(This isn't regarding the computer described under my name.) I’m not sure how to handle this situation. I’ll explain in as much detail as possible my computer’s bahavior and what I’ve tried so far. Turning on the computer, it gives one BEEP, shows some lines of text that disappear quickly (something about “Diskette drive A: 1.44 MB…PCI device listing…” and so on), then the Windows XP splash screen comes. It has the Windows XP Home Edition logo, and the little bar underneath with three colored squares that travel across as Windows loads. But Windows doesn’t load. The squares travel a bit, then freeze, then travel a bit, than freeze again, and will continue this for hours if not stopped. Effectively, start-up has frozen. My first reaction was to boot in safe mode. I restarted the computer, tapped F8 as the BIOS loaded, and came to the screen with different start-up options. I chose the start in safe mode. After that, it asked me which OS I wanted to start, even though there is only one operating system on the computer and there was only one option to choose: Windows XP Home Edition. I hit enter. Instead of booting, it displayed a long list (25? 30?) of files. Each one begins [multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS]. Most of the files then continue under system32 or System32, but one of them is in FONTS and one is in a folder called AppPatch (drvmain.sdb). Next, I tried making a boot disk from another WinXP Home computer and loading with that. I made a floppy and a CD with boot.ini, NTDETECT, and NTLDR. The computer didn’t like my boot disk. It said “Non-System disk or disk error…Replace and strike any key when ready” I have no idea why this happened. The computer refused to recognize the CD (I changed the BIOS to boot from CD-ROM first). Finally, I thought I’d run the “repair” option from Windows XP setup. I hunted around my office until I found a Windows XP Home disk (I have no idea what computer this came with. It has a hologram printed on it, but it has the “For distribution with a new PC…yadda, yadda” warning.) It said something about ATAPI CD-ROM and “No Emulation” and “Press any key to load from CD”, so I pressed the any key. I made it to the blue Windows Setup screen, and I watched setup load files on the grey bar at the bottom of the screen. When it was finished loading files, it welcomed me to Setup, and presented me with the three bulleted options: to set up Windows XP, press ENTER; to repair a Windows XP installation with Recovery Console (yes!), press R; to exit, press F3. I tried to repair. I pressed R, the grey bar said “Examining disk configuration” then it said “Examining 28624 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi…” including the ellipsis at the end. It stayed like this for about three hours before I decided that it was frozen. I tried again—same thing. I said, “Screw it. I’m fixing this thing as a favor to my sister, and she probably has backups of important files. I’ll just reinstall Windows.” But choosing the install option produced the same effect. My amateurish computer knowledge is exhausted at this point. I need help. I hope that my explanation was clear, and that its length didn’t scare anybody away. Any help or information is sincerely appreciated. (I should probably add that the computer is custom. My cousin built it formy sister.)

Look at this page. It has most Beep Codes listed. Tomorrow the Stars!

Have you checked that the BIOS CMOS Battery is not dead, the BIOS may be losing its settings !!!! Also you can not use any XP Disk to repair install, it has to be the same version.

My first suggestion is to download a harddrive diagnostic from the harddrive manufacturer. You use the downloaded prog to create a bootfloppy. put the floppy in the problem machine. Boot up and run some of the diagnostic tests. read carefully the guide notes for each test as some are data destructive. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.