Old PC in trouble - Win2K boot problem

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grafyx

18 posts

Geek

#67194 30-Aug-2010 06:06

Hi, not been here for a long while....

I have a confusing issue with an old but valuable (to me) computer.

My trusty old Athlon XP2000 computer - running Windows 2000 - developed a problem after its power supply died. Having replaced the power supply, the PC starts up but won't boot with a high res display. The screen is blank.

It would seem that it's not loading its video driver. I can get a (low res) display in Safe Mode, but in normal mode the computer boots with no display at all once it gets beyond the initial stages of bootup. I can't find the original nVidia driver CD, and it's hard to identify the correct driver on the web, but that's academic anyway since the computer also isn't recognising its CD drive or any USB drives or memory sticks, so I can't load or update any drivers anyway. I reckon the video driver's probably OK, but something else is stopping it loading.

The computer appears to boot more or less normally from its internal hard disk (though without a display) and in Safe Mode, once I can see what is happening, it's clear that the PC can't list the directory structure of its internal hard disk. And yet if I start up an application programme, the programme is able to find its saved work files.

Anyone got any ideas ? I know this is ancient technology now, but I would like to fix this if I can, the computer has been very reliable until the power supply problem and has accumulated a lot of software over the years that I use all the time - reinstalling it all would take forever and that is assuming I can locate all the installation disks. They must be around here somewhere, since I never dispose of anything I am still using !

CYaBro

4582 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#374372 30-Aug-2010 06:51

You sure the replacement power supply is good?
I had pretty much the exact same fault with a pc in the workshop last week.
Pc would boot up normally but screen would go black once windows had loaded. At first I thought video card but it turned out to be the power supply.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

heretohelp

360 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375059 31-Aug-2010 19:45

I carnt remember with WIN2K. Try hitting if F8 on start up. see if you can see VGA mode. once loaded change screen res you should be ok

If you carnt see it with F8 try F5

see how you get on

somtimes works with XP

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

grafyx

18 posts

Geek

#375203 1-Sep-2010 10:10

I've tried that already, I can get the display up in VGA mode but when I go to Display Properties, (although the display appears in 640 x 480 at some very low number of colours - maybe eight or sixteen max) it says it's set to 32 bit ayt 1024 x 768.

Altering the settings makes no difference to the display either then or after a reboot.

That's what makes me feel the system is not loading the graphics driver properly, though Device Manager says the driver is present and that the graphics adaptor is working properly.

If I right-click 'My Computer' and select Explore, it hangs with a 'Programme not responding' error. As previously mentioned, the system seems unable to list the directories of any external drives or memory sticks or the internal hard drive, and can't therefore load any software from external media or CD. But the programmes and directory structure on the internal hard drive seem to still be intact because for any applications that can be launched, files they have created can be located and loaded from where they were saved to.

heretohelp

360 posts

Ultimate Geek

#375416 1-Sep-2010 18:26

Have you still got a WIN2K disk. with COA

I know its not exactly legal but you can get a WIN2K iso from pirate bay that has been slip stremd with SP4.

As far as im concerend doesnt mean much but if you carnt buy it any more why the hell would they care.

you could try running windows repair.

The issue with this is that it sounds like it happend after the power supply was changed.

Are you sure its a good power supply?

Sorry i missed if it was an add on graphics card e.g AGP PCI PCIe.
check the graphics card doesnt need an auxilery power pluged into it. normaly you wouldnt get a pic at all but it could be the problem.

sounds like you have more issues than just the graphics card mmmm

Hu? did i do that?
16Mb (EDO RAM), K6-II processor, 2Mb of onboard graphics. 32k dial up modem. 12 speed CD ROM. 5¼-inch floppy drive. 500Mb HDD.

grafyx

18 posts

Geek

#376164 3-Sep-2010 10:36

Hi

Yes - I still have the Win2K CD and SP4, but part of the problem is that the PC won't read any drives, CD drive (and memory sticks) included. So I can't put the Windows CD in and ask it to repair the installation (though all the times I've tried that in the past for problems with other machines, it has never seemed to do anything but make things worse).

No, the graphics card needs no aux power lead like PCI-E does, it's an old AGP slot type. The motherboard appears to have no onboard graphics card facility so this separate card is the only graphics facility. When booting the PC, the computer gives the customary single beep which indicates the graphics card is OK.

The other symptom I forgot to mention is probably significant - after the initial boot stage, after the screen display disappears (during the 'Windows is starting up' phase), the hard drive activity goes on for a longish time and then the hard drive light stays on solidly, presumably indicating it's not able to complete some task - like maybe it's looking for a file it can't ever find.