Occasional Start-Up Problems

I have been having occasional start up problems with my computer. This is not a HUGE deal at the moment, however i do not want it to increase or develop into a harddrive issue of some sort. I have recently had Sager replace my harddrive because of it having a bad sector....(whatever that means).

What Happens:
It turns on, and i see the little bar goign across the screen, and then it goes and just sits there, and doesn't proceed to the Login screen, it is on, and the screen is sorta glowing, but no doing anything.

After that I have to manually shut it down, and then choose "start windows normally", and it then goes, and after the little bar is finished, the screen flashes, the mouse shows up, and then the login screen shows up, and it works.

Does anyone know what would be causing this, and how I could prevent it? Thanks.




Specs:
Sager NP2096
4 Gigs Ram
2.5 Core 2 Duo Processor
64 Bit Home Edition Vista
Nvidea Geforce 8600 Graphics Card

 

do some system checks:
- RAM: get MemTest86+, burn the ISO onto a CD, and let it autoboot to check for memory errors
- HDD: START > Accessories > right-click on "Command Prompt" > choose "Run as Administrator" > in command prompt, type: CHKDSK C: /F > then say YES and restart for Windows to look for HDD errors and it will fix them.

Then post a pic of an HDtune benchmark to see if your HDD is performing up-to-par.

 

If the problem still occur after what Gophn said, try to reformat the whole system, but you will lose all the information.

 

@Gophn: Thanks, for now I tried the Check Disk method. I'm not quite understanding what to do with the RAM thing, don't you just have to Mount it if is an ISO instead of burning it.

So far so good, if it happens again I'll post on here. I am booting successfully ATM. thanks.

@Nirvana: yeah, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, I've had to reformat to much in my lifetime. >.<

 

the ram testing is simple, here is the guide here on NBR.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=142746

 

I had the same exact problem, I tracked it down to my HDD overheating..

If my system was on for a few hours and the HDD reached over 60c..when I rebooted it would take over 20 mins to boot past the Vista loading bar.. the laptop also appeared to have hung but does finally boot.

I now use a laptop cooler and dont have problem.. I still should really replace the HDD.

I also found that using a book or something to raise the back of the laptop up just few cm's also fixed my HDD overheating..

It does sound like you have same problem.. hope you figure it out soon.

Bracken

 

I would try to do a repair installation before going to a full format and clean installation - that way you won't lose data and apps (generally speaking).