Computer Nightmere

I have my system that was running great, 100% stable for about a year until Christmas. I installed some new RAM and had severe difficulties until, three days later and a trip to the local store, it was just a short. When I screwed the screws back up on the motherboard it fired right back up with the new RAM I got for Christmas and it worked just fine until this morning.

I woke up to a BSOD, so I hit the reset button thinking I would just see what the code was when windows loaded and go from there. After the BIOS loaded and passed I got a "Disk Read Error". Freaked out, I shut it down and checked the cables and restarted. I then got to the Windows loading and the animation was jerky ending when it then froze as the balls formed the Windows Logo (Tried again with the same result). Then I booted into a USB stick of Ubuntu to check everything else but the drive to see if it booted in right. It booted in great and I checked the drive and then ran a benchmark. It spat out a 234MB/s result (I did the read only test), which meant that the drive was OK (And the sata controller must be working). So I shut it down and changed SATA ports, and when I booted it booted into Windows just fine and installed new drivers for the SSD and then asked for a reboot. Thinking that I fixed it I rebooted it and now it wont go past the Windows Start-up Repair utility in where "It can't repair automatically". I've tried moving the SATA cable around with no success. The Windows install disk doesn't see the Windows install, but does see the drive when I go to install it.

So my thoughts are its either:
1.) Windows installed a bad driver and can't figure it out
2.) Windows is corrupted

Any other thoughts would be greatly apreciated.

I'm thinking I should re-install Windows, but I don't want to do that yet, as its a pain and I don't have a ton of time to mess with getting my computer back to where it was.

I have done both with no luck. Right now I have one stick of old RAM in there and its still doing it.

(Edit) Before it goes to start-up repair it shows Windows Loading... and then flips to Windows is loading files.

I've moved the SATA cable to each of the ports and none of them work, but I can try again when I get home.

Safe mode and Load Last Known Good Configuration failed as well.

(Edit) Windows startup repair give mes this line in the problem details:

Problem Signature 07: Corrupt File

(Edit2) I got the startup repair to do a manual chkdsk of the C: drive. So far 49% of the way which verifies my theory that everything is working...

(Edit3) It finished and it didn't work.

Doubt its the virus as anything I download goes through a rigourus scanning regimine and I only download from reputable places. Though im scanning with Bitdefender CD (from my USB drive). What program would you suggest I use to test the HDD? I used the Ubuntu tool and it passed that.

(Edit) Would you reccomend that I try to reinstall Windows if nothing turns up in the HDD or virus scans?

(Edit 2) I read that CCleaner's registry scanner can cause issues if you 'fix' with it. Could it cause this several days after the last scan and 'fix'?

Bitdefender pulled up nothing after definition updates but im scanning again to verify. I always use Malwarebytes and MSE to scan downloads and then I activate spyware doctor to scan the file and then deactivate it again. If the location of the file is dubious I also scan with another program I can't think of the name.... I haven't installed any updates for awhile on the system so I might just reinstall Windows... The thing im fearing is if I reinstall and it goes badly and fails I lose the install I have now, however useless it is. Also my SSD is too small to keep the Windows.old directery, so I would have to boot up into ubuntu and copy the files to my external drive....

Like the poster above said, I would simply backup all your important files to the external or simply install windows on your external drive and boot from that. (Depending on the type of external drive)

It sounds like you're extremely safe and you use good judgement when installing and downloading apps so if it's some sort of infection I'm thinking it had to have happened as a real-time threat from a hacked web server that was on a totally legit site. This is something that happens quite frequently. I work as the IT person for a small TV station and awhile back a Facebook ad-server that was running malicious code infected a couple systems in our office. Needless to say I blocked Facebook at the office after that (LOL).

But if it isn't a malware/virus problem then my next step would always be to reinstall windows if I have used reasoning to exclude possible hardware issues. Which for the most part it sounds like you probably don't have. However I totally understand why you don't want to do this. Good luck either way though man and I hope you're able to figure it out.

I'm the OCD guy that things need to all work right, and when my computer isnt working right, there is a serious problem with the universe. So I have been scanning hundreds of threads and articles to see how to fix this. Spent all day testing everything, scanning files, doing updates on AV software, and freaking out . Hoping the reinstall works tomorrow (I do need a break or I will end up breaking something).

MSI 870-G45. I would post my whole specs but I'm in bed with only my tablet.sorry I never read the last part of your post. Its the older 770 chipset I believe. Ubuntu SMART reports the drive is healthy and when i did a mem diagnostic from windows it didnt pull anything up the first five mintus I accidentally let it run. So its probally the windows installation...

But I dont.... so I'll give it a try tomorrow. If ubuntu can do a speed and detailed health tests and the drive passes with flying colors im guessing its not the SATA controllers or drive its self.

Ok, good news everyone: I formatted and reinstalled Windows and all seems to be going good. The only problem is I seemed to have lost my Office 2007 Key and disk.

(Edit) Nevermind found it under the Photoshop manual .

Isn't libreoffice what is included with Ubunutu?

I just wanted to quote this, because it is important now that you have reinstalled Windows.

Speaking of making images, ComputerNovice, if you have the time to PM me I would like to be educated in how to make an image. My previous attempts have failed me, and google was little help. The one I was able to create, well, I have no friggin clue if it would work or not (and I wasn't about to try).