PC Problems

[amjedm]

Advice please peeps

Machine started playing up yesterday, locked up when in Windows XP. Had to do a hard reset as couldn't CTRL-ALT-DEL.

Was able to boot in to Windows but it locked up, then it kept restarting before going in to Windows, then displayed a registry error message. Several times a disk read error message would be displayed just after the BIOS.

Gave up and then tried to run WD Diagnostics from a memory stick, wouldn't get past the first bar and time kept increasing.

Switched computer off and installed another hard disk so I could restore from an image. When I let the computer boot up this time it went straight in to Windows (thank God ) and worked fine.

This morning it worked fine but when I switched it on around 6pm it locked up again but after a hard reset I'm using it again.

Apart from trying a HD diagnostics utility again, anything else I should try?

[dirky]

Worth running a smart test against it using something like: http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html

So you are still running on the original hdd?

[MrM]

The critical values to look at in the SMART application are Reallocated and Bad Sector count. If either are beyond the threshold you should consider the drive beyond the point of no return and consider any warranty or return options you may have.

[Viper81]

I'd rule out any memory issues first before trying anything else. Get a bootable version of memtest86+ or similar and make sure it passes a few runs.

[amjedm]

forgot about this thread even though I still have problems, computer works fine sometimes but today when I switched it on no HD activity, several hard resets and nothing, switch off and on again and working ok

will try the above suggestions and report back.

Thank you.

[amjedm]

Worth running a smart test against it using something like: http://crystalmark.info/software/Cry...o/index-e.html

So you are still running on the original hdd?

Yep still the old HD

[iamipodman]

I'd rule out any memory issues first before trying anything else. Get a bootable version of memtest86+ or similar and make sure it passes a few runs.

did you try te memtest86 ? this progam has said me a lot of wasted time on faulty systems

[dirky]

I would definitely be running some tests on both the mem and the hard drives

[amjedm]

did you try te memtest86 ? this progam has said me a lot of wasted time on faulty systems

Memtest passed (did test for 3 hours).

I would definitely be running some tests on both the mem and the hard drives

I think the HD may be causing problems, didn't manage to test using the program recommended above but another program I used reported bad sectors.

[dirky]

How many passes did the memtest do? Depends on how much RAM you have - 3 hours might only be 1 pass

I would definitely recommend a new drive, or atleast make you sure do regular (verified) backups!

[amjedm]

Downloaded a trial of HD Tune Pro and it appears the Hitachi HD has bad sectors , not sure how it worked sometimes and other times it would lock up.

May try another HD testing program as well.

[amjedm]

I'm , ran Hitachi Drive Fitness and the Hitachi drive passed the extended test and no bad sectors

One thing that worries me is the drive temp, put the computer on before 1pm and forgot I was running the test, just checked and it was 41 C