Not another hard drive failure!

June 5, 2009

I’m prepared. I just bought a new external hard drive to recover all the files on my old external that did crash. I subscribed to Mozy’s online backup service and even picked the files I want to back up and scheduled the first backup. That doesn’t mean I’m hoping my primary hard drive is going to crash on me!

Before my external drive bit the dust, I was having an intermittent issue with the log-in screen on Windows and sometimes, it wouldn’t shut down. My computer started up fine but when the log-in screen should have appeared, all I got was a cursor on a black screen. At first it only happened once in awhile, then about the time my external drive crashed, I was seeing that lonely little cursor more often than I was seeing the Windows Welcome screen which meant the only way I could restart was by pressing the power button. I’m not going to go into all the research I did and all the various solutions that I found to correct the problem and believe me, I spent many, many hours and collected many possible fixes.  That’s not what this post is about. This post is about my own personal recommendations for troubleshooting any start-up/shutdown problems you might have on your Windows Vista system.

Check your hard disk for errors

The first thing I wanted to rule out was that my hard disk was about to fail so I used the error checking tool.  There may be errors on your disk that Windows can repair. To use the error checking tool in Vista, check out the instructions on Microsoft’s website. I did have some errors that Windows was able to repair which was a good thing but I still had the start-up problem.

Check your disk for errors

Use Event Viewer to find warnings and errors during start-up

I include this step just because everybody needs to take a look at the Event Viewer. The Event Viewer keeps a variety of logs that contain information (real tekkie stuff) about what the software and hardware on your system have been up to. If you want all the tech info about the Event Viewer in Vista, feel free to visit the Microsoft website for a description of the tool and how to use it.  My interest in the Event Viewer was to find out what type of warning and errors Windows was issuing during start-up so I could see what the problem might be.  I saw plenty of errors – critical errors – but I have to tell you, other than being able to see what applications or services were having problems I wasn’t able to discover WHY they were having problems, at least not in English.  I sent the error reports to Microsoft but that was like sending them to my mom. At least my mom will tell me she doesn’t have a clue…

Use the Event Viewer to view system information, warnings and errors.

Start your computer in Safe Mode

When your computer starts in Safe Mode, the operating system will only load the programs, services and drivers Windows requires to function. For a complete description of Safe Mode, see Microsoft’s website.

I noticed that whenever I started my computer in Safe Mode, I never got the white cursor on the black screen instead of the log-in. That made me think the problem I was having was software related, not hardware related.  What I didn’t know was if the software issues were related to programs, services or drivers.

Load only the files Windows needs to function.

Use the System Configuration Utility

If you’re comfortable changing the configuration of your system, then use this tool to change start-up options.  By changing the services, applications and drivers that automatically loads when Windows starts, you can find out which one (or ones) are causing a problem. I have to tell you, this process of elimination can be very time consuming, especially if you have a lot of services, applications and drivers that automatically start when Windows does.

Use the System Configuration utility to change which files load when Windows starts

Conclusion

Luckily for me, I discovered a couple of different things that loaded during start-up that seemed to be causing problems with the way my computer was starting (or not). I ended up removing a driver and a couple of applications from my start-up. The driver was for my graphics card and the applications were monitoring applications (anti-virus and disk defragmentation programs).  I ended up switching to a different anti-virus program and decided to defragment my hard drive on a regular schedule instead of on the fly. The added bonus to removing the defragmenting program was that my system’s performance has increased considerably. That’s strange since keeping my hard drive defragmented is supposed to improve performance. Hey, there may have been a conflict between the two monitoring programs. I don’t know. All I know is that once again, I may have lost time performing all the troubleshooting but I didn’t lose another hard drive. My computer runs great now and I don’t have anymore start-up/shutdown problems.

Staples Easy Tech™ can troubleshoot your system for you

Just remember that there are tools that can repair your disk and operating system. If you’re not comfortable using them, then have a professional look at your machine before you go out and buy new hardware.  Staples offers a complete PC tune-up and diagnostic testing for a lot less than a new computer.  You may even have a tekkie dude or chick in your family who can help. A WORD OF CAUTION: Don’t make your friend or relative feel like a doctor at a cocktail party. It took them time, effort and possibly money to develop those skills.  Always offer to pay for their help. They may wave your offer away but give them the opportunity!

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