• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Troubleshooting Help with Mom's Computer

Y

YellowSnow

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
463
My mom's Windows XP desktop is giving me a hell of a time. At this point, I'm guessing there's a problem with the memory controller or something else other than the RAM and Hard Drive.

If I try to start it, after POST I get, "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/CONFIG/SYSTEM". If I try hitting F8 and loading last known good settings that worked, I get the following blue screen: "PAGE FAULT IN A NON-PAGED AREA". If I try to boot into safe mode, I get the "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/CONFIG/SYSTEM" message again.

I tested the hard drive on a seperate computer via a USB adapter twice with the long generic test and it tested successful both times. I ran Memtest 86 on the computer and version 4, the new version would freeze part way though the first pass (after about a minute) but they also included version 3.6 (or something like that) in the ISO so I tried that and it ran fine through an entire pass.

I tried cloning the existing HDD to a different one and Acronis froze halfway through the clone process.

If I try to run the repair console from an XP installation CD, as soon as I tell it which Windows installation I want to look at (there's only one) I get the blue screen indicated above. If I try to run a system repair from the CD, it gives the same BSOD when checking for previous Windows installs.

I grabbed the HDD out of a different computer with XP installed on it so I could try installing Windows XP from scratch but I still got the BSOD when it searched for previous versions of Windows. Why would a completely unrelated Windows install cause the same blue screen at the same point???

Any advice is appreciated. This is my poor Mom's computer.
 
Try a different set of RAM or try testing the RAM longer (usually 15 passes does the trick) A single Memtest pass isn't enough.
 
Oh, I've tried removing each of the two RAM sticks, one at a time, and it does not help. I still get the BSOD's. I've also replaced the IDE cable to the hard drive and tried powering the HDD with an external PSU. I have lots of old computers at work I can take parts from so let me know if I should try a different PSU or something.
 
Danny Bui said:
Try a different set of RAM or try testing the RAM longer (usually 15 passes does the trick) A single Memtest pass isn't enough.
Click to expand...

I just set Memtest to run overnight and I'll grab some RAM from work to see if that helps but please see my new post, above.
 
The original symptoms that caused my Mom to ask me to look at it was that Windows was freezing and , what sounded to me like the HDD, was making a bunch of clicking noises. This is confusing.
 
I let Memtest run all night and got zero errors. I was thinking about it and I didn't really rule out the HDD because before trying a different HDD, I got partway though imaging from the old HDD to the new one. So the replacement HDD had at least some data, MBR, etc. from the original HDD. I just wiped the new HDD clean and am now installing a fresh copy of Windows onto it. Sucks but if this works, I guess I'm reinstalling all programs and settings from scratch. Any tests I can run to make sure (as much as possible) that this won't just occur again? Could I really write this off to a one time corruption or should I consider the original HDD a hardware risk too? I remember seeing an entry in the Event Viewer complaining something about the NTFS tables on the X: drive which was on a 2nd IDE HDD I had setup as a backup drive. Too bad Mom never left the computer on overnight so it would automatically backup. LOL So the Event Viewer entry (and the HDD clicking noise we heard) makes me skeptical of the backup HDD and the fact that I was having issues with only the main OS HDD installed, makes me skeptical of both drives, but they both passed at least two long generic tests from their respective HDD test utility (WD and Seagate).

Can I run some sort of torture test on the machine after the fresh install to make sure it's good before I ship it back to Mom?
 
Prime95 + Furmark + some sort of HDD stress test at the same time should work.
 
Hmmm. So Windows installed fine so I'm loading an image I had made right before giving her this computer. Last night I started Memtest, let it run all night and all day and came home to find this:

5dc98196.jpg


17 passes and then an unexpected interrupt? :confused:
 
Another question. The bios has a setting for CPU Multiplier. If I leave it at 100MHz, her AMD Athlon XP 3200 runs at 1100 Mhz (as per Windows). If I up the multiplier to 200 MHz, Windows reports that the CPU is running at 2.2 Ghz. According to Google, 2.2Ghz is the correct speed for this CPU so can I leave it at 200? Up until now it was set at 100. Could that be why Memtest halted?

I installed some other RAM and am applying updates now. Once I get it updated, I guess I'll run the torture test you suggested, Danny. Still wondering if I should run Memtest for 24 hours again?
 
YellowSnow said:
Another question. The bios has a setting for CPU Multiplier. If I leave it at 100MHz, her AMD Athlon XP 3200 runs at 1100 Mhz (as per Windows). If I up the multiplier to 200 MHz, Windows reports that the CPU is running at 2.2 Ghz. According to Google, 2.2Ghz is the correct speed for this CPU so can I leave it at 200? Up until now it was set at 100. Could that be why Memtest halted?
Click to expand...
Hmm, I wouldn't think it would
YellowSnow said:
I installed some other RAM and am applying updates now. Once I get it updated, I guess I'll run the torture test you suggested, Danny. Still wondering if I should run Memtest for 24 hours again?
Click to expand...

Yes
 
This time I got 22 passes in 12:xx hours and then the same "unexpected interrupt". What does this error mean? Googling it doesn't seem to be getting me much of value.
 
YellowSnow said:
This time I got 22 passes in 12:xx hours and then the same "unexpected interrupt". What does this error mean? Googling it doesn't seem to be getting me much of value.
Click to expand...

Hmm, could be that there is a faulty DIMM or bad RAM settings. Not sure TBH. Could also be an issue with the CPU itself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top