Windows Errors

dannnyjos

dannnyjos

Big Geek
Hey guys, I've been having lots of random Windows errors lately. It has gotten to the point where my PC is almost unusable. The errors range from Windows errors (like unable to install basic windows components like Media Player, Net Framework, SP2, etc) to many other apps. Some times it lets you install the app but a few hours later it won't let you open it showing some weird errors that I've never seen before. It would be pointless to list the errors I think, since there are so many and diff types.
I installed Windows 4 times, thinking that it could have been a virus or some corrupted Windows files. But nothing. I went ahead and bought a new HD thinking it was the culprit, and still the same problem. I've installed Windows about 8 times now, and in this last attempt, SP1 took about 20 mins to install :eek: . OF course the problem still persists.
What can it possibly be if not the HD? RAM may be? Is there any diagnostic tool I can use. I already spend money in the new Hard Drive, I dont want to keep wasting money until I'm sure what the problem is.

Suggestions?
 
Dying power supplies can give all sorts of strange errors. As your problems are varied and intermittent I would consider looking there. It might also be a good idea to test your RAM with memtest86 if you think there is a possible problem with it.
 
Well, the PSU was bought about a year ago, and I really don't think it's the problem. The PC runs the games fine (BF2142, SupCom, etc), it's the apps & windows features that are constantly crashing.
Anyways, I downloaded memtest and can't get my PC to boot from it. I changed the BIOS boot order of course but it's still going straight to the OS. Do you know how to make a BootableCD with Memtest? May be I'm doing it wrong. I simply placed the .iso file in the CD (by itself) but still no success.
 
dannnyjos said:
Well, the PSU was bought about a year ago, and I really don't think it's the problem. The PC runs the games fine (BF2142, SupCom, etc), it's the apps & windows features that are constantly crashing.
Anyways, I downloaded memtest and can't get my PC to boot from it. I changed the BIOS boot order of course but it's still going straight to the OS. Do you know how to make a BootableCD with Memtest? May be I'm doing it wrong. I simply placed the .iso file in the CD (by itself) but still no success.
Click to expand...

You are not making a data cd with the ISO in it. What you want to do is right click the memtest iso and select open with. And from there, select the burning program. Your other option would be to select an option similar to "burn an iso" from within your burning program.
 
Thanks Fred, it finally worked!

I'm currently running the Memtest will see how the results come up. :read:
 
Ok, I ran Memtest86 all night and no memory errors so far. Is there anything else you guys can think of? What would you do if you were in my position?:confused:
 
Did you plug in your new HDD into the same controller?
Are you using the same cabling to connect it?
 
Yes tech, I tried all 4 SATA controllers in the MOBO and also changed the SATA cable; but thanks for the suggestion anyways :cool: .
 
Well its a tough one. Maybe you should start using Performance console or auditing and start doing some logging or monitoring. Maybe that'll give you a chance to find the culprit. The obvious thing to start talking about is the mobo but they rarely go wrong.
 
Maybe its caused by corrupt files? I understand you have re-installed windows but have you tried a different install cd?

have you gone through stuff like, going though windows update, updating bios?

Are you able to list a few errors, as it will give us something to go on.
 
You're right Tech, MOBOs rarely go wrong, thats why I wanted to explore every other possibility.

What you say sniper is actually very accurate, I also believe it's some kind of corruption. Now the question is which device is causing it. I have installed XP about 15 times already, and the corruption shows itself in several apps and randomly. I've yet to explore the possibility of a damaged installation CD which I'll try tomorrow if possible. I'll also try to flash and update the BIOS to make sure the corruption does not reside there.
Here are the weird errors I'm getting, These are just samples of them.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/dannnyjos/5.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/dannnyjos/4.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/dannnyjos/3.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/dannnyjos/2.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/dannnyjos/1.jpg

There are others similar in nature, but I dont think that their behavior can be described in a screenshot. For instance, when installing SP2, it extract the files to the temporary folder of course, but then when the actual installation begins, it won't find several of the extracted files, not even by browsing. I've tried the SP CD on other computers and it works perfectly. So, right now I just feel like :crash:

Anyways, I'll try those 2 solutions tomorrow and will post back the results.
 
Alright, I tried a different WinXP install CD and still the problem persists. So, I went ahead and flashed the BIOS to the latest version on the ASUS website, then reinstalled windows again. But the problem is still there.
Any other suggestions before I :crash: my PC ?
 
dare I say try installing "vista"to see if it helps, last year my XP cd was playing up, giving strange errors even though Vista installed fine.

In the end I took everything out of the system and then put everything back with the minimum hardware e.g. 1 x HD, 1 x Ram Stick etc but also reseated the CPU, after which its been working fine.
 
What's the temp of your CPU? A hot running CPU can also cause problems.
If you're getting much past 60*C, I'd wager you have some cooling issues.
 
Big B said:
What's the temp of your CPU? A hot running CPU can also cause problems.
If you're getting much past 60*C, I'd wager you have some cooling issues.
Click to expand...

agreed! i had a major problem with my system, it would sometimes report the wrong amount of ram, and windows crashing.

i thought it was ram issues and ran memtest (or some dos program) to test the system, no errors found

i finally realised it was a miss-alligned pin on the motherboard's cpu 'chamber' so that might be worth a look, a miss-connected pin can cause all sorts of issues
 
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