Please Read the folllowing article regarding this type of problem and follow any of the included recommendations if they apply to you.
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More likely you have a damaged Operating System or Damage to Hardware or a Hardware Driver.
The following is my suggested course of investigating and ruling-out various problems progessively.
Are you able to enter Recovery Console by placing your XP installation CD into a CD ROM unit and rebooting? If so you may need to use Recovery Console to repair damage to your Operating System.
Let us know if you can access Recovery Console before proceeding with any repair.
If you are unable to access Recovery Console…
Will the machine open into CMOS/BIOS (also referred to as Setup) and usually accessible by pressing F2 or ESC or DEL immediately when the machine is restarting.
If you do get into the BIOS browse through the various values and settings without making changes.
Particularly notice what values are currently set for IDE locations (your Hard Drive and Optical Drives)
Report back with that BIOS information in your next reply.
next….
If you were unable to boot to Recovery Console or access BIOS, as above. Then
If you are comfortable pursuing the following various steps, and have a suitable clear working areas, and if you understand the necessity of disconnecting the Power Cable before working inside the tower case, and if you understand the importance of exercising Static Electricity safety cautions…. Then please consider following these steps to help narrow down/rule out various possible Hardware problems.
With the case side opened… turn the machine on briefly to…
Make sure the fan on the CPU heat sink spins up the second that power comes on. If the fan doesn't start spinning immediately, then immediately turn off the machine, and unplug the power cord again. If it didn't spin, despite being connected to the correct power point, replace it with a new active heat sink unit. Replacing the heatsink fan is no guarantee against damage that may already have occurred to the CPU, but if the CPU is still good, it needs that Fan working, the instant power is turned on.
While inspecting the Fan(s),, but after turning themachine off if the fan/s don't spin, also inspect the Capacitors on the Motherboard. They are the miniature soda can shaped objects standing directly up from the motherboard. The top of the Capacitors should be absolutely "flat" and free of any leakage. If you see even marginally rounded tops on the capacitors or if there is any evidence of leakage, then you probably have a fried motherboard which will need to be replaced. Replacing the motherboard does not guarantee that no other device has been damaged, but continuing to run the machine with bulging or leaking capacitors almost guarantees that additonal problems will follow as a result.
Also with the power still off and cord unconnected, inspect the inside of the case for accummulated dust and airflow clogging. If you have a bunch of dust bunnies, particularly if the CPU heat sink is clogged with dust, or particularly if the heat sink on your Video Card is clogged with dust, … then use a can of compressed air to blow out the dust so that the fans spin freely and airflow in and around the heatsinks has adequate flow.
Next…
Again make sure the power is turned off and the power cord is unplugged.
Ground your body's static by touching a metal support structure inside the case to discharge your own static.
Remove the CMOS battery (shiny nickel size disk located flat on the motherboard) Leave the CMOS batter out for about 10 minutes. Then Replace it and attempt to boot the machine. This will have reverted the BIOS settings to their default settings.
Next…
If the above finds that all appears well, or you don't get restored system from removing/replacing the CMOS batter, then turn off the machine and Physically remove all but one stick of your RAM. Again be sure to use Static grounding.
Remove any PCI card, including Sound, NIC, Modem, but leave the Video Card in place (if there is one).
Disconnect the IDE ribbons to your CD/DVD drive(s) and remove their power connectors. Remove the IDE and power connector to all but the Primary Hard Drive.
Now Reboot your machine.
If it boots successfully, then the problem is with one of the devices that has been disconnected, or with the power supply.
If it does not boot successfully, turn it back off and remove the current RAM stick and replace that RAM stick with one of the others that you previously removed. Reboot, and continue this sequence until you have attempted boot with each RAM stick installed by itself. If the machine fails to boot with one or more of the RAM sticks installed separately, then each one of those is probably bad and needs to be replaced. (
Do not throw the suspect RAM stick away at this time.) If the machine continues to fail at boot after testing with each of your RAM sticks separately, try to "borrow" an identical stick of RAM from a known good machine (RAM must be of the same type (e.g. PC3200 or PC133, etc). Boot with that single known-good stick of RAM. If the machine still fails to boot normally, then the problem is probably not just the RAM, but may involve the motherboard, power supply, video card, or Primary Hard Drive.
If you get a successful boot with this “stripped down” system, You can then physically reinstall the various removed units and card, one at a time, rebooting after each single item is reinstalled. Continue until your machine fails to boot. You will have identified the card or unit that is damaged and probably causing your difficulty.
do you have another compatible Video Card?
If you do replace your current card and attempt reboot.
Do you have another Hard Drive laying around or can you borrow one.
If you have such a Hard Drive, replace your current Hard Drive and attempt boot.
If the machine boots, but complains that there is no operating system, or that their are problems with the operating system, then your original Primary Hard drive is probably dysfunctional and needs to be replaced and the operating system reinstalled.
I've listed a ton of possible actions for you to consider and explore. Please reply with any questions you might have before proceeding.
Best Regards
