Bad hardware

[Guest Parker Race]

The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

 

I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

hardware, Memtest?

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Bad hardware

 

 

"Parker Race" <parker.race@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

> screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

> started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

> that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

> message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

> running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

> fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

> drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

> passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

> doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>

> I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

> myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

> hardware, Memtest?

 

It is a common misconception that the installation of a Service

Pack will repair pre-existing problems. It does no such thing.

The purpose of a service pack is address issues that became

known after the initial release of the software. If a problem happens

to get fixed then this is pure luck.

 

Since you think you have a hardware problem, a hardware

newsgroup would be a good place to ask your question.

[Guest Parker Race]

Re: Bad hardware

 

On May 27, 8:33 am, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com.oz> wrote:

> "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>

> news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

>

> > The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

> > screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

> > started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

> > that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

> > message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

> > running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

> > fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

> > drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

> > passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

> > doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>

> > I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

> > myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

> > hardware, Memtest?

>

> It is a common misconception that the installation of a Service

> Pack will repair pre-existing problems. It does no such thing.

> The purpose of a service pack is address issues that became

> known after the initial release of the software. If a problem happens

> to get fixed then this is pure luck.

>

> Since you think you have a hardware problem, a hardware

> newsgroup would be a good place to ask your question.

 

Well if the problem is a corrupted system file that is replaced by the

service pack I suspect it could fix the problem.

[Guest Alias]

Re: Bad hardware

 

Parker Race wrote:

> On May 27, 8:33 am, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com.oz> wrote:

>> "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>>

>> news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

>>

>>> The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

>>> screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

>>> started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

>>> that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

>>> message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

>>> running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

>>> fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

>>> drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

>>> passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

>>> doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>>> I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

>>> myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

>>> hardware, Memtest?

>> It is a common misconception that the installation of a Service

>> Pack will repair pre-existing problems. It does no such thing.

>> The purpose of a service pack is address issues that became

>> known after the initial release of the software. If a problem happens

>> to get fixed then this is pure luck.

>>

>> Since you think you have a hardware problem, a hardware

>> newsgroup would be a good place to ask your question.

>

> Well if the problem is a corrupted system file that is replaced by the

> service pack I suspect it could fix the problem.

>

>

 

But if the problem is not a corrupted system file that is replaced by

the service pack ...

 

Alias

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Bad hardware

 

 

"Parker Race" <parker.race@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:73e11e5a-34df-4935-bf41-ca21a3bd0702@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

> On May 27, 8:33 am, "Pegasus \(MVP\)" <I....@fly.com.oz> wrote:

>> "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>>

>> news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

>>

>> > The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

>> > screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

>> > started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

>> > that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

>> > message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

>> > running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

>> > fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

>> > drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

>> > passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

>> > doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>>

>> > I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

>> > myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

>> > hardware, Memtest?

>>

>> It is a common misconception that the installation of a Service

>> Pack will repair pre-existing problems. It does no such thing.

>> The purpose of a service pack is address issues that became

>> known after the initial release of the software. If a problem happens

>> to get fixed then this is pure luck.

>>

>> Since you think you have a hardware problem, a hardware

>> newsgroup would be a good place to ask your question.

>

> Well if the problem is a corrupted system file that is replaced by the

> service pack I suspect it could fix the problem.

 

Yes - that's what I meant with "pure luck".

[Guest Anna]

Re: Bad hardware

 

 

"Parker Race" <parker.race@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

> screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

> started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

> that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

> message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

> running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

> fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

> drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

> passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

> doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>

> I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

> myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

> hardware, Memtest?

 

 

Parker Race:

Well it certainly sounds like some sort of hardware issue, so do this...

 

First, check out the HDD with the diagnostic utility that (hopefully) will

be available from the website of the disk's manufacturer. Or have you done

that already?

 

Assuming the drive checks out OK hardware-wise...

 

After shutting down your machine (I'm assuming this is a desktop PC,

right?), remove (disconnect) all peripheral devices including your hard

drive(s), optical drive(s), sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage devices,

printers, and any other devices connected to the machine.

 

So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat

sink, RAM, video card, and power supply. Better yet, should your motherboard

be equipped with onboard video/graphics capability, disconnect your video

card from the system. Just make sure your BIOS setting (should there be one)

reflects that onboard graphics/video is enabled.

 

Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system.

 

What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or

strange notations?

 

Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review the

CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to determine

that all temps are within normal range?

 

Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the next

hour or so, checking to see if anything untoward shows up, particularly

temperature-wise.

 

Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine if

there are any problems there.

 

Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's

nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not

absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that

something else is amiss.

 

I don't suppose you have any spare RAM modules you could substitute?

 

Anyway, if there doesn't seem to be any hardware issues based upon the

above, do you have or could you get another HDD and try a fresh install of

the OS to see how that goes? If no problem there, i.e., the system boots

without incident and apparently properly functions, perhaps your existing

problem is due to a seriously corrupted OS that can't be resurrected by a

Repair install which previously failed.

Anna

[Guest Parker Race]

Re: Bad hardware

 

On May 27, 10:57 am, "Anna" <myn...@myisp.net> wrote:

> "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>

> news:997dc4a7-ab99-4ada-b207-959e1c9d60cf@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

>

> > The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

> > screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

> > started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

> > that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

> > message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

> > running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

> > fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

> > drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

> > passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

> > doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>

> > I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

> > myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

> > hardware, Memtest?

>

> Parker Race:

> Well it certainly sounds like some sort of hardware issue, so do this...

>

> First, check out the HDD with the diagnostic utility that (hopefully) will

> be available from the website of the disk's manufacturer. Or have you done

> that already?

>

> Assuming the drive checks out OK hardware-wise...

>

> After shutting down your machine (I'm assuming this is a desktop PC,

> right?), remove (disconnect) all peripheral devices including your hard

> drive(s), optical drive(s), sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage devices,

> printers, and any other devices connected to the machine.

>

> So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat

> sink, RAM, video card, and power supply. Better yet, should your motherboard

> be equipped with onboard video/graphics capability, disconnect your video

> card from the system. Just make sure your BIOS setting (should there be one)

> reflects that onboard graphics/video is enabled.

>

> Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system.

>

> What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or

> strange notations?

>

> Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review the

> CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to determine

> that all temps are within normal range?

>

> Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the next

> hour or so, checking to see if anything untoward shows up, particularly

> temperature-wise.

>

> Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine if

> there are any problems there.

>

> Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's

> nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not

> absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that

> something else is amiss.

>

> I don't suppose you have any spare RAM modules you could substitute?

>

> Anyway, if there doesn't seem to be any hardware issues based upon the

> above, do you have or could you get another HDD and try a fresh install of

> the OS to see how that goes? If no problem there, i.e., the system boots

> without incident and apparently properly functions, perhaps your existing

> problem is due to a seriously corrupted OS that can't be resurrected by a

> Repair install which previously failed.

> Anna

 

I'll try the disk diagnostics, SMART is enabled and shows no errors

though.

I can access the Bios, no errors, etc. I'm going to run Memtest on it

first. If it passes I'm going to try a fresh install to another

partition. If it passes testing and I can install on another

partition, I'm going to try

putting the disk in another pc and running the repair.

 

Thanks

Parker

[Guest Anna]

Re: Bad hardware

 

>> > "Parker Race" <parker.r...@gmail.com> wrote in message

>> > The family XP SP2 machine started acting strangely last week. The

>> > screen would go black and then refresh occasionally. The OE Express

>> > started crashing, then IE7. It got so bad with spontaneous reboots

>> > that I downloaded and attempted to install SP3, that failed with a

>> > message that it can't verify Update.inf (are the cryptograhy services

>> > running?, yes they are). So I attempted to a repair with a SP2 CD. It

>> > fails after hardware detection. I have Acronis backups on a second

>> > drive so I booted off an Acronis boot cd, verfication of the archive

>> > passes but any attempt to restore fails immediately. The system drive

>> > doesn't appear to be trashed. I can browse it looking for archives.

>>

>> > I'm thinking I have a hardware issue. This is a white box built by

>> > myself using quality components. What are good tools to test the

>> > hardware, Memtest?

 

>> On May 27, 10:57 am, "Anna" <myn...@myisp.net> wrote:

>> Parker Race:

>> Well it certainly sounds like some sort of hardware issue, so do this...

>>

>> First, check out the HDD with the diagnostic utility that (hopefully)

>> will

>> be available from the website of the disk's manufacturer. Or have you

>> done

>> that already?

>>

>> Assuming the drive checks out OK hardware-wise...

>>

>> After shutting down your machine (I'm assuming this is a desktop PC,

>> right?), remove (disconnect) all peripheral devices including your hard

>> drive(s), optical drive(s), sound card, etc. Disconnect all storage

>> devices,

>> printers, and any other devices connected to the machine.

>>

>> So that all you'll be working with is your motherboard, processor, heat

>> sink, RAM, video card, and power supply. Better yet, should your

>> motherboard be equipped with onboard video/graphics capability,

>> disconnect your video card from the system. Just make sure your BIOS

>> setting (should there be one) reflects that onboard graphics/video is

>> enabled.

>>

>> Reconnect your A/C cord and power on the system.

>>

>> What happens? Do you get a "normal" screen display? No error messages or

>> strange notations?

>>

>> Can you access your BIOS without any difficulty at this point and review

>> >> the CMOS settings? Can you check the hardware monitor in the BIOS to

>> determine that all temps are within normal range?

>>

>> Assuming all is well at this point leave the system powered on for the

>> next

>> hour or so, checking to see if anything untoward shows up, particularly

>> temperature-wise.

>>

>> Using your reset button, try powering down & up a few times to determine

>> >> if there are any problems there.

>>

>> Should all appear well at this point this is an indication that there's

>> nothing wrong with the basic components of your system. While it's not

>> absolutely definitive that this is so, it's a very strong indication that

>> something else is amiss.

>>

>> I don't suppose you have any spare RAM modules you could substitute?

>>

>> Anyway, if there doesn't seem to be any hardware issues based upon the

>> above, do you have or could you get another HDD and try a fresh install

>> of

>> the OS to see how that goes? If no problem there, i.e., the system boots

>> without incident and apparently properly functions, perhaps your existing

>> problem is due to a seriously corrupted OS that can't be resurrected by a

>> Repair install which previously failed.

>> Anna

 

 

"Parker Race" <parker.race@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:e1eb8326-b350-420e-a74d-641316e12269@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...

> I'll try the disk diagnostics, SMART is enabled and shows no errors

> though.

> I can access the Bios, no errors, etc. I'm going to run Memtest on it

> first. If it passes I'm going to try a fresh install to another

> partition. If it passes testing and I can install on another

> partition, I'm going to try

> putting the disk in another pc and running the repair.

>

> Thanks

> Parker

 

 

Parker:

Yes, since you have another machine at your disposal I can understand that

you could install the HDD in that machine as a secondary HDD at least in

order to attempt to access its contents and copy off any important files

that you want. And that's certainly a good idea which we always recommend

when the possibility exists for doing so.

 

But I'm at a loss to understand your motive re running a Repair install of

the XP OS on that HDD using that *second* PC. What would be your objective

here? Assuming a Repair install would be successful - what then? Is it that

you would be planning to utilize that drive as (another) boot drive in the

second PC? Or this would be some clue that the drive & its contents are

non-defective and you would plan to reinstall the drive in the problem

machine for another attempt at a Repair install?

 

Anyway, keep us informed of your progress, particularly if you can pin down

the cause of the problem and how you were able to resolve it.

Anna