Which hardware?

[Guest]

My computer was bought only last year May. And within these past time
periods, it had a problem like 20 times.

Most common problem I had was System Registry corruption. It frequently
occurred until the hard drive was switched few months ago.

Now, however, new problem arise. Most recent problem was when a blue screen
popped up and said that Windows shut down to protect my files. If that was
the first time I saw that blue screen, then check if computer has any virus.
Computer has been checked with an up-to-date AntiVirus and none detected. No
Spyware detected neither.

Another problem occurring is five options appearing when the computer is
turned on. Safe mode, safe mode with two other options, Last Known Good
Configuration, and Start Windows Normally. Either clicking on one of these
just restarts the computer. After numerous tries, I can get in to Windows. So
recently, I turned off the automatically restart on start up options.

My bottom question is, which hard drive might be causing this? Motherboard,
Memory, hard drive, power supply even? I don't have any untrusted stuff
installed neither. Video card latest driver is installed too.

Specs:
ASUS P4P800-X Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz
512 MB RAM 400
Windows XP Home SP2 (with up-to-date windows updates)
385 watt power supply
Radeon 9800 SE
Seagate Hard Drive 80 Gig ST380011A

Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Doug Kanter]

My computer was bought only last year May. And within these past time
periods, it had a problem like 20 times.

Most common problem I had was System Registry corruption. It frequently
occurred until the hard drive was switched few months ago.

Now, however, new problem arise. Most recent problem was when a blue
screen
popped up and said that Windows shut down to protect my files. If that was
the first time I saw that blue screen, then check if computer has any
virus.
Computer has been checked with an up-to-date AntiVirus and none detected.
No
Spyware detected neither.

Another problem occurring is five options appearing when the computer is
turned on. Safe mode, safe mode with two other options, Last Known Good
Configuration, and Start Windows Normally. Either clicking on one of these
just restarts the computer. After numerous tries, I can get in to Windows.
So
recently, I turned off the automatically restart on start up options.

My bottom question is, which hard drive might be causing this?
Motherboard,
Memory, hard drive, power supply even? I don't have any untrusted stuff
installed neither. Video card latest driver is installed too.

Specs:
ASUS P4P800-X Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz
512 MB RAM 400
Windows XP Home SP2 (with up-to-date windows updates)
385 watt power supply
Radeon 9800 SE
Seagate Hard Drive 80 Gig ST380011A

Please help. Thanks in advance.

How many different pairs of hands have access to the machine, and what are
the ages of the users?

 

[decoder]

My computer was bought only last year May. And within these past time
periods, it had a problem like 20 times.

Most common problem I had was System Registry corruption. It frequently
occurred until the hard drive was switched few months ago.

Who discerned (and how?) that HD malfunction correlated
with System Reg corruption?

Now, however, new problem arise. Most recent problem was when a blue
screen
popped up and said that Windows shut down to protect my files. If that was
the first time I saw that blue screen, then check if computer has any
virus.
Computer has been checked with an up-to-date AntiVirus and none detected.
No
Spyware detected neither.

What applications were(are) listed in the system tray when blue screen of
death appeared?
Have you checked Task manager to discern what software/processes load
with XP? (These are nearly always a prime suspect)

Another problem occurring is five options appearing when the computer is
turned on. Safe mode, safe mode with two other options, Last Known Good
Configuration, and Start Windows Normally. Either clicking on one of these
just restarts the computer. After numerous tries, I can get in to Windows.
So
recently, I turned off the automatically restart on start up options.

These are standard boot options.
"Start Windows Normally" should be top of list and hi-lighted.
There should be a countdown and if none of the other options
is selected , Windows loads normally.
You can select one of the other options by using the
Up/Down arrow keys to hi-light and then hit enter key.
"Safe Mode with CD rom" is the usual option to
perform a repair of a near dead windows O/S from
the XP installation disk.

My bottom question is, which hard drive might be causing this?
Motherboard,
Memory, hard drive, power supply even? I don't have any untrusted stuff
installed neither. Video card latest driver is installed too.

Specs:
ASUS P4P800-X Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0 Ghz
512 MB RAM 400
Windows XP Home SP2 (with up-to-date windows updates)
385 watt power supply
Radeon 9800 SE
Seagate Hard Drive 80 Gig ST380011A

Please help. Thanks in advance.

It could be anything from:
BIOS settings
Resource conflict (USB, Firewire etc)
Software conflict/corruption?
Firmware
Required software patches/Updates/Hotfixes?
Drivers?
Does the event log list anything dubious?
Do you receive any other error messages?
is any hardware listed in Device Manager as
having problems?

 

[Guest]

Only me as a user.

I doubt it's:
- USB
- Patches
- Software corruption
- Event log listed disk error several tiems when it was restarting, so
devices/harddisk
- not drivers
- no other error messages not hardware issues

Thanks in advance

 

[Kerry Brown]

You may doubt it's the items. Anyone with experience at diagnosing computer
problems knows it is likely to be one of those items. You are asking for
help and then don't want to give out any information. From what you describe
it is quite likely to be one of the following:

Bad driver
Malware
Defective hardware
Software corruption caused by any of the above

To diagnose any further with out having physical access to the computer we
would need at least the error messages in the event logs and also the error
message when the BSOD occurred. It would also be nice to know how you
eliminated the possibilities on your doubtful list.

Kerry

 

[Peter Foldes]

Probably a user inflicted issue rather than hardware. From what you describe as your issues it does not look like hardware related. What does it say in your event viewer?

 

[decoder]

Hi
As you're convinced (But I'm not) it is your
hard drive that is at fault:
Boot into Safe Mode
Double Click "My Computer"
*RIGHT* click: "C" drive (or volume that XP is installed)
Select Properties
In the Properties dialog, select "Tools" tab,
Now in the Tools option you will find:

Error-checking
Defragmentation

Perform both tasks.
(You may need to set aside several hours
for these tasks to complete.)