Hard Drive problem?

[spak_man]

HI

im having alot of trouble with my computer,im not 100% sure its a hard drive problem but as far as I can tell, thats what it seems to be

My system would reboot randomly as well as not start up from time to time (it would get to where the sindows atart screen is supposed to pop up but it would just hang) so i decided to try a reinstall, THe first try at a reinstall it would only get into windows in safe mode, so i decided to try reinstalling again, now it wont even boot in safe mode... Right now im running off of a Linux Live CD (ubuntu 5.10) But My linux knowledge is very limited and i want to get windows up and running again. My hard drive is a 160 GB maxtor 7200 rpm IDE drive

Any help would be apreciated

 

[pscowboy]

Change the power supply.

They go sooner than most hd's.

After you do the swap, you'll have to reinstall XP. Do that by DELETING the ntfs partition with a 98 boot floppy using fdisk. Do not reformat at this point. You will do that during the install - I recommend the long (rather than quick).

 

[neCroManCer]

Is the problem always occurs?
So, you cann't access the Windows?

There are so many causes about this problem.

If the computer restarted when Windows going login or the bootscreen was over, may be the VGA-card is broken.

If the computer in a time can login, but in the other time hang in the bootscreen, or hang when after login successfull, may be it's about a electric supply in your home. Try to move the source of the computer's electric in your home.

etc.

Sorry I cann't help your more in this day. May be next day.

Sorry and CMIIW.

 

[spak_man]

well I ran memtest86 overnight and it came up with 6 memory errors, so i bought some new ram and will try that out, if not ill try the PSU but I changed my power suply not too long ago, so it is much newer then my HDD, SO when I have some tim elater tonight ill try swaping the ram and reinstalling windows, either way ill reply again later tonight, hopefuly with good news

also, i know this isnt the right forum to ask, but I have 2 sticks of 256mb of ram ATM (soon to be 2x512) and I was wondering if it is posible with memtest86 to tell which stick is giving me the problems, and if it is only one of the two, is it worth it to stick the still working 256MB stick in with my 2 new 512s, in which case i wont be running in dual channel but will have more memory (unless I completely misunderstood the way dual channel works and wont lose anything by adding the extra 256)

 

[spak_man]

Ok it seems to be going well, ive got windows up and running, and have installed all my drivers so far so good...

Im going to run a few tests still but as far as I can tell everything seems good

*knock on wood*

 

[pscowboy]

Can you check the sticks by running one at a time in bank 0?

Check your mobo documentation. This will also tell you if you can try three.

 

[spak_man]

Well I ran 3dmark 2k5 last night as well as a few games and everything seems to be running smoothly, Im still not sure whether its worth sticking the extra stick of 256 in or not i guess ill aks in the memory forum

thanks for all the help

 

[Codesmith]

Adding a 3rd stick will prevent dual channel operation and reduce performance.