Wierd Windows XP problem

[Mail5398]

I install XP on this computer, seems to work fine for a couple weeks and then one day it is turned on and a driver file is corrupted. It will not even boot into safe mode. I end up having to reinstall XP from scratch. It has happened four times now. The last two times I have not installed any other software to make sure it was not something I had put on the machine. I have assembled close to 25 computers over the years and I have never had a problem like this. I have tested the hard drive, it is fine. Any ideas?

 

[bigj3347]

check the ram . . btw, wrong forum. post in operating systems.

 

[Soulkeeper]

burn a memtest86+ cd on another system, then boot yur "problem computer" up and let that run for a few hours
if it can handle that then you rule out hardware problem

also run yurself a check disk for bad sectors and stuff, just in case

good luck

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Mail5398
I install XP on this computer, seems to work fine for a couple weeks and then one day it is turned on and a driver file is corrupted. It will not even boot into safe mode. I end up having to reinstall XP from scratch. It has happened four times now. The last two times I have not installed any other software to make sure it was not something I had put on the machine. I have assembled close to 25 computers over the years and I have never had a problem like this. I have tested the hard drive, it is fine. Any ideas?

Sounds like a harware problem is corrupting your install.

As mentioned above memtest86 is good place to start.

 

[LordPhoenix]

As mentioned above memtest86 is good place to start.

 

[araczynski]

as stated above, big hammer is best...

yeah, hardware issue, if memory though then not sure why it would take a few weeks to manifest itself... maybe the drive is going bad in a select sector on the HD?

 

[Mail5398]

Thanks for your help. I will try memtest. It is definetely some part of my hardware that is causing a software problem. I have downloaded the diagnostic software for western digital hard drives and it passes with flying colors every time.

 

[CraigRT]

when you get the error, try pulling hardware to see if the system boots after that.... if you remove something and it then boots, you have found the problem!