Takes two attempts to boot

mick4545 · 5 Dec 2008 at 17:39

Any idea what could cause a computer to crash every time on initial boot up, then boot ok the second time? This is on an old machine, XP, happens everytime.

Mick

FRS2462 · 5 Dec 2008 at 17:43

Some information on the motherboard and BIOS may help, quite a few makes have dual boot systems which automatically revert to default BIOS if there is a fault with the main BIOS.

RJC · 5 Dec 2008 at 18:41

When you say crash are you talking about windows or the BIOS hanging.

Cold_And_Miserable · 6 Dec 2008 at 05:42

Restarts at boot could be a sign of failing memory modules.
Motherboard problems are less likely, however, some boards reboot twice by design.

mick4545 · 6 Dec 2008 at 14:44

Thanks for the answers so far, this is not my machine, I'm getting MB and BIOS details from the owner, and getting him to check the memory.

mick

mick4545 · 7 Dec 2008 at 13:54

It Freezes during the blue screen part of XP booting. sometimes it gives a beep. Any suggestions other that a faulty memory module?

Mick

PistolPete · 7 Dec 2008 at 14:14

Mine is the same - I can not cold boot without the machine freezing during the Windows scrolling bar screen. It was fine before last rebuild with the same hardware and I've run loads of tests on the memory, CPU and GPU with nothing obvious showing.

mick4545 · 7 Dec 2008 at 16:03

PistolPete said:
Mine is the same - I can not cold boot without the machine freezing during the Windows scrolling bar screen. It was fine before last rebuild with the same hardware and I've run loads of tests on the memory, CPU and GPU with nothing obvious showing.

Have you tried removing sticks of memory and placing in different slots.

Mick

synixx · 7 Dec 2008 at 16:10

i've got two pc's with gigabyte p35 mobo's, the fans spin for a few seconds, nothing on the monitor, shuts down, then boots up fine the second time. I'm not sure why, I think it's part of the motherboards design.

PistolPete · 7 Dec 2008 at 16:17

mick4545 said:
Have you tried removing sticks of memory and placing in different slots.

Mick

Yep, and tried another set of (admittedly the same make model) ram too.
Worked fine on 2 other Windows builds - guess it's just one of those things.

The Halk · 7 Dec 2008 at 16:21

There's lots of different reasons for this.

When a PC doesn't POST unless you reset it then it's generally either a BIOS issue (as above where the BIOS tries a factory standard if the first attempt fails) or the PSU is struggling.

Where it's a Windows thing then it's time to clean out Windows and update drivers or better yet reinstall.

But anyone having problems with their PC should burn a memtest ISO, since that's a relatively nice clean way of crossing one item off the list of potential problems.