Laptop booting up problem

eagle SG

My Laptop is IBM R52 series

What happens now is after all the checks (RAM, etc), it fails to go into Windows. Instead, it hangs on a black screen with a blinking cursor.

Why ah?

Sometimes it can go into windows, only sometimes...

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Looks like DOS?

eagle SG

Something like that... but without any command prompt.

The windows splash screen did not even appear

ndmmxiaomayi SG

That's the stage before you get to see Windows logo. Try booting into Last Known Good Configuration.

When restarting, just keep pressing the F8 button.

eagle SG

Doesn't help.
F8 didn't work... I think it is still the stage before

Could it be the RAM? This problem has been there for a rather long time, but it is only today then really cannot start... I have just newly installed 2 rams in Sep

eagle SG

Other symptoms experienced at times

BSOD:
1) Internal Power Error
2) Page fault in nonpaged area

Another suspect is the power supply, though I cannot be sure

eagle SG

now after a long wait with the laptop off, it can start again… Anyway to check?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

The BSOD, I need it to be specific. It’s not easy to figure out Windows BSODs.

eagle SG

What do you mean by specific?

It goes off so fast that I didn't really see the stop codes...

ndmmxiaomayi SG

1. Right click on My Computer, select Properties

2. Select the Advanced tab

3. Under Startup and Recovery, click on Settings button

4. Under System Failure, untick this box - Automatically restart

Click OK all the way to apply the settings

When it occurs again, take note of the error.

abao SG

Originally posted by eagle:
2) Page fault in nonpaged area
[/b]

I experienced this on my acer laptop before. The solution seem to be to let windows determine its own page file, instead of either manually setting a limit or disabling page file.

ndmmxiaomayi SG

You disable the page file, Windows will reboot if it runs into memory problems. Laughing

eagle SG

Right now, after I switched my 2 RAM positions, it seems to boot fine... Perhaps it was a contact error, although the error happened randomly Very Happy

I reboot twice with no problems at the moment

I try again tomorrow

eagle SG

Can't... Says alerter service not started

When I try to start alerter service

Could not start the Alerter service on Local Computer
Error 1608: The dependency service or group failed to start

ndmmxiaomayi SG

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Could+not+start+the+Alerter+service+on+Local+Computer%22&btnG=Search

I have no idea. Alerter service by default is started in Windows.

Wonder what crashed it.

eagle SG

ya lor...

Anyway I was thinking that all those BSOD problems, including the boot up problem, might be caused by improperly placed RAM.

Hopefully my tinkering now solve the problem...

eagle SG

Ok I found out the crux of the problem

It is my internal dvd drive... Is it covered by warranty? My warranty is not up yet... This is a IBM R52 laptop...

ndmmxiaomayi SG

If still under warranty, bring back to IBM. Or Lenovo. Whichever applies.

eagle SG

Laptop is under warranty... My only concern is whether I can don't leave my laptop there because I need it badly for my FYP...

Now I'm 90% sure it is the dvd drive causing the problem, because when I took it out, I have no problem starting. When I put it in, the problem manifested again, and when I took it out again, no problems.

In addition, after windows have started, I inserted the dvd drive again, and it had a problem. The thing is, is it the link to the motherboard that has a problem, or is it the dvd drive that has the problem....

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Can you do without the DVD drive? If yes, just leave it alone first. Remove the DVD drive and continue your FYP.

Another way would be to move all important FYP data out to an external hard disk and work on another computer.