System Boots but Cannot start WinXP

[Guest Scratch1964]

I am having problems when booting up my Asus P5W DH Deluxe system. Although I have tried all manner of solutions to fix the problem it still remains.The system does actually boot, but windows will not load. The start up will not reach the blue screen to allow me to choose which account to sign in by, but instead gets stuck with the 3 green digits flashing across the screen.I concluded initially that there must have been Windows drivers either corrupt or missing, or both. I put the WinXP CD in the drive and entered BIOS, then booted from the CD. I allowed several drivers to load and then switched the PC off. I then rebooted, entered the BIOS and changed boot sequence priority back to boot from HDD. Now the alst time this happened thids fixed things right away, but not this time. Next I removed the CMOS battery and switched the jumper to clear CMOS. This too had previously allowed me to start windows successfully, but on this occasion it made no difference. Finally, I turned off the power and left the PC for half an hour, before rebooting from CD again, thus loading more drivers. Finally I managed to get into Windows XP this time around.When I got in I immediately went into PC wizard and Sandra to check things out. Sandra reported the following temps:CPU = 48cCore 1 = 54cCore 2 = 54cMainboard = 39cGPU = 61cHDD = 32cnone of the above alarmed me until I noticed:Power/Aux temp = 85c!!!These temps are recorded with system at idle and only 3 minutes after booting.Sandra advised to turn system off and check fans, ventilation, temperature of components etc. I checked everything, but all except the GPU felt at body temp or below. Assuming the GPU was correctly reported by Sandra to be running at 62c then I expected it to feel very warm. Therefore, can I conclude the Sandra and PC Wizard are at fault? Is it the Asus mobo that is at fault? Perhaps a BIOS update would help? Do I have two separate issues here, or are the Power/Aux temp & WinXP start up connected in some way?I was convinced that the start up issue was a Windows driver issue but since the CD boot failed to start the O/S until 3rd attempt then I am not so sure.Any input or suggestions will be gratefully received!Thanks in advance.Scratch1964Asus P5W DH DeluxeIntel Conroe E6700 at stock 2.4ghzCorsair XMS2 2Gb DDR2 PC6400 @ 800mhz 5-5-5-12640MB Palit Geforce 8800GTSSeagate Barracuda 320Gb HDD 16MB cache 7200RPM2 x Seagate Barracuda 320Gb HDD 16MB cache 7200RPM RAID 0LG GSA-H10A DVD RAM optical driveEZ Cool 550W PSuThermaltake Soprano black case & fans

[Guest baksteen33]

Hi Scratch, Did you originally install XP via F6? If you did and your Bios was set to AHCI/RAID-mode, HDs will not boot after resetting the CMOS. Latest bios installed? http://event.asus.com/2006/mb/P5W_DH_DELUXE_faq.htmMaybe also handy? http://support.asus.com/download/download....W%20DH%20DeluxeKind regards Jaap

[Guest Scratch1964]

Hello Jaap,Thanks for your input here!No, I did not install XP with RAID via F6. In fact I initially installed WinXP before I had a RAID set up at all. I have had the system running for 10 months now and only encountered this problem in perhaps the past 3 months. Just recently it has been occurring more frequently.Thank you for the links. I regularly update everything via the Asus site but will check back again. The BIOS is the only thing I have not updated, probably because of the stories I have heard of the problems with Asus EZ flash.Nine times out of ten I can resolve the problem by changing boot sequence and loading drivers from the WinXP home CD. Perhaps I should also reinstall a fresh OS on a new drive. I can lose RAID for now, but I have a heck of a lot on my drive C, so will have to make an image of it all first.Scratch1964