[HeyJon]

Hi, I'm running windows XP and have some minor annoyances. Frequently throughout the day the computer automatically shuts itself off. After that it usually get started up again but it sometimes continuously turns itself on and shuts off. When it does get turned on again an error message shows up that says something to the effect that the computer encountered an error and turned itself off to fix it. I have tried to run scans but they take to long and the computer always shuts off before it can be finished.

In trying to solve this problem i've also come across two folders in my computer under c drive. They are both random numbers and letters and inside they contain the files mrt. something. Could this be possible problem areas? I can't open them, but I am hesitant to delete them because I do not want to make my problems worse.

Thank you in advance for helping me.

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Hello,
your computer may be experiencing some overheating due to dust buildup. Can you open the side of the case and inspect the fan(s), air intake vents (front, back and sometimes side) and the processor's heatsink?

A few pictures of heatsinks in the following links.

http://www.google.co...l=en&q=heatsink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

The heatsink fins will often become compacted with dust, and the fan blades will aquire buildup as well, all of which prevents good air flow and resulting cooling of the processor. The power supply (where the power cord plugs into the back of the computer) also has a fan and air flow vents, both of which can become clogged with dust. Overheating of either or both the power supply and processor can cause the computer to shutdown as you've described.

The best way to remove the dust buildup is with compressed air, which is available in cans from most any general merchandise store, office supply store and electronics store if you don't have access to an air compressor. When using compressed air to clean, don't allow the air flow to spin the fan blades. Hold the ones you can and use a toothpick or similar to hold the ones you can't get to, like the power supply fan (back of the machine).

Do NOT use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust. It can create static electricity which might arc to your computer's components thereby damaging it.

[hfcg]

Hello,
your computer may be experiencing some overheating due to dust buildup. Can you open the side of the case and inspect the fan(s), air intake vents (front, back and sometimes side) and the processor's heatsink?

A few pictures of heatsinks in the following links.

http://www.google.co...l=en&q=heatsink
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

The heatsink fins will often become compacted with dust, and the fan blades will aquire buildup as well, all of which prevents good air flow and resulting cooling of the processor. The power supply (where the power cord plugs into the back of the computer) also has a fan and air flow vents, both of which can become clogged with dust. Overheating of either or both the power supply and processor can cause the computer to shutdown as you've described.

The best way to remove the dust buildup is with compressed air, which is available in cans from most any general merchandise store, office supply store and electronics store if you don't have access to an air compressor. When using compressed air to clean, don't allow the air flow to spin the fan blades. Hold the ones you can and use a toothpick or similar to hold the ones you can't get to, like the power supply fan (back of the machine).

Do NOT use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust. It can create static electricity which might arc to your computer's components thereby damaging it.

[HeyJon]

How exactly do I go about removing the side cases of my computer?

[HeyJon]

I was able to remove the sides and I gave everything I could find a good cleaning with the air. I plugged in my computer and now when ever I try to turn it on I am un able to get past a screen that says, windows did not start properly. It gives me the choices of going into safe mode ect and starting windows normally, whenever I try to start windows I go to a screen with the moving blue bar but it then just goes black and nothing happens.

[HeyJon]

After numerous tries I got the computer going and now it shows this message;

Windows could not start because teh following file is missing or corrupt:
C:Windows root\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file

[HeyJon]

Luckily, I amazingly found my Windows XP disk in storage, so I am trying to fix it with that I'll keep you posted.

[HeyJon]

I'm trying to follow this guide http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html, but it's not going to well. I keep running into random errors and stuff and a blue screen that makes me have to restart each time. I just got an error that said Error 7. Is this hardware or OS?

Ok I'm now to the point from the link that is at the third blue picture. Instead of being able Repair selected windows thing I have a partition and my only options are to delete, create, set up windows, or quit. I really have no idea what this means.

Edited by HeyJon, 27 December 2008 - 08:56 PM.

[HeyJon]

Well my computer seems to be horribly ruined. Thanks for the terrible advice jack [bleep]. You may close this topic.

[hfcg]

Please tell me what the issue is with your computer that you feel makes it horribly ruined.
I adviced you to clean the inside because your original issue may have been a heat issue. That was the first step.
I was away for the holidays and did not see your other post, yes that was my fault, but I can not see that you could have done any thing to destroy the machine.