Any computer whizzes available?

*Disclaimer*
All work should be done by a certified technician. perform at your own risk. I am not responsible for any associated loss of data or usage.
*End Disclaimer*

It could be a number of problems. The hard drive could be bad, or it could be a problem with the motherboard. Windows may have become corrupted with a virus (and those tend to get into the system restore area too, so that doesn't always help - in fact i disable system restore because viruses can live in there safe from antivirus programs).

From a diagnostics point of view, i would first back up everything on the computer (to another computer or an external drive). Make sure you keep your data safe - it's irreplaceable. Next, I would get a program to scan the disk and identify bad sectors (a good one to try would be http://www.download.com/Emsa-DiskCheck/300...tml?tag=lst-0-2)
If such a scan says the drive is fine, then you can probably cross that item off the list.

If, on the other hand, it finds problems with the drive, then replace it and reinstall windows.

Past that, I would try wiping the hard drive (a full reformatting) and reinstalling windows - but then again, i have a copy that can be registered as many times as i want (it's 100% legal, too - thanks CWRU!), so this option doesn't cost anything. That would eliminate Windows as the source of the problem as well.

If there are still problems, then i would start swapping components with another machine - video cards, sound cards, network cards, whatever you have attacked to the motherboard. If one of those went bad, it's possible that it could cause a BSOD.

Finally, i would replace the motherboard - at this point, that would pretty much be guaranteed to solve the problem, as every other source was eliminated.

*note*
I had a similar problem on one of my computers once, and after i pulled the motherboard i found a small chip near the USB headers had blown out (not entirely sure what it did, as the USB headers still worked fine) and taken a capacitor with it...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 4 2007, 10:25 AM) [snapback]417558[/snapback]</div>

I'd suggest a cold solder joint is giving up the ghost. That sometimes happens after shut down, where the system has a chance to cool down. But once up & running, all is ok. Quick & Easy Remedy? Don't turn it off! Many I.T. pro's suggest that anyways, except for maybe once a week to clear things out.

 

Given that, i would definitely start with reformatting and reinstalling windows - generally if you have an idea that it might be software related, it usually is. Also, with it still being fairly cold out, odds are the computer didn't get hot enough to blow anything, although it would still be possible.

And you are right - diagnostic programs like the one you got from WD aren't 100%, but if they give a clean bill of health you should still look elsewhere first - they tend to cover all of the most common problems decently well.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 4 2007, 04:25 PM) [snapback]417558[/snapback]</div>

If the BSOD is consistent in the cause of the error, it could be a software problem (usually a driver or some other software that has high privileges on the system). If it varies and the PC does not recognize the drive occasionally, I'd say a hardware problem with your drive and your data may be getting corrupted. Back up now!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ Apr 4 2007, 10:18 AM) [snapback]417581[/snapback]</div>

Definitely a possibility (falls under the broad heading of motherboard problems in my post), but i personally wouldn't look at it as the most likely possibility. Something like that tends to come up on you gradually - you'd start by seeing the BSOD once a month, then once a week, etc as the connection slowly broke down. Plus, you would be more likely to see such a problem in the fall when temperatures start to coll off than in the spring when it's warming up. sudden onset problems tend to occur when something breaks suddenly, like a blown capacitor or corrupted OS (either software or hard drive related corruption).

And like you said, my computers are hardly ever turned off - just restarted once in a while to help clear out memory leaks and the like that tend to slow windows down so much more than any other OS i use.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 4 2007, 11:19 AM) [snapback]417583[/snapback]</div>

I recommend Aronis Disk Image. Low price and work great. Make a load out with Office and other programs that require online verifications, update drivers, windows patches etc. then image the disk. I move my documents to a second hard drive and only load programs on the C drive. That way if issue come up I load the image again and other programs post image. My doc's on the second drive safe and sound.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lowlander @ Apr 4 2007, 10:26 AM) [snapback]417587[/snapback]</div>

The error i suspect he's getting on bootup would be the standard "no bootable disk found" error - it doesn't mean the hard drive isn't detected, it just means it didn't find anything it could boot from... This would be the case if there was a physical problem (either with the hard drive OR the motherboard) or if certain parts of windows was corrupted.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 4 2007, 11:51 AM) [snapback]417662[/snapback]</div>

Something a little simpler to try is a registry cleaner. My wife's computer was exhibiting extreme slowness and other problems, and that really helped, with no need to reformat or reinstall. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the program, it was about $40 I think, available online. Of course, there's no guarantee that will work, but that's essentially what a complete reinstall does, with the addition of remapping the files on the hard drive.

Back up your data regularly and before major changes, in any case.

 

I get BSOD on my laptop... xpsp2 and I'm fairly sure it's a hardware issue. The laptop is about 5 years old and if I do much that is graphically intensive for a long enough time while on the wireless network(pmcia slot card), it goes blue.

Then I reboot and both sides of the cooling fan go nuts, that corner of the laptop is pretty hot, the air coming out is smokin hot.

I'm fairly sure that the video chip builds heat until the laptop glitches. The blue screen mentions some device driver.. I can do intensive wireless sessions (non graphical) and not have the BSOD. Maybe it's a combo.. has to be both to build enough heat. Anyhow..

I'm not sure if it's a software reason the fan doesn't come on, or if I replaced the fan it would all be fine.

Mostly, I do what I can to avoid it and maybe one day I'll get a newer laptop.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 4 2007, 06:54 AM) [snapback]417573[/snapback]</div>

I would add one other component to check. A bad power supply can cause all of the problems mentioned and can prematurely kill the HDD. The motherboard being a solid state component would rarely go bad after such a long time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Apr 4 2007, 01:05 PM) [snapback]417708[/snapback]</div>

In your case, it's definitely the heat thats causing it. a BSOD is caused when the kernel receives a command it doesn't recognize or expect - it pretty much says "what the heck?" and doesn't know what to do from there, defaulting to the BSOD.

In some cases, this is software based - a bad device driver, corruption, whatever. In other cases it's hardware based - bad sectors on the hard drive, blown components on the motherboard or graphics card, whatever. In your case, it's heat related - Once the computer hits a certain temperature, some element somewhere switches state from a semiconductor to a conductor, or the resistance in something changes enough, or something (there are a lot of possibilities). This causes a bad command to go to the kernel through that pathway, and you get the BSOD.

With the laptop being 5 years old, there really isn't much you would want to do to fix it from a hardware side - the cost would be too high. However, you should check with the manufacturer to see if there is an updated BIOS (basic input/output system) you can install - it'll probably be a download you have to stick on a disk in order to get it in there.

An updated BIOS would hopefully fix the fault that is preventing your fans from coming on when they should - it sounds like it's checking the temperature at startup, but then for some reason either doesn't check it again, or gets false readings when running. Either way, an updated BIOS could fix your problem.

 

A few ideas:

1) Run a utility to collect the S.M.A.R.T. diagnostic data from the drive. Download from here: http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/. Post the detailed information.

2) Check for alerts in the "System" category with the Event Viewer. You may find lots of read errors that eventually succeeded with retries, which is usually a sign of a failing drive.

3) How are your system temperatures? If you have any marginal components, the high temps will cause them to fail sooner, possibly helping you identify them before something catastrophic occurs. smartctl from the smartmontools will give you drive temperatures.

 

Earthling,

As mentioned, enable SMART in the BIOS. If it detects a problem, add a drive and copy your stuff over. You will probably have to disable SMART to use the failing drive.

Defrag the drive and run clean up utilities like ccleaner.com's ccleaner. Have you checked for spyware and other malware? If you want some recommendations for free or inexpensive utilities please contact me.

Did you check all of the cable conections and reseat the cards? SATA cables are notorious for working loose. A long time ago we had a computer in the office where the video card would walk out of the slot even though it was still screwed to the chassis. Using another slot fixed the problem. This just shows that all kinds of goofy stuff can happen.

Everyone else has given good advice. Good luck chasing the evil spirits out of your case.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 4 2007, 10:25 AM) [snapback]417558[/snapback]</div>

Do you have an HP? I have 2. My older PC started running super slow. I was told to replace the HD. I did and the PC runs just like new again. If I were you I would buy a personal HD 1st- Back up everything you want to keep. Then wipe your HD- (If an HP choose DESTRUCTIVE mode).

I had a heck of a time re-installing SP2 to this PC. It has XP-Home version & is about 6 yrs. old. However, it has a 1.4 GHz Athlon processor, 512 MB SDRAM, a DVD / CD burner, and now a 120 GB HD. It's a good 2nd computer, but a real pain in the butt with SP1.

If you do replace the HD I recommend the place I bought mine from. It's www.drivesolutions.com
I went to HP's site 1st & they recommended this place. The 120 GB HD cost me $83 with S & H, has a 3 yr. warranty, and the PC is running great. Drive Solution's service & tech support is super also. I am very pleased. Hope this helps.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Walker1 @ Apr 5 2007, 10:15 AM) [snapback]418183[/snapback]</div>

All this talk makes me glad I have a Mac at home. It is possible to have troubles, particularly during an OS upgrade, but that's something I have to deliberately bring on. I can let it run for weeks without a problem, or I can turn it off hourly and it works like it's supposed to. It's a stock middle-of-the-line 2003 running almost the latest OS, no need for HW upgrades.

But for those running PCs, I still recommend you check out the XP Registry cleaner programs.