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Software problem? Hardware? Gremlins?

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  #1  
Old 07-18-2006, 04:58 AM
Pallas Offline
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 2
Software problem? Hardware? Gremlins?

My pc has died four times in as many months: blue screen of death with inaccessible boot device (during defragging), missing operating system, crashing and Win2000 not booting (after downloading most recent patches), various software problems including a corrupt Ghost back-up which had been checked for integrity and passed, but which erased all my data when I tried to restore it.

I have replaced two hard disks and upgraded the power supply. It's now broken again and I have totally lost confidence in any repairs. I will buy a new pc. But I'm worried that, without knowing what the problem is, the new pc could go the same way.

Before I describe all the various problems in more detail, does anyone think that it is might actually be possible to work out what is causing the problems? Is it worth trying to find out? Or should I just buy a new pc, cross my fingers, plug it in and hope for the best? I just don't know what to do.

Please advise, and I will be happy to post more details of the problems and my system. Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 07-18-2006, 11:05 AM
Kevin_gibson Offline
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Location: UK
Posts: 989
Pallas.

If you have replaced 2 hdds and the issue still happens, unfortuntely, without having any of the STOP/ Technical support codes from the BSOD its hard to find a true or close enough answer for you.

Have you had your RAM tested out? Could be either a RAM or a motherboard issue causing this problem for you.

Have them both tested if possible.
If you have any of the TEC support codes, please reply and I'm sure either myself, or some other guys from these forums can and will help with your issue.

Kev.
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  #3  
Old 07-19-2006, 10:13 PM
Pallas Offline
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Need guidance on TEC/error codes

Dear Kev
Many thanks for your willingness to help. I'm not very savvy about system troubleshooting, so I don't know what the TEC support codes or how I find/generate them, or even how I test the motherboard. Here is the info I have now, but I'd be grateful if you could guide me on how to find the other information that you need.

Thanks!

March 2006: My first STOP error was a blue screen of death about 10 minutes into a defrag. It had this message
STOP 0x0000007B (0x85E6B930, 0xC0000006, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)
INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:
Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured. and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer. Refer to your Getting Started manual for more information on troubleshooting Stop errors.

I couldn't do any of this, as the pc wouldn't do anything at all except reboot to the blue screen and the same error message.

With my computer specialist (he built the pc), we had to restore the pc from a Ghost back-up. The most recent one was corrupt (this is relevant now, as this happened again last week)(argh):

Application error: 29004
Read sector failure, result=1, drive=1, sectors 199270975 to 199271039. If this problem persists, contact Symantex Technical Support.

Eventually we had to restore the pc to a two-year-old version. Fortunately, my data is on a separate hard disk, so it was safe, apart from my iTunes and e-mail inbox.

April 2006: Tried GetDataBack, didn't work, so I had to reinstall all software, and while copying my music from my ipod to the hard disk, it crashed into reboot mode, with the error message: Missing operating system.

We tried changing the boot order in the BIOS, didn't work. In the end, we installed a new HD, and again had to restore from the two-year-old Ghost. We also upgraded the power supply, since I have always had suspicions about the power supply (a previous pc had its HD fried), and to ensure the pc would run OK with 3 internal HDDs.

Well, that was in June. I gradually reinstalled all my software, made a Ghost back-up which initially didn't work, then did work when saved to a different location. I checked it for integrity and it was fine. The pc worked more or less fine until last week (although I was reinstalling stuff very gradually as I'd sort of lost confidence...)

A few times, during reboot, I got a message that Windows (W2K) had to check the D disk partition for errors: ' NTFS file system repair'. But after running through loads of files, it would proclaim that all was fixed, so I thought no more of it.

Then last week, it all went wrong, I can't remember what went first. It was after I had downloaded the most recent Windows security updates. Also, I had been having problems with some copy-controlled cds that (unfortunately and unknowingly) I'd bought, so I had to uninstall their spyware and remove the songs from the hard drive. Then Thunderbird froze, the directory seemed corrupted, so I deleted it and re-installed it. When I rebooted to complete the installation of the Windows security patches and Thunderbird, it went into endless reboot loop. Last known good didn't work, neither did safe mode or repair mode. I tried to reinstall Windows, but the old was still there, even though upon booting it wasn't found.

Rebooted in DOS with Ghost, tried to restore using the June Ghost. Said it was successful but at reboot the pc gets stuck after device listing, ie it can't move onto starting Windows. The Ghost files were obviously incomplete in some way. Reinstalled Windows, tried again, found that Ghost had erased all my data. Windows stopped working again.

Now the pc is stuck in the dos-type screen early in the boot sequence, right after the device listing.
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  #4  
Old 07-26-2006, 06:05 AM
Kevin_gibson Offline
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 989
Pallas,

Just like that tec code you just gave us

0x0000007B

Look for similar codes that appear on the BSOD.

It will show a similar thing, do a google search on these and look at www.microsoft.com

This should then provide as much information about the error you're getting and should help you out.
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