XP will not run, does not wake

I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode. I
have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports normal,
and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through normal Windows
splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows would normally run.
Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This is one of two computers
on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is running normally. I am going
to try to remove the last Microsoft update and possibly the latest
Superantispyware update, although the troubles began before this installed
fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

In "David
Kelsey" wrote:

Any ideas please?

Sounds like your video card (or possibly the monitor) might have failed,
and the screen goes blank when Windows switches to the normal display
mode after the boot completes.

The boot sequence and safe mode operate at a lower resolution, and I
think even use a built-in generic VGA-mode video driver; if I'm wrong
about this, I'm sure someone will be along in a few minutes to correct
me :-)

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

Hi David,

From your description of your computer, it is kind of old.

I would say that your Ram Sticks are overheating and it is freezing when
it is in Sleep Mode and that's why you can't wake it up. I would also
replace the Computer BIOS Battery at the same time.

Replace the hottest Stick of Memory, after you open up the computer.

How many Memory Sticks are installed?


--
thecreator




"David Kelsey" wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode. I
have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

You most certainly are a creator. A creator of poor diagnosis.
"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi David,

From your description of your computer, it is kind of old.

I would say that your Ram Sticks are overheating and it is freezing
when it is in Sleep Mode and that's why you can't wake it up. I would also
replace the Computer BIOS Battery at the same time.

Replace the hottest Stick of Memory, after you open up the computer.

How many Memory Sticks are installed?


--
thecreator




"David Kelsey" wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

Well, feel free to actually advise what you see as the correct one then,
rather than just making this non-contribution. You know - being
constructive?

"Unknown" wrote in message
...
You most certainly are a creator. A creator of poor diagnosis.
"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi David,

From your description of your computer, it is kind of old.

I would say that your Ram Sticks are overheating and it is freezing
when it is in Sleep Mode and that's why you can't wake it up. I would
also replace the Computer BIOS Battery at the same time.

Replace the hottest Stick of Memory, after you open up the computer.

How many Memory Sticks are installed?


--
thecreator




"David Kelsey" wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

"David wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

When all else fails, I try a boot from a quality live Linux CD like
Ubuntu. They are usually good at detecting the video modes available.
You can also test the rest of the hardware with the included software.

Thanks for the ideas guys. Things have deteriorated rapidly since
yesterday. I can no longer get into safe mode, because the screen is now
garbled from startup, including the DOS pages. This got progressively worse
over the day until it is now useless. For the same reason, I can't use a
boot disk because I can't change the startup order. Floppy startup disks
don't work anyway, even though they are first in line. The screen itself is
fine, and runs normally on another PC. I have cleared the CMOS and fitted a
new battery to no avail. Because the graphics are scrambled from the
beginning, I assume it can't be the video card, as this does not come on
stream until after the DOS pages. The startup sequence lights on the MSI
motherboard show three greens and one red, indicating fail at 'Testing real
time clock'. It implies that everything else is OK, but it isn't in fact.
I have had all greens several times, but the results are the same. The
hard drive activity light is on and steady all the time. All this seems to
suggest it is either the motherboard itself or the processor, which is an
AMD 1.13 GHz. I can't see it being memory. I am happy to buy a new PC, but
I would still like to get the old one working so I can transfer files etc.
Does this seem a logical train of thought?

"boatman312" wrote in message
...
"David wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in
Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken.
This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft
update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

When all else fails, I try a boot from a quality live Linux CD like
Ubuntu. They are usually good at detecting the video modes available. You
can also test the rest of the hardware with the included software.

David Kelsey wrote:
Thanks for the ideas guys. Things have deteriorated rapidly since
yesterday. I can no longer get into safe mode, because the screen is
now garbled from startup, including the DOS pages. This got
progressively worse over the day until it is now useless. For the same
reason, I can't use a boot disk because I can't change the startup
order. Floppy startup disks don't work anyway, even though they are
first in line. The screen itself is fine, and runs normally on another
PC. I have cleared the CMOS and fitted a new battery to no avail.
Because the graphics are scrambled from the beginning, I assume it can't
be the video card, as this does not come on stream until after the DOS
pages. The startup sequence lights on the MSI motherboard show three
greens and one red, indicating fail at 'Testing real time clock'. It
implies that everything else is OK, but it isn't in fact. I have had all
greens several times, but the results are the same. The hard drive
activity light is on and steady all the time. All this seems to
suggest it is either the motherboard itself or the processor, which is
an AMD 1.13 GHz. I can't see it being memory. I am happy to buy a new
PC, but I would still like to get the old one working so I can transfer
files etc.
Does this seem a logical train of thought?

If you have 1.5GB of RAM, that means there are multiple sticks of RAM present.

You can move the sticks around, so if there is a defect in the RAM (like
below 640K), that area might not be bad in a second stick.

Stick_1 Stick_2 Stick_3

to

Stick_2 Stick_1 Stick_3

and so on. The memory addresses assigned to the sticks, should
follow the slot order, on a single channel three slot board.
(On a dual channel motherboard, you need to think "single channel mode"
to do this.)

As to your comment about graphics, when the computer first starts up,
and your BIOS is running things, the video device is run in some VESA
mode. That is what gives you a 640x480 screen. The BIOS queries the
device, to see what modes are supported. Normal video devices, whether
they're integrated graphics or a separate video card, follow that
convention. They all should support the mode the BIOS is looking for
(with some Matrox cards being an exception and mis-behaving).

Nvidia has had a string of chip failures, due to how the chips make
their electrical connections. That would be an example of a situation,
where you'd be curious about the brand of video, and the vintage, as
a means of identifying a higher probability of failure. Some people
have actually managed to "bake" the PCB assembly in their computer
that is affected and fix it. But that is a pretty extreme solution,
when you consider that the person baking their motherboard or video
card, has no idea what temperature they're applying. That's like
whacking a vacuum tube (CRT) TV on the side, to make it stop "flipping".

A motherboard video could also fail, due to the motherboard regulator
powering the video, having failed. And that would be classed as a
motherboard failure.

So I would start with the sticks, and see if things improve with
some simple swaps. After the one above, I'd try this one next.

Stick_1 Stick_2 Stick_3

to

Stick_1 Stick_3 Stick_2

If you only have two sticks, there are fewer test cases :-)

If you can boot something like memtest86+, you can use that for
testing, but that can't test the memory reserved by the BIOS
(below about 1MB). Which is why the stick rotation is a useful
thing to try, in conjunction with running the test. Two
error free passes of this is enough testing, before trying
your next hardware configuration. Test 5 is where you may observe
your first failures - if you're in a hurry, you can advance to
Test 5.

http://www.memtest.org (for CD, USB key, floppy)

What MSI motherboard is this ? The name may be printed
in white letters, on the motherboard surface. In this example,
you can see "KM4M" (it is actually KM4M-L), and MS-6734 Ver.1
as identifying marks. You may need to zoom in to see those.
This is a VIA chipset Athlon board, with integrated graphics
under the heatsink.

http://www.msi.com/uploads/prod_eea1...8b006c2466.jpg

Paul


"boatman312" wrote in message
...
"David wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in
Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe
mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken.
This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft
update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

When all else fails, I try a boot from a quality live Linux CD like
Ubuntu. They are usually good at detecting the video modes available.
You can also test the rest of the hardware with the included software.

Hi David,

You replaced the CMOS Battery. That's why the Testing failed. The Date
and Time were not reset to current Date and Time with a reboot. However, my
bet, it would normally fail, because the Date and Time were not set in BIOS.
If you reboot whether or not you do set the current DATE and Time, it would
go all green.

Replace the memory cards and see what happens or simply remove the Hard
Drive from the computer and mount it into a new Computer. You can use the
Hard Drive as Storage with the new computer.


--
thecreator




"David Kelsey" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the ideas guys. ****I have cleared the CMOS and fitted a new
battery to no avail. Because the graphics are scrambled from the
beginning, I assume it can't be the video card, as this does not come on
stream until after the DOS pages. The startup sequence lights on the MSI
motherboard show three greens and one red, indicating fail at 'Testing
real time clock'. It implies that everything else is OK, but it isn't in
fact. I have had all greens several times, but the results are the same.
The hard drive activity light is on and steady all the time. All this
seems to suggest it is either the motherboard itself or the processor,
which is an AMD 1.13 GHz. I can't see it being memory. I am happy to buy
a new PC, but I would still like to get the old one working so I can
transfer files etc.
Does this seem a logical train of thought?

"boatman312" wrote in message
...
"David wrote in message
...
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in
Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe
mode.
I have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports
normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through
normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows
would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken.
This
is one of two computers on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is
running normally. I am going to try to remove the last Microsoft
update
and possibly the latest Superantispyware update, although the troubles
began before this installed fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

When all else fails, I try a boot from a quality live Linux CD like
Ubuntu. They are usually good at detecting the video modes available.
You can also test the rest of the hardware with the included software.

In "David
Kelsey" wrote:

Because the graphics are scrambled from the beginning, I assume it
can't be the video card, as this does not come on stream until after
the DOS pages.

Your video card is "on stream" from the moment you turn your PC on; it's
where your monitor is connected, isn't it?

Based on your earlier problems and the continued degradation of your
video, it's almost certainly your video card.

Unless you're a gamer, a new one will be cheap.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

David Kelsey wrote:
I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in
Safe Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to
safe mode. I have restored several times to different dates. Hard
drive reports normal, and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup
goes through normal Windows splash screen, but breaks up at the point
when Windows would normally run. Screen then goes to sleep, and
cannot be woken. This is one of two computers on a network - the
other is Win XP Pro, and is running normally. I am going to try to
remove the last Microsoft update and possibly the latest
Superantispyware update, although the troubles began before this
installed fully. Any ideas please?
David Kelsey

If you get a usable screen in safe mode, but no other, there's something
amiss with the video.

Your most likely suspects a

* "Normal" setting is for a resolution not supported by your video card or
monitor
* The video driver for your card/screen has suffered bit-rot and needs to be
replaced/updated
* The cable connecting your PC and monitor is not plugged in properly or has
a corroded connector
* Other

"David Kelsey" wrote:

I have XP Home, AMD 1.1 processor, 1.5 MB Ram, 80 GB hard drive.
System went to sleep suddenly, and now will not wake. I can run in Safe
Mode, but 'Normal' results in scrambled screen and revert to safe mode. I
have restored several times to different dates. Hard drive reports normal,
and no errors shown in Device Manager. Startup goes through normal Windows
splash screen, but breaks up at the point when Windows would normally run.
Screen then goes to sleep, and cannot be woken. This is one of two computers
on a network - the other is Win XP Pro, and is running normally. I am going
to try to remove the last Microsoft update and possibly the latest
Superantispyware update, although the troubles began before this installed
fully. Any ideas please?

David Kelsey

.


Sounds like the video driver might need to be updated. If the quality of the
picture you get in safe mode is what you would typically expect from safe
mode, there is probably nothing wrong with the monitor or the video adapter.
Go to the website of the computer's maker, or if you built it yourself; the
maker of the video adapter (add in card) or the mainboard's maker (on board
video) and download the latest video driver. Restart the machine in "VGA
Mode". This uses the basic Windows driver. Go to Control Panel Add/Remove
Programs and uninstall the video driver. Reboot the machine in VGA Mode again
and install the downloaded driver. Reboot the machine again and reset the
video resolution to the native resolution of your monitor.