Boot Problems with Presario 700

[OnDeBanks]

Hi there,
I have a problem with a Compaq Presario 700 laptop running Windows XP Home. When I boot up the machine it gets as far as the The Windows XP screen and then just hangs. If I boot up in safe mode the same happens and also if I try to restore last good configuration.

After these problems I decided to just re-install so I changed the boot sequence in the BIOS to boot from a CD, put in the Windows XP CD and the same thing happened it ignored the CD and went straight into the normal boot routine. I thought that maybe there was a problem with the DVD drive so I changed the boot sequence again this time trying a Windows boot disk, the same thing happened, I also tried a Windows XP boot disk and this was also ignored. Any ideas how I can proceed? There is no important data on the machine.

Thanks.

 

[wahnula]

OnDeBanks,

Are you sure you saved the BIOS changes when exiting BIOS? Do the other devices (DVD, floppy if present) appear in BIOS? Is there an option in BIOS to boot to external device? If so you could boot to a flash drive w/ DOS or Win 98 from

http://www.bootdisk.com

just to see if your DVD drive is simply not working and causing a hardware conflict at boot.

It is strange you are not getting a BSOD, but I have had this happen before, it was always a hardware problem. Let's hope not the mainboard

Tony

 

[OnDeBanks]

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the reply. Yes the BIOS changes are saved when I exit the BIOS. The hard disk, floppy and CD/DVD drive all appear in the bios along with an option for network boot. I removed the hard disk and booted up with both the boot disk in and the Windows XP CD in and it just came up with "OS not found" or something like that. This is despite the CD spining and the light going on in the floppy drive.

When I boot in safe mode with Command prompt there is a blue screen but it is so quick I can't read what it says. This only happens in safe mode with command prompt.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

[wahnula]

Try a floppy Win98 DOS boot disk from the above link, setting floppy from the boot menu. In fact, disable HDD from the boot menu completely if possible. Once you get it to boot from somewhere besides HDD, you can go from there. There is a good chance the CD drive is bad, is it the replaceable modular style?

When I boot in safe mode with Command prompt there is a blue screen but it is so quick I can't read what it says.

This is where a Digital camera could come in handy, there is a way to change that option in the registry to not reboot after error but we can't seem to get that far...

My guess is it's a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION but that is just a guess. Try booting to a floppy boot disk w/ the HDD removed if all else fails.

Tony