Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks ago I came home, sat down to my computer desk, and touched my computer's power button. All of a sudden... BZZZT!!! Static electricity... I press the power button and pffft, that's it, computer is dead. No video, no beeps, absolutely nothing.

Last week I got an Optiplex GX270 SFF. P4 2.40GHZ. It only had 128MB RAM so I decided to put my old ram in: 2 sticks of 512 Mushkin DDR333. And it worked!!! Nice...

Unfortunately, ever since I started using this machine I've been getting blue screens. A LOT of blue screens. 9 times out of 10 it's IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL; otherwise PFN_LIST_CORRUPT. The thing is that it's completely random; sometimes I use my computer for 2 hours and it's fine; sometimes I reboot after a blue screen and it happens 10 minutes later. Very frustrating... I don't even do anything that intensive; just Firefox and word processing.

Anyway, I've tried everything I can think of. I defragged my hard drive (was at 30%). Turned off Fast Boot. Flashed my BIOS (A02 to A07).

And here's the weird part... Last night I ran Memtest86+ overnight. ALL night... 24 passes. 0 errors.

WHAT??!!!??

HOW??????

AHHHHH!!!

From a lot of Googling, I found that it would be good to check the temperature in the BIOS each time it blue screens. How do I do that on a GX270? I don't see the option in the BIOS.

Could there be a compatibility issue??



-----



Here is what I have found from the Event Viewer. Every time there is a blue screen, there is a "Save Dump", as pictured below:

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211 [...] umpnj8.jpg

(The Minidump files are just gibberish.)

Those six errors you see pictured (4 minutes later??) are as follows:

1. Generate Activation Context failed for C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.163_x-ww_39049d00\MFC80U.DLL. Reference error message: The operation completed successfully.

2. Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

3. Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

4. Generate Activation Context failed for C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.163_x-ww_39049d00\MFC80U.DLL. Reference error message: The operation completed successfully.

5. Resolve Partial Assembly failed for Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC. Reference error message: The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

6. Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC could not be found and Last Error was The referenced assembly is not installed on your system.

----------

Note that sometimes it has a blue screen but there are no errors whatsoever. Case in point:

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/8882/savedump2pq1.jpg

Any ideas?






Could there be a compatibility issue??

Any other help would be MUCH appreciated!!!!

Ummm.. Guess that PC isn't properly grounded. When you pressed that power button, that static went straight to the MB. It sounds like something on the MB is upset from that.

When the system suffers from electric static, its really hard to trouble shoot exactly what is wrong. Since you put in new RAM, I'd exclude that from trouble shooting since that was installed after the problem.

I suppose the warranty is out?

Not really sure what to check... :?

Yeah, no warranty. It was a self-built Shuttle box. Worked just fine for 2 years, 10 months heh.

For the computer I'm on now, this is ridiculous. I thought it must be the memory since it was in a fried system, but running that memory test and getting no errors.... Grrrr....

I think have something interesting to tell you guys, about my PSU. I know, my system is properly grounded, but I did have a surprise that scared the poo poo out of me.

One day, I was running my PC with the side panel off. I was wearing a cotton robe, which obviously charged me up with static electricity. When I put the side panel on, I saw a spark jump from the panel to the tower's frame. My PC shut down, and my jaw dropped, since I know I prolly discharged around/about 9000 volts. I waited about 10 secs, and it powered up just fine.

Now, I rechecked my ground using a multimeter to check for continuity. From my UPS ground, I used the pos prong on the ground, the neg to the frame and it beeped, meaning I had a circuit. Then I noticed my PSU was a shiny metal (ePower cheetah 450). I check for continuity from there, and nothing. I had both prongs on the PSU shell, and still nothing.

Heh, then I realized/guessed that my Titanium Chassis doesn't conduct, which I didn't know (The discharge should have took the easy path Frame>PSU Shell> Outlet Ground). I guess what happened, was I did trip something in the PSU (meaning the discharge when through internally) when I had a static discharge. So, what I'm trying to say, not all PSU may act accordingly. Because I could have sworn my system shouldn't have shut off like it did, and its happened twice.

I built the machine myself, and yes... I probably f-ed that up. I didn't really pay attention to those "smaller" wires...

Well I'll never make that mistake again.

Bump

No, I did not replace the PSU.

Yes, I did a full NTFS format when I got the system.

Is there a way to test for sure if it's the hard drive?

Nope. System is very quiet.

If memory serves, Dell uses OEM Intel boards. Intel has some software the monitors fan speeds, temperatures, and voltages. Look around the site for the software...

I tried Googling for it but all I found was Motherboard Monitor. And unfortunately, I also found quite a lot of people saying that Dell motherboards have no sensors on them... Great.

Do you have any more details on this software??

nasty! The BSOD pfn_list_corrupt- RAM issues. check that all are the same modules, the oksidation of contacts, voltage and mhz if all is fine than you have a bad ram. The irql_not_less_or_equal- microsoft could call this something like your_driver_is_bad and we could all understand it but nooooo. anyway the resolution is the new driver or reinstall driver of the last thing that you poked with. even better reinstall all the drivers.

Hmm. I decided to just go ahead and format my computer last night with a full NTFS format. Fun fun!

I reinstalled everything including the drivers and I still get the same blue screens. Is there any way to narrow it down to which driver is causing the problem?

I should note that it's still really random when I get blue screens. For example yesterday I clicked on the button to start the install process for World of Warcraft and BAM blue screen. Reboot and try again and it's fine. Then I try to open Firefox and BAM blue screen. Reboot and try both again and it's fine. Then 15 minutes later I'm using Firefox, click on a link and BAM blue screen.

Totally random. Grrrr

The pin voltages are right in the link you posted e.g., Yellow = +12V, Red = +5V, Black = Ground. measure either male or female which ever is easiest. Measure from yellow to black, then measure red to black. if you can jam the leads in the Molex, without damaging the Molex connectors, then you can run some tests while looking at the meter to see if the voltage fluctuates. If you are very careful you can measure the MB connector from the back while it is plugged into the MB. You will probably have to hold the leads and just do spot measurements. If your case is metal you should be able do ground the black lead (negative) to the case to make measurements easier. Read the instructions to the meter very carefully. You need to make sure that the leads are plugged into the jacks on the meter for voltage measurement not current measurement. If the leads are in the current measurement jacks, then you will short out the PS and needless to say that is not good. Using a meter is a good skill to master, be careful & have fun.