Windows XP won't start now?
By
all_hell,
Posted on: 2010-12-17 15:23 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
It sounds like you are really proficient at puter stuff, but sometimes new eyes can help...
Did you try powering up, tapping the F8 key till you get the access screen, then hit 'open with last good configuration that opened Windows'? Do a System restore to a point before you had a problem? (I know these are pretty basic, and I am no great techie, but these have solved the problem for me when similar stuff has happened.) My wonderful father always said to start with the obvious simple things first, then move on. I sure hope that some of the brilliant minds here (and there are LOTS) can give you more insight than I. When you finally solve your problem, I hope you share your results with others here, who might be frustrated with the same troubles. Good luck,RL, and hope you solve it soon! 
�Many things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.�
Yes bizarrely F8 fails to open the Boot Windows As...screen
But again that's a Windows function (vs. BIOS) so if my Windows boot.ini or some other part of Win is corrupted, it does make sense that I can't get there.
Same for System Restore.
Thanks for the suggestions tho!
It could really be a number of things but I'm gonna take a stab.
What is the mhz frequency of your ram? Have you tried underclocking it to a slower speed to see it if windows loads up? It could be that your ram is damaged or is about to fail and sometimes slowing down the ram will make it more stable and allow you to boot.
If that works, its a temporary fix until you can replace the faulty ram. I presently have to underclock my 1600mhz ram to 1500 due to a similar problem or windows will not load at all.
Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.
It's a good suggestion! So I underclock in BIOS I believe (I'll Google) but at least here's something I never considered that gives me some hope.
Thanks very much for the input! 
As mentioned, it could be lots of things.
If your getting visuals in BIOS that's a good sign. Now, two different video cards probably eliminate the video card as the issue.
It sounds like your unable to boot to windows xp install. If were looking at a hardware issue the most common failures are Power Supply, Mother Board, Video Card and Hard Drive.
Video Card and HD don't sound like the issue here. That leaves Mother Board and Power Supply. I've seen similiar symptoms like this on motherboards with bad capacitors.
I would inspect your Motherboard for bad caps. If those are checking out good. Then check your power supply. Those go bad too. Is your PSU a quality unit and who made it and what model is it?
Edit: is there a chance your using two bad video cards? I had a case where the video card was bad and the old video card to verify the video card issue was also bad.
H: Blaster 50, Defender 50, Tank 50, Scrapper 50, Controller 50, PB 50, WS 50
V: Brute 50, Corruptor 50, MM 50, Dominator 50, Stalker 50, AW 50, AS 50
Top 4: Controller, Brute, Scrapper, Corruptor
Bottom 4: (Peacebringer) way below everything else, Mastermind, Dominator, Blaster
CoH in WQHD
since it won't even boot from disc, I would suspect the mobo or power supply.
Have you checked the power output to the disc drive and hard drive? They may be wonky.
Power supply - I'm doubtful - it was my rig's most recent upgrade, reputable maker, plenty of wattage, no keyboard spills or crossed wires to cause a short.
Mobo - my gut is telling me this is the culprit - it's the oldest component in my PC (6 years old) following upgrades of virtually every other component. I had already been thinking about a mobo-up overhaul when this happened.
If it's the mobo that's probably good news as it would save data-loss from a new WinXP install or re-formating.
Again, many thanks to everyone for their input so far.
Not specifically CoH-related but youse guys are smart n friendly so I thought I'd throw this out for suggestions:
Made no changes to the system but last thing that happened was a Windows security update on Shut-down.
Now when I boot-up, BIOS p.o.s.t. shows good HDs, good DVD-Rom, good RAM, but Windows never starts, just goes to a black screen, HDs are not being accessed.
-Changed Boot order in BIOS to boot from WinXP DVD, hoping to get the Recovery console, but same thing - black screen, no attempts to spin-up DVD or HDs.
-Removed mobo battery to reset CMOS, no joy.
-Checked and re-checked all connections inside.
-Stripped devices and added one at a time, no joy.
-Swapped-in an old video card just in case it was having trouble generating the higher-res gfx, no joy.
I've been building/upgrading/repairing my own PCs for 3 decades and can usually troubleshoot the problem and fix it myself but this one has me completely stumped.
Any suggestions? Could the Windows Security update have corrupted my WinXP or boot.ini?