Crashing at Post

DiscoKandy · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:08

Hi,

Was in the process of formatting and re-installing XP after getting bored of playing around with Vista. I inserted my XP disk, booted from CD and continued to format the drive, setup copied a bunch of files over to the HD and then restarted. Upon restarting I entered the BIOS to set HDD a the primary boot device instead of the CD-ROM.

Now when I boot, it get to the post screen, says "updating DMI Pool information........" and then crashes.

Booting from the XP Cd Rom now brings up an unexpected error once into setup. I've got a feeling the HDD has died, I dont have a second PC to test it in, is there another way I can test it to see if its busted ? Remember using some real basic OS off a CD not so long ago to format my drive, maybe that ?

System is at stock speed and always has been.

Mrchu_ · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:12

i would suggest leaving the hdd set to 2ndry boot device then as windows boots just dont press any keys.let it boot off the next device....once windows is loaded then switch hdds.may just do the trick

also try cd rom on a different controller maybe

sorry didnt realise,it wont go through to boot properly.
how about check jumper settings,reload bios defaults and try again.

DiscoKandy · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:15

tried leaving it as the secondry boot device, it just waits for you to press a key to boot from CD, and then when the times up it just crashes again.

Will try a different CD controller now

Edit: should have said, tried loading BIOS defaults a number of times, an disconnected the power and removed mobo battery for a good few mintues

wizardmaxx · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:16

Do a search on the forums for 'dmi pool'. I remember there was an issue on this somewhere

DiscoKandy · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:23

Searched for DMI pool and cant find anything relevant or that I haven't already tried.

Checked cables and changed IDE controllers, still no joy :/

t31os · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:30

If you dont have a second PC to test with, what are you using to post on the forums with?

DiscoKandy · 22 Sep 2006 at 22:34

laptop matey.

I also checked to see if I could make a warranty claim, I bought the drive in November 2003. Says its "out of region"

I'm sure the WD give a 3 year warranty, right ?

Edit: Says on the HD, Date: 16 Sep 2003. But I bought it brand new for OcUK in november 2003

Explicit · 23 Sep 2006 at 01:53

Not sure if this is of any help to you:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

As you say, HDD could be one of the possible problems. Impossible to tell until you test it. Can you try it on a friend's computer by any chance?

Mrchu_ · 23 Sep 2006 at 14:51

youll need the reciept if you want to rma,shouldve come with the email sent to you.That will also sort you the date.

If it was me id spend about 1/2 an hour on a 3 year old drive.buy a new one from here, then try and transfer data in an attempt to care more about whats on it than sort this.Just too many testing requirement variables to overcome IMO

Its good to have a spare drive as wel,l to chuck important stuff on even if it doesnt permanantly live in machine.

DiscoKandy · 2 Oct 2006 at 21:29

Thanks for the help lads, for those that are interested, it turned out to be a damaged DIMM slot, swapped memory over to a different slot and all is well.

Thanks