Is it possible for XP to randomly get corrupt?

[GaleForce]

I tried to start my system this morning and it told me a file was missing/corrupt in C:\Windows\System32 or something. So, I ran chkdsk /p in the recovery console and it found and fixed one error, and here I am again. I hope my windows installation is as good as new. Just weird it can go so suddenly like that.

BTW this is XP pro.

[ravendark]

what you describe does happen and has happened to me on occasion.
for no apparent reason ( i hadnt installed, removed or otherwise changed anything) it will
decide to flat out remove critical files and puke at startup. FREAKY indeed.

but yes, it does happen, and most likely it will happen again in the future. i learned my
lesson a while ago, fresh ghost image ( as of 9am this morning ) sits to my right just to be
safe

[ThreeDee]

I've had that happen to me , but it was always a result of either overclocking ..or hardware instabilities/failure or a combination of the former creating the latter :)

[chinoquezada]

That used to happen with all harddrives but i havent heard of anything like that in a while...

EDIT:

That is, unless you overclock... Though you would have said so in the first place, so i dont think this is the case.

[nemesis27]

Wouldn't be windows if it didn't crash or corrupt itself :rolleyes:

[chinoquezada]

Wouldn't be windows if it didn't crash or corrupt itself :rolleyes:

Code doesnt corrupt itself... XP or any OS cant corrupt itself unless forced by a user error or bad hardware or too much OCing...

[Ranma_Sao]

XP tries it's damndest to not get corrupt. We have self repairing registry hives, ntfs journals, chkdsk if it detect's corruption, etc... But on modern hardware it is possible for a random bit to get flipped in memory or on harddisks and there is nothing XP can do to prevent it.

[Summoner]

Wouldn't be windows if it didn't crash or corrupt itself :rolleyes:

You'll be using Linux or some other OS then? I mean, if Windows crashes on you so much, you'd be fool to use it right? :rolleyes:

[Moto Guzzi]

In my 3.5 years of using XP-PRO, the main system files never got corrupted, especially when I installed processor with HT, and when enabled, causing system to crash in every program.

So I agree, overclocking/PSU or hardware like disk causing things to go corrupt in uncontrolable manner.

After sorting the HT problem I gained great respect for XP-PRO. I actually thought here is my re-format/Install coming, I actually never had to use the clone disk so far.

Must say I used Norton-AV/NSW[Keep registry clean]/NIS since very beginning in 2001.., and of course my whole system, not just the P4, is properly cooled from start...

After installing programs, I always reboot +1 time more[Reboot Good with no changes] as ask, before I continiue.
>I also defrag after this..

This is all I can think of how I could have managed to avoid re-installs... :D