Need advice finding culprit to hardware problems...

  • Thread starter Thread starter mexican_equivalent
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mexican_equivalent

Whenever I turn on my computer, the bios issues a short message that
something's amiss (the checksum doesn't match, or somesuch). It states
that it'll revert to default settings, and then it proceeds to run
Windows XP flawlessly. However, whenever I turn on the computer, the
BIOS gives the same warning again. I noticed the computer clock always
resets back to August 2005 whenever I turn on the computer.

So I eventually re-partitioned the hard drive and reinstalled Windows.
The problem is that during Windows installation, the computer will
freeze whenever I try to do a proper format of the entire hard disk
(OR) a format the first partition of the harddisk. The only way around
it is by doing a "quick format". And even then, there's problems. If
I install Windows on the first partition (drive C:\), Windows XP will
encounter missing/corrupt files midway through the installation. If I
install on the 2nd partition (drive D:\), then I can complete the
entire installation.

I've tried running scan disk after installation, but it hasn't reported
anything bad on my drives. When I try to install SP2 for Windows, I
run into a host of problems. The installation will always fail,
sometimes without warning, sometimes saying that the version doesn't
match or isn't valid. Failure occurs in different, seemingly random
stages whenever I attempt an installation.

So now I'm thinking this is a hardware problem, not a software. I'm
thinking perhaps I have a bad hard drive that's having trouble keeping
file integrity. Or maybe a bad motherboard, as evidenced by the BIOS
warnings and the constantly resetting clock. Any educated guesses on
what the problem might be? I'd hate to have to buy a new hard drive
only to find out that it was my mobo that's causing the problems..
 
Whenever I turn on my computer, the bios issues a short message that
something's amiss (the checksum doesn't match, or somesuch). It
states that it'll revert to default settings, and then it proceeds to
run
Windows XP flawlessly. However, whenever I turn on the computer, the
BIOS gives the same warning again. I noticed the computer clock
always resets back to August 2005 whenever I turn on the computer.

So I eventually re-partitioned the hard drive and reinstalled Windows.
The problem is that during Windows installation, the computer will
freeze whenever I try to do a proper format of the entire hard disk
(OR) a format the first partition of the harddisk. The only way
around
it is by doing a "quick format". And even then, there's problems. If
I install Windows on the first partition (drive C:\), Windows XP will
encounter missing/corrupt files midway through the installation. If I
install on the 2nd partition (drive D:\), then I can complete the
entire installation.

I've tried running scan disk after installation, but it hasn't
reported
anything bad on my drives. When I try to install SP2 for Windows, I
run into a host of problems. The installation will always fail,
sometimes without warning, sometimes saying that the version doesn't
match or isn't valid. Failure occurs in different, seemingly random
stages whenever I attempt an installation.
Click to expand...

(snip)

You went through a huge amount of trouble for nothing. All you need to
do is replace your motherboard battery. In a desktop, the motherboard
battery is a small coin-shaped battery that costs $3-5USD to replace.
If you have a laptop, contact the laptop mftr.'s tech support.

Malke
 
It sounds like you have two, or more, problems.

1. You have a bios problem. It is likely a dead/weak battery. Turn off
the computer. Open the case. Look for a small nickel sized battery in a clip
on the motherboard. Replace the battery. Note that there is a small latch
you have to release before the battery will come out. Don't pry the battery
or you will damage the retaining clip.

2. Random errors are usually caused by defective or sub-standard RAM.
Windows XP manipulates the RAM a lot more aggressively that any previous
version of Windows ever did. RAM that worked fine with Windows 98 many times
will fail to function properly with Windows XP.

Go to www.crucial.com ,
http://www.shop.kingston.com/default.asp?bannersource=comju or one of the
other major manufacturers web pages and use their memory selection tools to
determine what is recommended for your particular computer/motherboard.
Then - get it.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
So now I'm thinking this is a hardware problem, not a software. I'm
thinking perhaps I have a bad hard drive that's having trouble keeping
file integrity. Or maybe a bad motherboard, as evidenced by the BIOS
warnings and the constantly resetting clock. Any educated guesses on
what the problem might be? I'd hate to have to buy a new hard drive
only to find out that it was my mobo that's causing the problems..
Click to expand...

Of course it's a hardware problem if you get an error message before Windows
even loads. Duh.
 
Richard said:
1. You have a bios problem. It is likely a dead/weak battery. Turn off
the computer. Open the case. Look for a small nickel sized battery in a clip
Click to expand...


OK, I sort of guessed the battery problem. I should've said so in the
original post, because now people keep pointing out what a dork I am.
I probably should've been more specific, like asking if a potentially
dead battery could cause drive errors (probably not), or if a faulty
motherboard could potentially keep resetting itself for reasons other
than a dead battery.

Just for the record, I did *not* format my hard drive and reinstall
Windows because of a resetting clock. The computer had been infected
with a bunch of nasty trojans, virii, and adwares after someone ran
risky executables and batch files on it, so I had to reformat the drive
and reset the BIOS just to stay on the safe side.



2. Random errors are usually caused by defective or sub-standard RAM.
Windows XP manipulates the RAM a lot more aggressively that any previous
version of Windows ever did. RAM that worked fine with Windows 98 many times
will fail to function properly with Windows XP.
Click to expand...


Is it possible that faulty RAM would manifest itself so consistently
while I'm doing something simple like formatting a hard drive? And why
would Windows installation process keep encountering the exact same
corrupt file if I install on C:\ drive instead of D:\ drive? A faulty
RAM would be more random than that, I think.

Many of these problems occur during installation of Windows XP (before
that operating system is even operational), so I don't think the
"aggressivenes" of XP's RAM management should even come into
consideration.
 
HeyBub said:
Of course it's a hardware problem if you get an error message before Windows
even loads. Duh.
Click to expand...


Not necessarily. Isn't it possible for a particularly nasty virus to
infect the BIOS, and cause problems before Windows even loads?

That would be a software problem, not hardware.
 
It certainly is possible. I saw a case just 3 days ago on a customers
computer.

Whatever it was that he got on his computer added a password function that
activated "prior" to even the bios "user" password that you can set. There
was no way to get into the computer. No way to boot from a CD/DVD.
Fortunately, I could still boot from a floppy (I guess whatever it was, was
not properly coded).

I was able to remove the pest by booting with a Win98 setup floppy and
running "fdisk /mbr" from the floppy. Upon reboot, the computer could be
accessed. I then restored a drive image of his computer that was about a
month old. He was back in business.

I have no idea what caused the problem and didn't have the time to
investigate this phenomenon.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
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