeed playing the numbers game. Discs wear out after a year or so of good use, and there are millions of generic 2 year old machines out there.

Besides, once Lee has taken the biggest step - which is to open the machine up - then I think he would benefit from solving his own problem, not least by saving a few quid. As he would be installing a blank drive, he wouldn't have to worry about the biggest pc catastrophe - data loss.

Seems like the perfect scenario to learn how computers work and fix a problem before it happens.

Corin wrote:

Gavin Scott wrote:No offense, Corin.

None taken, but how do you know for sure that Fernando has an IDE disk in his PC, or where you just taking a guess based on probability?

Because it will usually be an IDE disk drive.

SATA disk drives are, at this moment in time, not something you usually find in machines that you buy from Dell or PC World or wherever. They often turn up in home/custom build systems. There may be exceptions though to this rule.

thankyou all again;
i should know about all my hardware from my recent efforts to locate and update drivers for everything ....
I've just looked again via windows and my hard drive details are :


I believe I have a Jetway motherboard, but I don't know if that is anything to do with the C hard drive ... ?
There are also 3 IDE channels, whatever they are ....
various hardware parts are made by SiS ...

So do I have a faulty 'hard disc' or 'hard drive' ? Or are they both the same thing ?

I will refer to this thread again when I look into dealing with this; I have just backed up a few documents and folders.

Trouble is though, I have been unemployed for ages and right now I have absolutely no money; I can't cope on the tiny benefit amount and have exceeded my already high overdraft limit. The bank have blocked any further outgoings, so I can't even buy food or pay crutial bills at the moment.

By the way, my dad has a spare unused pc which is in 'reserve' in case mine breaks down in some way, so is this probably an excellent time to start using that one ?!
It does however make 'creaking' noises when it processes, so I don't know if that means that it too has some kind of hard disc problem.