[DragonflyLilly]

Hi everyone!

I have called Compaq and Microsoft in regards to my problems... they are of no use where as my product is no longer under warrenty and want to charge me a ridiclous price to help me. Can't afford it. Anyways... here's my problem....

My refurbished computer (Compaq Presario) orignally ran Windows ME. I purchased XP home, ran the compatibilty tests, researched and "Believed" my computer was able to handle it. The comp. test said everything checked out fine.
Well - after the upgrade - my computer ran smooth for a bout a month... than I booted up and it would do one of the following: tell me a file was missing or corrupt, get to my desktop but not load anything else if I did cntrl, alt, delete it would give me an error to send to microsoft, and it wouldn't boot in safe mode.

Anyways it's getting worse... I have reinstalled at least 20 times in the past 4 months.. now I'm lucky if the OS will stay functional for more than 2 days. I don't understand what's going on.. I don't understand what I've done wrong, ect. As soon as I install I update... I do NOT install SP 2 however... should I?

I have reinstalled SOOOOO Many times that now I have to call Microsoft to activate my OS .. just noting that so you can tell just how many times this has happened.

I'm at a complete loss on what to do. I don't have the ME disk to downgrade... or any other OS for that matter.

How can I figure out WHY it's doing this?

And when it crashes... how do I repair instead of reinstall?

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Hello, welcome to Geeks to Go!

Tough times, huh? Well, let's see what we can do!

Will you please list your system specs.

If you don't know them, please download the free version of Everest program which will decipher a lot of things so you can list them here.

makai

[makai]

Hello, welcome to Geeks to Go!

Tough times, huh? Well, let's see what we can do!

Will you please list your system specs.

If you don't know them, please download the free version of Everest program which will decipher a lot of things so you can list them here.

makai

[edmundlg]

Surely we need all the specs and also what you have done before the system started to have problem, at least it runs properly after a reinstall according to what you said, so you need to record what you were doing before it hung up.

Ed.

[DragonflyLilly]

Hello!

OKay... I am assuming you want the system summary correct? I downloaded the suggested program and here's what it tells me.

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
DirectX 4.08.01.0810 (DirectX 8.1)
Computer Name HOME-LZDGE2C5HK
User Name Amanda

Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Athlon, 1000 MHz (10 x 100)
Motherboard Name Compaq Presario 5123SR 470013-871
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8364(A) Apollo KL133(A) / VT8365(A) ProSavage KM133(A)
System Memory 247 MB (SDRAM)
BIOS Type Compaq (05/03/01)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter S3 Graphics Inc. ProSavage (8 MB)
3D Accelerator S3 Savage4
Monitor Dell M770 [17" CRT] (1780RDJRJB89)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Audio Controller [H]

Storage:
IDE Controller VIA Bus Master IDE Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD300AB-60BVA0 (27 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive COMPAQ CD-ROM LTN486S (48x CD-ROM)
Optical Drive LG CD-RW CED-8083B (4x/4x/32x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 28615 MB (26249 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI (SMC1211TX) (66.67.196.192)
Modem PCTEL Platinum V.90 Modem

Peripherals:
Printer hp psc 1200 series
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB1 Controller VIA VT83C572 PCI-USB Controller
USB Device hp psc 1200 series
USB Device psc 1200 (DOT4USB)
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Printing Support



As far as what I do before it bugs out..... update.. .that's it... I don't install anything but the updates through Microsoft, Paint Pro Shop V7, AVG, and Sygate Firewall.... It will run perfectly... than I'll shut down like normal, boot back up and the it's gone.

Edited by DragonflyLilly, 22 July 2005 - 10:07 AM.

[makai]

This computer is at least 4 years old. Have you ever taken the case covers off and cleaned all the dust out of the inside? You can purchase compressed air from a local computer shop to blow the dust out. This may/may not relate to your problems, but it couldn't hurt. Heat can sometimes be the sole cause of a lot of these kinds of problems.

Anyways it's getting worse... I have reinstalled at least 20 times in the past 4 months.. now I'm lucky if the OS will stay functional for more than 2 days.

Does the machine just hang for no reason? Are you getting stop errors?

Are you able to boot up at all right now? If you can, please open Control panel, double click on the System icon, Choose the Hardware tab, and open Device manager. Do you see any yellow questions marks displayed?

makai

[edmundlg]

wow, pretty old machine. I would suggest you to do a fresh reinstall of the system, if your installation CD is already SP1, then download the SP2 installation file and install it manually, if it runs stable, then that's it, for your home use, it is not such a serious matter to do every extra updates for your system from microsoft, fix the system first and install other programs.
Try to use everything available within the system such as window xp firewall, that is enough for your home use, install less unnecessary programs.

[DragonflyLilly]

This computer is at least 4 years old.  Have you ever taken the case covers off and cleaned all the dust out of the inside?  You can purchase compressed air from a local computer shop to blow the dust out.  This may/may not relate to your problems, but it couldn't hurt.  Heat can sometimes be the sole cause of a lot of these kinds of problems.
Does the machine just hang for no reason?  Are you getting stop errors?
Are you able to boot up at all right now?  If you can, please open Control panel, double click on the System icon, Choose the Hardware tab, and open Device manager.  Do you see any yellow questions marks displayed?
makai

No I haven't taken the case cover off but I have EVERY intention of doing so tonight. Funny that you post that because I just read a few articles on how to do it properly. That's something I was thinking.... perhaps the tower itself is getting overheated? How can I determine if this is the problem?

It doesn't hang - or give me "Stop Errors".... I will shut it down as normal, than the next day power on and it will either A) Say windows cannot not start because "Filename" is missing or corrupt", B) Load to the black screen with XP logo on it and not go any further no matter what I do - it does the same when I boot in safe mode as well, or C) It will load to my desktop, the task bar will appear than dissapear, than a microsoft error will pop up saying Internet Explorer has encountered an error... I click "Dont Send" and than it just sits there... and does a whole bunch of nothing but peeve me off.

Nope... no yellow marks in the device manager...

[DragonflyLilly]

wow, pretty old machine. I would suggest you to do a fresh reinstall of the system, if your installation CD is already SP1, then download the SP2 installation file and install it manually, if it runs stable, then that's it, for your home use, it is not such a serious matter to do every extra updates for your system from microsoft, fix the system first and install other programs.
Try to use everything available within the system such as window xp firewall, that is enough for your home use, install less unnecessary programs.

Yea it's old, I purchased it last March already in refurbished condition. I did a fresh install last night. Let me see these are the updates I have on so far:

Windows Installer 3.1 KB893803
Windows XP Hotfix KB842773

So should I just install SP2 and not update any further? Is that what you're saying?
Yes.. my CD is SP1. I have installed SP2 once and I Believe that's what caused it to become unstable at that point in time.. since than I haven't reinstalled it. Should I try again?

The only programs I'm running are AVG, Sygate Firewall, Microsoft Anti Spyware, and Paint Pro Shop V7.

Thanks for all the help!

[Murray S.]

Howdy:

Beginning to wonder if your hard-drive is starting to give up the ghost..

Suggest you go to the Western Digital website and download their diagnostics program..

Use that to check your hard-drive..

Murray

[makai]

It doesn't hang - or give me "Stop Errors".... I will shut it down as normal, than the next day power on and it will either A) Say windows cannot not start because "Filename" is missing or corrupt", B) Load to the black screen with XP logo on it and not go any further no matter what I do - it does the same when I boot in safe mode as well, or C) It will load to my desktop, the task bar will appear than dissapear, than a microsoft error will pop up saying Internet Explorer has encountered an error... I click "Dont Send" and than it just sits there

And... this has happened with every reload of the OS? Are the symptoms always the same?

When you next start the computer, will you post the complete data of the "Filename" windows is stating is missing or corrupt. Also, when you get the send/don't send message box, is there a details option you can choose to view the data the error report contains. If so, please also post the complete details here.

makai

[matt_fleming]

Sounds like your hard drive as seen better days. When your computer is running do you here a clicking noise, or a kind of chirping? Since it appears that you don't have device conflicts, I'd recommend doing a scan disk / chk disk on the hard drive.

[DragonflyLilly]

Howdy:

Beginning to wonder if your hard-drive is starting to give up the ghost..

Suggest you go to the Western Digital website and download their diagnostics program..

Use that to check your hard-drive..

Murray

Can you possiably give me a direct URL to what program your talking about? Thanks.

[DragonflyLilly]

makai-> Yes generally it's always the same or one of the three I posted above in A,B, C format. I absolutely will post when it happens again... if I remember correctly the most recent was :
Windows cannot start because c:/windows/config/ is missing or corrupt.. on a black screen. It wouldn't boot normally or in safe mode.

Yes - when I get another error from those Microsoft boxes I'll post it asap for you to check out. Thanks again!!!!

[DragonflyLilly]

Sounds like your hard drive as seen better days.  When your computer is running do you here a clicking noise, or a kind of chirping?  Since it appears that you don't have device conflicts, I'd recommend doing a scan disk / chk disk on the hard drive.

No noises what so ever....

[Murray S.]

It doesn't have to make noises as a symptom of trouble.. Get the diagnostics proram from WD and run it..

Murray