>> > "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> > The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The
>> > screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express
>> > started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots
>> > that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a
>> > message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services
>> > running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It
>> > fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second
>> > drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive
>> > passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive
>> > doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.
>>
>> > I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by
>> > myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the
>> > hardware, Memtest?
>> On May 27, 10:57 am, "Anna" <myn...@myisp.net> wrote:
>> Parker Race:
>> Well it certainly sounds like some sort of hardware issue, so do this...
>>
>> First, check out the HDD with the diagnostic utility that (hopefully)
>> will
>> be available from the website of the disk's manufacturer. Or have you
>> done
>> that already?
>>
>> Assuming the drive checks out OK hardware-wise...
>>
>> After shutting down your machine (I'm assuming this is a desktop PC,
>> right?), remove (disconnect) all peripheral devices including your hard
>> drive(s), optical drive(s), sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage
>> devices,
>> printers, and any other devices connected to the machine.
>>
>> So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat
>> sink, RAM, video card, and power supply. Better yet, should your
>> motherboard be equipped with onboard video/graphics capability,
>> disconnect your video card from the system. Just make sure your BIOS
>> setting (should there be one) reflects that onboard graphics/video is
>> enabled.
>>
>> Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system.
>>
>> What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or
>> strange notations?
>>
>> Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review
>> >> the CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to
>> determine that all temps are within normal range?
>>
>> Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the
>> next
>> hour or so, checking to see if anything untoward shows up, particularly
>> temperature-wise.
>>
>> Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine
>> >> if there are any problems there.
>>
>> Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's
>> nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not
>> absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that
>> something else is amiss.
>>
>> I don't suppose you have any spare RAM modules you could substitute?
>>
>> Anyway, if there doesn't seem to be any hardware issues based upon the
>> above, do you have or could you get another HDD and try a fresh install
>> of
>> the OS to see how that goes? If no problem there, i.e., the system boots
>> without incident and apparently properly functions, perhaps your existing
>> problem is due to a seriously corrupted OS that can't be resurrected by a
>> Repair install which previously failed.
>> Anna
"Parker Race" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:e1eb8326-b350-420e-a74d-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'll try the disk diagnostics, SMART is enabled and shows no errors
> though.
> I can access the Bios, no errors, etc. I'm going to run Memtest on it
> first. If it passes I'm going to try a fresh install to another
> partition. If it passes testing and I can install on another
> partition, I'm going to try
> putting the disk in another pc and running the repair.
>
> Thanks
> Parker
Parker:
Yes, since you have another machine at your disposal I can understand that
you could install the HDD in that machine as a secondary HDD at least in
order to attempt to access its contents and copy off any important files
that you want. And that's certainly a good idea which we always recommend
when the possibility exists for doing so.
But I'm at a loss to understand your motive re running a Repair install of
the XP OS on that HDD using that *second* PC. What would be your objective
here? Assuming a Repair install would be successful - what then? Is it that
you would be planning to utilize that drive as (another) boot drive in the
second PC? Or this would be some clue that the drive & its contents are
non-defective and you would plan to reinstall the drive in the problem
machine for another attempt at a Repair install?
Anyway, keep us informed of your progress, particularly if you can pin down
the cause of the problem and how you were able to resolve it.
Anna
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