xp crashes with pci.sys error

[Mayuresh]

Hi ppl

My XP Pro refuses to boot at home.
The initial loading black & white bar appears and then "pci.sys missing or corrupted..run repair from ur cd..blah..blah"
This is the second time this is happening this month. Last time around I just put back my hard disk image. I could do that even now, but I'm sure it'll surface again.
I don't exactly remember making any changes to the system the last time I shut it. However I do remember that driver alert box had popped up twice asking if I want to install the driver. I said Yes. I had not installed any new hardware.
Now the machine won't boot. Not in safe mode, nor in normal mode.

If at all I do the repair, how do I correct my system using the recovery console.

Anyone else come across this problem before.

Mayuresh

 

[bacillus]

you'll need to boot from the xp cd & use the repair option!

 

[CplHicks]

If your computer is overclocked you might want to try putting it back to regular speeds and voltages. Sometimes I get weird hardware erros (pci.sys seems like it's a hardware error) when the weather get's hot and humid so that might be a factor as well if the weather in your area has been getting like that.

Of course it might just be bad hardware, perhaps you could try moving things around in their pci slots (there's a FAQ about this). For example, PCI slot 1 often conflicts with the AGP slot. And there's always the reinstallation solution. Good luck!

 

[Mayuresh]

My CPU is not overclocked.
Hell it's a Celeron 366 🙁

I did kinda figured out that the RAM is a bit faulty.
When I was installing W95OSR2, it would randomly shut down, and then when I did the conditional startup, it dumped some memory.
So I'll have the RAM tested and I'll post.

Thanks anyways both of you for your time.

Mayuresh