I was working with a computer that is rarely used but for a type of server. I use it as part of my whole house audio and to store some videos and music plus some other things. I was working with it a little when it just slowed down to slower than a crawl. I had to do a hard reset. When I started it back up (or tried) it looked like it started but when I came back the screen was black. I restarted again and it would go through the windows logo but only to a black screen. I tried again and again but to no avail. I then tried to boot into safe mode but it would not happen. I shut it down and turned off all power. I pushed the power button to release any current that was left. I restarted and it is now running. What does it sound like to anyone.
It sounds like a hardware problem but before you do anything else I would make certain it's not software. What O/S are you using and does this machine have internet access?
Bill
I have XP Pro SP3 on this machine. I don't ever add anything to it other than I had just updated Firefox to its newest update. Yes, it does have internet.
Look at the Device Manager for anything unusual. You might also check the event log.
I would begin with an A/V scan with as many different apps. that you have. Also a scan with Spybot Search and Destroy and then a defrag.
Bill
I had done an AV scan and ran a spyware one also with malwarebytes. I had optimized and defragged also.
I can't remember where the event log is.
Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer.
Also I should have mentioned earlier, if you haven't backed up your data, you should.
B
IF you have Belarc Advisor, run a profile and it will give you a status report generated by Smart Drive on each HD in your system. Belarc is available from the Cnetdownload.com site
Bill
From the description, I think something other than the hard drive is going bad. I would run memtest on your ram as one of your troubleshooting steps. I would also put in another video card if you have one laying around to determine if it is a problem, which I tend to doubt.
I had problems with my PC, which I thought was the PSU, but it ended up as RAM. Strange things can happen with bad RAM.
The power supply should also be checked out as a last hardware check if nothing else comes up.
Mark H
I went to event viewer and for the time it was having problems it says warning and then disk 8 times. One says ftdisk and another say hidBth. What is your take on that?
ftdisk and hidbth are windows system files. I had system file errors on my PC and it ended up being bad sticks of RAM. I would still encourage you to run memtest86 (http://www.poasters.com/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item28), which can be downloaded from our downloads page.
You could also have a malware problem affecting those system files, but I still think RAM is a first step to check. Typically, a hard drive is working or it is not. If you are booting into windows and able to see event files, then your hard drive might not be your problem. You can run Belarc Advisor to check the hard drive as Bill mentioned.
To troubleshoot:
1. Memtest86 (http://www.poasters.com/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item28)
2. Belarc Advisor
If it is RAM or the hard drive, you will know after running these diagnostics. RAM can make a PC do very funny things making it look like another piece of hardware, so I like to check it first. I replaced a power supply in a PC, because of random restart problems and it turned out to be 4 bad sticks of RAM.
Mark H
Memtest has been running for an hour now and no errors.
I have done thorough scanning for malware and found nothing.
ftdisk and hidbth are systems files but what is the disk warning?
An ftdisk disk warning usually is caused by removing an external drive (USB for example) without safely removing the hardware in Windows first. Maybe your hard disk is seemingly disconnecting causing the error. Have you checked your hard drive cables?
Since your memory seems fine, I would next download the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic tools and use them on the hard drive to determine if it is the problem. That should either convict or acquit the hard drive as the culprit. Do you know your make of hard drive?
Hopefully you have backed up your data just in case.
Mark H