Need to start from scratch

[anthony]

Okay, over the last few weeks, i have noticed that my
computer has been very sluggish. The last few days
however, every other time i turn my computer on, i get
this blue screen, with some error message. one time i got
it, and at the bottom it said something about a "memory
dump". i have been told that my system is screwed. how
true is this. i'm running XP home. now if i completely
uninstall/reinstall the OS (which came with the PC)should
this fix whatever is going wrong?

 

[Mary Sauer]

If you have a device driver going corrupt, reinstalling will do nothing. Do you get
this blue screen in safe mode? Have you tried a disk clean-up? Double-click my
computer, right-click your hard drive, properties, disk clean-up. It will take a
while to populate. Clean out your cache, in IE, tools, Internet Options, delete
files.
How to Gather Information After a Memory Dump in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314084&Product=winxp

 

[Guest]

i will check into tgathering this info, but how do i find
which device is corrupt. i've looked in the device
manager, and it shows all my devices as working properly.

 

[Buz [MSFT]]

Try this first:

You will need to press F8 while the computer is starting and select Safe
Mode to implement this

We want to implement the Cleanboot process using MSCONFIG to rule out 3rd
party software as the cause of this issue. MSCONFIG from XP can also be used
on a Windows 2000 Pro or Server client.

Go to Start\Run type in Msconfig and press OK.
Go to the Startup tab.
Click on "Disable All"
Go to the Services Tab
Click on "Hide all Microsoft Services"
Uncheck the 3rd party services that are left
Press OK twice to reboot.

Once your computer is restarted see if the issue still occurs. if it still
does go to Msconfig and select Enable All on the startup tab.
If the issue does not occur go to the Startup tab and select items 4 at a
time or so with reboots in between to narrow down the exact item causing
your problem.

310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310353

Buz Brodin
MCSE NT4 / Win2K
Microsoft Enterprise Domain Support

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