Thread: Boot/Startup problem

My machine is a run of the mill PC running Windows XP with AMD processor, 512Mb of ram, two hard drives and two DVD read/writers; Nvidea 5200 card with 128mb onboard memory.

I am experiencing an intermittent problem on bootup. When I press the computer's power switch the PC goes through some of its startup sequence (CD drives light up, hard drives start to spin) but then, that's it. The monitor is powered up but stays blank - obviously it is not getting any signal from the computer's video card - no error messages - nothing at all. No matter how long I wait, nothing else happens.

If I switch everything off and try powering up again, it may or may not boot up normally. The problem began yesterday when I had to power up three times before the system properly started, and today I had to power up three times again.

I wonder if the power supply could be faulty, specifically the 12v feed to the motherboard, as anything powered from its 5v supply seems to be OK. The machine is on its third power supply as the two previous ones developed faults.

I am reluctant to switch the machine off in case I cannot get it going again!

Power supply is one option, other ones to look at are the graphics card or ram, try another graphics card if you can and maybe run a memtest on your ram

I developed the same boot problems when a usb hub stopped working so may be worth unplugging all/any usb devices before booting.

Thank you Tech-Master and Ferret, for your suggestions in response to my plea for assistance regarding a boot/startup problem. I am surprised to learn that a USB hub failure could halt the bootup of my PC. I never would have thought of that possibility. As it happens I do have a non-powered 4 port USB hub permanently plugged into one of my PC's USB ports. I have always had problems with it, in that I have to unplug from the hub, then replug, the USB connector for my mouse, immediately after bootup, or else the mouse will not function.

I will unplug the USB hub before attempting the next boot-up. Before then I will run a memory test as suggested by Tech-Master. I don't have a spare graphics card but I'm due for an upgrade anyway, so if all else fails I'll use that as an excuse to buy a more up-to-date card.

May I thank both of you again for your much appreciated suggestions. I will post another response in due course, to update you as to how I've got on with sorting out this problem.

Just to update Ferret and Tech-Master that the start/bootup problem disappeared when I removed my USB hub connector from the PC.

I have since experimented with a new, powered USB hub to try to overcome the problem, but with mixed results - sometimes the PC boots with the new hub in place, sometimes it doesn't. But, at least I've narrowed down the avenue of further enquiry - there's an issue with the USB ports on my PC.

Quite what I do next I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'd like to thank Ferret and Tech-Master once again.

Thanks for the update and glad that you seem to be getting to the root of the problem.

You are not the only one with usb problems. I must have about 8 usb hubs lying around my computer room that either don`t work or suddenly started giving problems. The last one I bought about 3 weeks ago ... fixed it up to my main computer (Using usb for printer/scanner/Webcam/joystick/Skype telephone) and it didn`t work

Tried it in my wifes computer ... worked great. Ended up pinching her hub which works alright on my computer.

Usb hubs seem to be a law unto themselves