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mirrorsawlljk
n00b
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2004
- Messages
- 1
The situation: Started reformatting last night. Woke up and tried to install SP2 from the official microsoft CD. Got an error about not being able to find a file, despite seeing it when I tried to browse. Reformatted again, got an error. Tried again, got a different error. Repeat about 5 times with different errors each time, though I think a few of them were "file not found" type errors. Then I put in my burned slipstreamed XP CD and left the house for about eight hours. I got back and XP was up and running.
What I know about the problem:
Video card (radeon 9600): Definitely not the problem. No problems with video.
Hard drive (WD 80 gig for the OS): Tested the drive I installed XP to with WD's utility and it passed both the SMART check and the extended test.
Motherboard (Abit NF7-M): Checked for scorchmarks or bulging/leaky caps. Everything looked fine.
Power Supply (Antec): It's an Antec, not a cheapo brand. A little dusty but nothing looked wrong with it. Don't have a multimeter for further tests.
Media: The Service Pack 2 CD is pristine. The factory-pressed XP CD has some little scratches on the edge, but I think they're in the lead-in/lead-out area.
Memory (Generic stick of PC2700): Ran memtest86, kept getting errors on test #6, usually one or two per pass. Reseated the RAM in a different slot and still got errors on test 6, though less of them this time. Fails the first prime95 torture test with a larger than expected result, repeatedly.
DVD-R drive (Lite On DVD burner, firmware updates to dual-layer about 3-4 months ago): Well, just to test the drive and make sure it's not shitting out on pressed CDs, I started installing UT2004 from my CDs. It keeps giving me "application failed to initialize" errors when it detects the CD, which is only about half of the time. I managed to get to disc 4 in the installation once before it crapped out with an error message. Now it's telling me there's no disc in the drive, and there is. Further tests since I wrote this seem to confirm that it's having major problems with pressed CDs, but none with burned CDs and DVDs.
What I think: I don't know what to think. Obviously the Prime95 and Memtest86 tests failing is a bad thing, possibly indicating bad memory. I'm worried about the fact that both memory and the drive are giving me problems all of the sudden. Could that indicate that the problem is something other than the drive and the memory?
Sucks, all this bullshit started about 5 minutes after Half Life 2 unlocked. I still haven't played it, and I was counting down the minutes until unlock time.
What I know about the problem:
Video card (radeon 9600): Definitely not the problem. No problems with video.
Hard drive (WD 80 gig for the OS): Tested the drive I installed XP to with WD's utility and it passed both the SMART check and the extended test.
Motherboard (Abit NF7-M): Checked for scorchmarks or bulging/leaky caps. Everything looked fine.
Power Supply (Antec): It's an Antec, not a cheapo brand. A little dusty but nothing looked wrong with it. Don't have a multimeter for further tests.
Media: The Service Pack 2 CD is pristine. The factory-pressed XP CD has some little scratches on the edge, but I think they're in the lead-in/lead-out area.
Memory (Generic stick of PC2700): Ran memtest86, kept getting errors on test #6, usually one or two per pass. Reseated the RAM in a different slot and still got errors on test 6, though less of them this time. Fails the first prime95 torture test with a larger than expected result, repeatedly.
DVD-R drive (Lite On DVD burner, firmware updates to dual-layer about 3-4 months ago): Well, just to test the drive and make sure it's not shitting out on pressed CDs, I started installing UT2004 from my CDs. It keeps giving me "application failed to initialize" errors when it detects the CD, which is only about half of the time. I managed to get to disc 4 in the installation once before it crapped out with an error message. Now it's telling me there's no disc in the drive, and there is. Further tests since I wrote this seem to confirm that it's having major problems with pressed CDs, but none with burned CDs and DVDs.
What I think: I don't know what to think. Obviously the Prime95 and Memtest86 tests failing is a bad thing, possibly indicating bad memory. I'm worried about the fact that both memory and the drive are giving me problems all of the sudden. Could that indicate that the problem is something other than the drive and the memory?
Sucks, all this bullshit started about 5 minutes after Half Life 2 unlocked. I still haven't played it, and I was counting down the minutes until unlock time.