XP will not warm boot

[Bevlar]

I have a HP EliteBook 2530p, no service packs or updates.

The problem is as follows,

if I turn on the laptop it will load up and log into windows without incident.

However, if I attempt to restart windows it will restart the OS as expected and then hang on the XP loading screen.

Any ideas??

Thanks in advance.

 

[goombawaho]

I don't really suspect memory or hard drive, but they are a possibility if nothing else sheds light. So many possibilities, but take it from the top:

1. Clean out temp files with CCleaner. Log into each user account and run it IF there is more than one user account on the machine.

2. Malware scan using MalwareByte's Anti-malware. If major bad stuff is detected, I would remove your anti-virus and run Combofix.

3. Registry cleanup with CCleaner (save before fixing, run until nothing else found). Shut down and restart when no more errors found. I mean shut down so as NOT to test the problem yet. I want a clean boot up without a hang. Then RESTART and see if the problem has gone.

4. Download latest video driver, remove video driver from Add/Remove programs and see if PC will restart properly.

5. Update video driver and restart.

6. Look at startup items using MSconfig or Autoruns

7 If no joy, I would really say to get up to latest service pack, IE8 and all other windows updates.

Update us.

 

[Bevlar]

Sorry I forgot to mention in the original post that it was clean install so there is very little that could go wrong.

I am currently re reinstalling. I'll post back in the morning after retesting.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Bevlar]

After another Clean install I am getting the same results.

I also tried to restart out of safe mode, same again.

I just don't understand why it won't warm boot. If it was a hardware error, it wouldn't get past the POST after a cold boot.

 

[BadBigBen]

sounds like a cold solder point on the mainboard...

when cold, the connection or solder point has contact, everything runs fine...

when warm, intermediate or no contact, and strange things (like hanging of the OS)...

but also as mentioned, RAM can exhibit the same behavior when overheating... seen it myself, and to boot that RAM even passed MemTests I threw at it...

now HDD's, would exhibit that behavior even under cold boot... from my experience...

two more questions:

1. are you running this with the battery installed and power plugged in?

2. have you tried it with just the battery and/or without the battery and with just the power supply attached?

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Bevlar]

It's on mains power with the battery in.
I will test different configurations when I'm back at work.


It was working fine prior to the fresh OS install. Shutdown restart etc.

I may have misunderstood the meaning of cold and warm booting
I was under the impression that:

Cold boot = Power on - POST - Boot
Warm boot = shutdown - no POST - Boot

I don't believe its a temperature issue.
The laptop will boot from power off without fail.
If I restart the system it will hang.
If I then shutdown or power off it will boot.

Every boot from no power will succeed.
Every boot after restart will fail.

 

[DrB0b]

What about a restart that tries to boot into Safe Mode?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[goombawaho]

He already tried a "cold boot" into safe mode - NO GO.

If it's a fresh install, I guess you can skip most of my points.

It does seem to point more toward hardware in some way, most likely memory or motherboard, BUT you said it WAS working before the reload.

Any missing devices in Device Manager??

 

[DrB0b]

Ah missed that little nibblet, are you reinstalling from the recovery partition/discs or a clean format and reinstall from a retail disc?

What was the reason for the first OS reinstall? Was there viruses, dead hard drive, motherboard replacement? According to what I've found, Vista came preinstalled on this, why the switch to XP?

"Silence is golden, duct tape is silver...

 

[BadBigBen]

nope, I got them mixed up... I knew "warm reset" which is what you mean under "warm boot"... and I stand corrected...

Definitions according to PC-Magazine:

cold boot - Starting the computer by turning power on.
warm boot - Restarting the computer by performing a reset operation (pressing reset, Ctrl-Alt-Del, etc.) while the computer is still turned on.

with that cleared up...

it could be a BIOS issue... here I would suggest you enter the BIOS setup and load DEFAULT values...

and seeing that it is a clean install, that is causing the issue, try installing the CHIPSET (updated) and up to date video drivers...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[Bevlar]

DrBob - it was originally downgraded for ease of administration. We wanted all of our machines on the same platform. Now we have a mix of win7 and xp.

BadBigBen - I had already reset the BIOS to factory default with no change.

I will check both the chipset and video drivers are up to date when I get to work.
I'll post the results.

 

[Bevlar]

Just changed the CMOS battery and checked all the drivers were up to date - no change.



I guess that just leaves the installation media.

Have I missed anything?

 

[vacunita]

Time to pull out hardware. Pull out everything that is not required to boot, like extra hard drives, and optical drives, add-in cards etc... Leave only one Memory stick if there are more than one.

Cold Boot with only the bare minimum to boot into windows, and then restart see if its any of the removable hardware bits causing the problem.

If not, then it may be some device on the motherboard that doesn't come back properly in a warm boot.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Web & Tech

 

[Bevlar]

The only removable hardware is a WLAN card and the hdd. Its running on 2gb of onboard RAM. I'll remove the WLAN just to be sure.

 

[Bevlar]

It turns out that it was the installation media.
I used one of my XP Pro disks and it now works fine.

Thanks for all your input.