BleepingComputer.com: Win XP pro w/SP3 hangs

AustrAlien,

I've done my best. No joy.

I tried twice.
Once with the 5 files from the Ghost 14 Recovery Point brought over by USB key and the second from the RP369\snapshot folder named in the attached replace_hives.txt file.
Do have a look, just in case I've overlooked something.

Unless you have some other diagnostic utility, I'm resigned to taking this machine apart and rebuilding it with disks set to AHCI and try a Ghost Recover of the C: drive.
I guess this last resort was what got me to put off digging into the machine till this long after the original breakdown (Nov 2010).

John F.

You have tried restore points from the 18th and then the 9th of November 2010: Fair enough!

I haven't quite run out of hope yet. I see you are quite happy to disable RAID in BIOS ..... and then re-enable. Great: I am going to suggest that we do that ...

I am keen to get a look at a complete bootlog from a normal startup and compare it with the incomplete one we are seeing with your RAID array ... in the hope of being able to narrow down the offending culprit that is preventing the system from completing the loading of Windows.

My suggestion is as follows:

• Disconnect the 4 existing hard drives.
  
• Disable the RAID array in BIOS Setup Menu, to allow you to boot from a single hard drive.
  
• Take the "spare" hard drive that you currently have in your other computer with a restored "clone" of the system and connect it to the problematic computer (no need to fit it in the box ... simply place it beside the box and connect the cables ... you may have to sit it on a pile of books to enable the cables to reach).
  
• Boot from the "spare" hard drive and check that it loads Windows normally.
  
• Restart the computer in Safe Mode (a boot log will be produced by default)
  
• Restart the computer and this time F8 > Boot logging .... to produce a bootlog of the normal startup.
  This will be appended to the Safe Mode bootlog (hopefully).
  
• Attach a zipped copy of the bootlog for me to see and compare with the log produced previously with the RAID array that is not loading Windows completely.

That should give us a short list of drivers that haven't previously shown up on the bootlog ... one of which is likely to be the culprit. We should then be able to track down which one it is, hopefully fairly quickly.

This post has been edited by AustrAlien: 13 September 2011 - 01:57 PM

AustrAlien,

My apologies for taking so long. I have spent many hours trying your ideas!

I set up two clean drives as AHCI in BIOS, restored C: from Ghost backups, with no luck booting. Just blue screen.
I reset up BIOS as RAID but with no RAID created in the ROM driver. Restored many versions of the Ghost backups with no luck.
I tried many different boot CDs (including Win XP w/SP2 original installation disk on this machine) using preloaded and floppy F3 ICH7R/DH drivers and it always stopped at the "Welcome to Setup" screen with no keyboard or mouse function.
I tried reloading other BIOS versions using the Alt-F2 ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 auto recovery tool.
Nothing would work to get it to boot past the freeze before the login screen, apparently during driver loading.

After many hours of effort, the machine has failed further. The last BIOS reload seems to have rendered the motherboard unrecoverable.
I get fans started up, increase in their speed, then lowering of their speed, then nothing further.
No BIOS video, no disk activity, no further change to fan speed, just sits there!
I don't know if a replacement BIOS chip (it is removable on this board) would get it operational.
With the preceeding behavior, I suspect this may be a cascade of motherboard failures.
I don't have the experience or tools to troubleshoot the power supply, CPU and motherboard to rule out what is still serviceable and replace the failed part(s).

I've looked for replacement Intel 775 motherboards (to not waste my Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz) and they seem to be "OLD" technology without much interest/support.
I'm sad to throw away all the hardware I've accumulated for this machine and the software installations I came to count on, but I feel like giving up at this point.
I appreciate your efforts and believe I've put enough effort into recovering the machine that I haven't just given up without a "fight".

I thank you very much for your time and energy.

John F.

Thanks John, for bringing us up-to-date with what has happened. From your description, it certainly sounds as though the situation has deteriorated and it may well be a mobo failure. It is a disappointing result for you, after all that effort.

The hardware of that vintage is now regarded as old and outdated ... but that is where I fit in most comfortably. I recently replaced a 775LGA mobo (along with a new hard drive, new XP installation and data recovery from the old hard drive) on someone's computer with success. for a fraction of the price of a new computer, and the owner will get another couple of years use out of it.

Best wishes, and good luck.