Startup problem

[PHS Philip]

I just figured I'd ask here while I go through the endless tech support google hits since the people here are all geniuses.

My PC, on start up, goes to the windows loading screen for a second, then gives me an error message about my BIOS being non-ACPI compliant. Turning ACPI off just makes it freeze on a black screen right before the windows loading screen. The change that triggered this was switching virtual memory from a fixed amount to system managed.

Any ideas?

[Ijz]

What OS are you using, Windows XP?

I would try deleting the page-file (pagefile.sys) on every hard-drive. You can do that after you boot into a DOS-prompt. Also, how much space is available on your hard-drive? Is there is enough empty space to accommodate a pagefile of 2.5 times the size of your RAM?

[PHS Philip]

Yeah, I'm using XP. One HD has 5-10 GB free, the other has about 250 GB free. I have 2 GB of RAM.

I need to find my windows discs so I can boot into DOS-prompt, right? Or do I have to burn a DOS disc?

[Ijz]

Yes can also easily create a new boot disk in Windows by just formatting a new floppy-disk and selecting the option 'MSDOS startup disk". What you can also try is to boot from the Windows CD and then choose the option "Recovery Console". It's has slightly different commands as the standard DOS-prompt, but works very similar. You should be able to access your C-drive with certainty with that.

Also, I would change your BIOS settings back to the original settings when everything was still working.

EDIT: Oh I just found this article. You'll need the instructions if you want to delete the page-file using the recovery console. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

[PHS Philip]

I set the BIOS settings back to what they were, and deleted the page-file, but it's still giving me the error message.

[Ijz]

Hmm, thats too bad, was worth a try though.

So at what sub-system does Windows come to a halt? What you can try is to press F8 during startup and choose "Safe mode with Command Prompt" or the boot-logging mode. The last line in the log is usually the culprit and may give insight into the problem. Please post the last few lines here.

[PHS Philip]

The log as in the error message? I can't use safe mode either, it crashes however I try starting up.

"*** STOP: 0x000000A5 (0x00000002, 0x8AB84928, 0xE1D077F, 0x8ABC0030)"

[Ijz]

There is a lot of information you can find when typing "*** STOP: 0x000000A5" into google. I found one instance, where someone did a repair using the Windows CD and that seemed to have solved problem, I suggest you try that one. On a side-note, are you using the Hibernation feature of Windows?

[PHS Philip]

Ok, thanks.

And yes, I sometimes hibernate it rather than shutting it down. The error came up during a reboot though, not from hibernate (I rebooted right after making the change)





PHS Philip added to this post, 17 minutes and 50 seconds later...

Yay, I found a solution. Turning off APM gets it working again. I don't need APM on with ACPI on, do I?

[Ijz]

Glad to hear you found a solution. No I don't think turning of APM will be much of a problem. Odd though, how changing your VM-settings lead to this problem :huh:

Btw, were you using a laptop or a desktop PC? Did you plugin any new/different devices (e.g. USB)? In case of a laptop, was it plugged in into the power-grid?

[PHS Philip]

I was using a desktop. Nothing else had changed about the machine from the last startup, except for last night plugging in and ejecting my iPod and a flash drive, both of which I'd used with it before.

I don't know if it's related, but it had me install RAID 5 software after I got it working again.

Anyway, thanks so much for the help *huggle*

[Ijz]

Your welcome, glad I could be of any assistance.

If PHS_Philip == "bloke" Then
Looks Suspicious in the general direction of PHS Philip
Else
Gladly accepts Huggle

:)

[HackerX]

Yay, I found a solution. Turning off APM gets it working again. I don't need APM on with ACPI on, do I?

APM and ACPI are (were) two competing standards for power management. ACPI is what you want.