[PotGuy]

My computer has been BSODing for a while, but it was infrequent so I lived with it.

Today it has decided it will only load to the welcome screen, where it manages to say 'Welcome' and then BSODs.

I can't get to safe mode, last known configuration or anything like that because as soon as it hits the welcome screen it dies a death.

Anyone had this before/know what is going on? Any help appreciated.

[Silverhazesurfer]

As I would suspect first, memory.

http://forums.techarena.in/windows-x...tm#post4035184

I would first try a swap or removal of the memory to see if there is a possible failure.

Run MemTest to see if you are having an issue as well

http://www.memtest.org/

[PotGuy]

Thanks for the advice,

I ran memtest twice, ran memtest+ and windows diagnostic memory test. All were fine.

I don't have any spare memory, so I will do a startup with each stick individually.

[PotGuy]

Right, well I've now tested each stick individually, and they all fail equally to prevent the BSOD.

With about 45 mins memory testing, and seemingly without any memory stick being at fault, what else could it be?

[Silverhazesurfer]

Hrm...

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...or-screen-help

this site talks about booting to a XP CD. Do you have a proper OEM disc (not manufacturer restore) to try to boot the machine? If you can, try fixboot and see what happens. I doubt it will really do anything for you, but it is one thing that will guarantee a certain function operates. May lead you in another direction also.

http://discuss.pcmag.com/forums/thread/1004394920.aspx

This guy fixed it with a CMOS battery and modem removal. Maybe yours could be that simple.

[PotGuy]

I tried reparing windows with the install CD, but as soon as it got to the 'welcome screen' part of installation it BSOD'ed again, which meant that now I had a half-installed copy of XP on there. So then I coudln't fix anything at all.

I gave up, installed XP on a second hard drive, took whatever I needed off it and wiped the first half drive.

What a mess.

[Silverhazesurfer]

ok, so the end result is a replacement drive allowed you to get the machine back up. Were there any issues with transferring data? Did you use the same cables to connect the new drive? Same ports? I am curious about this, as there doesn't seem to be a unified conclusion about what the cause of this is.

I would get the manufacturer specific disk tools and run some tests on the other drive.

[PotGuy]

Originally Posted by Silverhazesurfer

ok, so the end result is a replacement drive allowed you to get the machine back up. Were there any issues with transferring data? Did you use the same cables to connect the new drive? Same ports? I am curious about this, as there doesn't seem to be a unified conclusion about what the cause of this is.

I would get the manufacturer specific disk tools and run some tests on the other drive.

I was all very hit-and-miss. After the windows re-install failed I could only boot to setup, as when it progressed to the welcome screen part of setup it crashed and a reboot just led to it starting again.

That obviously meant I could no longer fix it, because I could not get to any sort of UI.

It was very hit and miss trying to take stuff off the buggered drive. After I plugged in a second drive, installed XP and booted from it, It couldn't see the buggered drive at all. It turned out that it was seeing it as RAW rather than FAT32 or NTFS.

Eventually, for no apparent reason, it was able to read the drive as though there was nothing wrong, and I was able to access it and take what I pleased from it as though it was a standard drive. Yet when I tried to boot from it, it went to XP setup.

I don't know what caused it, but if it happens all I can surmise is that there is no damage to files or hardware and you can simply take off whatever you need and start afresh. Looking around the internet there is no fix, and when somebody has a solution it doesn't work for lots of other people. Evidently there are a lot of causes and there is nothing you can do about it really.

[Silverhazesurfer]

Hrm....

Based on that, I would try to do a low level format on the drive using the manufacturer tools. For example, Seagate has SeaTools for DOS. You can zero the drive, block by block, and reset it for info. If that fails, I would imagine that the platters are done in some way. Obviously, that is your fail point. The bad pool caller probably stemmed from the page file location on the drive.

[crazylegs]

This sounds all to familiar

I had the same sort of scenario about a year ago on my mums PC and in the end had to replace the HDD
Information just wasn't being held and some or most was being corrupted in a matter of days and I had to start all over again reinstalling the OS
save yourself some hassle Potguy and just replace the HDD as Silverhaze has already said a low level format may help but you can bet your bottom dollar it will go t*ts up again!