[gen244drdr]

Play an mp3 or wav (etc) and see if windows *thinks* things are playing even though you can't hear it. There weren't any error messages right? I'm leaning towards the hardware being stuffed, irrespective of the BIOS test.

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wannabe1 I did the sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r scans. I was never prompted to insert my installation cd during either scan. However, I'm still singing the same song, no sound. I will work on doing the repair install later. I need some sleep and the repair install is going to take me awhile to read how to do it since I have never done it before.

Gen, I played an mp3 and didn't get any errors. I agree with you that it is probably a hardware problem. Because of this I am wondering if I should even do the repair install. What a frustrating problem. Oh well...

Anyway, I can't say it enough, but thanks for continuing to help me!
Selle

[Selle]

wannabe1 I did the sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r scans. I was never prompted to insert my installation cd during either scan. However, I'm still singing the same song, no sound. I will work on doing the repair install later. I need some sleep and the repair install is going to take me awhile to read how to do it since I have never done it before.

Gen, I played an mp3 and didn't get any errors. I agree with you that it is probably a hardware problem. Because of this I am wondering if I should even do the repair install. What a frustrating problem. Oh well...

Anyway, I can't say it enough, but thanks for continuing to help me!
Selle

[gen244drdr]

Personally, I wouldn't do the repair install. (No offence to anyone intended) I think they aren't worth the effort, and in a sence they break things since it replaces fileversions with old ones, which then need to be updated and if you miss something which is expecting a newer version you can actually introduce problems. In the past I've seen "repairs" make my computer unbootable. (Admittedly it was a striped raid array)

Frankly I think you should persue the warranty. It used to work, you havent changed anything, you've re-installed it and it still doesn't work. This sounds like a hardware problem to me.

Also, if the warranty becomes difficult to persue, even buying a new sound card shouldn't break the budget unless you're poor (which I respect).

Ady.

[wannabe1]

Selle...

Go ahead and do the repair installation...ya never know...

I'm leaning toward a hardware problem myself so can't disagree with gen244drdr, however, I'm also one who likes to cover all the bases so it makes sense to me to give the last option a shot. If it works, great! If not, go for the warranty replacement.

wannabe1

[gen244drdr]

I guess... for the record... wannabe is right... technically...

[Selle]

I have read through the guide on how to do a repair install. Seems simple enough. But I have a question before I do it. You said that it will delete all windows updates. I have heard that if I connect my computer to the internet without some of the updates I can get a virus right away. Is this true? If it is, is it possible to put the updates on a CD and install them before I connect to the internet? Or do I not need to worry about this and just do it?

Thanks
Selle

[wannabe1]

Hi Selle...

If you have Antivirus and AntiSpyware Applications installed on the machine, the only thing missing will be a firewall (providing you have SP2 installed). You will be ok as long as you don't do any heavy surfing until you have the updates reinstalled.

If you will have to install SP2 again (via download), I would suggest downloading SP2 for IT Professionals and burning it to CD beforehand. This will save you the long download should you ever have to uninstall SP2 or repair the XP installation again.

If you need an AntiVirus program, you can download Avast from the link in my signature...it's good and it's free. The Sygate Firewall is also free and is better than the Windows Firewall...in my opinion.

wannabe1

[Selle]

Well I haven't gotten very far. I printed the dell guide and can't get past step 1. I inserted the CD into the CD drive and when I restart the computer it just loads windows up as it would normally. I never get the line "Press any key to boot from the CD". How do I boot from the CD?

Thanks
Selle

[wannabe1]

Sounds like you need to change the boot priority in BIOS.

Restart the machine and tap either the F1 or Delete key during the boot sequence. If you look at the bottom of the first splash screen, it will tell you which key to press to "Enter Setup". The CD-ROM needs to be set as first boot device with the HDD as second. You may have to look around a bit to find the settings for this...all BIOS versions are slightly different, so I can't point you right to it. Be sure to save the settings when you exit BIOS. The keyboard commands will also be displayed in each screen.

wannabe1

[Selle]

Big problems now. I did the repair install but it did not complete. It did the first part (steps 1-6) but when it restarted it got an error. It ran fine for about 5 minutes then the screen went blue and gave me the following error

A problem has been detectd and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

BAD_POOL CALLER

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 to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, desable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** Stop: 0x000000C2 (0x00000007, 0x00000CD4, 0x00340045, 0xE1BBDFFC)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

I restarted my computer as suggested but got the error again. So now I'm not sure what to do. Will my computer run if i restart it without the windows CD in the cd-rom drive? It seem like I need to finish this install for it to work but I can't. Not sure what I should do but luckly I can use a friend's computer to get back on here.

Thanks
Selle

[wannabe1]

This is usually a device driver error...Hmmmmmmm...sound problems...driver error

Give me a bit to research the entire error string. In the meantime, go ahead and see if the machine will start without the cd.

wannabe1

[Selle]

Ok thanks wannabe1. Although I don't know if on the error string if they are zeros or Os. They look like zeros but maybe Os.

Thanks
Selle

Edit: Also my computer will not start without the CD. It trys to restart the setup again and asks me to insert the Windows CD.

Edited by Selle, 09 January 2006 - 07:19 PM.

[gen244drdr]

I researched the problem and can tell you the following technical information. (Quoting http://support.micro...b/314492/en-us)

Stop 0xC2 error message indicates that a kernel-mode process or driver incorrectly tried to perform a memory operation. Typically, faulty device drivers or device software cause this error message.

Parameter 1 = 0x07 : Attempt to free a pool that was already freed

The other data in the error message talks about memory addresses. Troubleshooting this error specifically is a doozy but troubleshooting it in general terms isn't so bad.

Can you try booting in safe mode for me? When the machine begins starting up, press F8 several times to get into the boot menu and choose safe mode. I'm interested in whether windows will boot then or not.

We need to reach a point where you can update the drivers for *everything* you can, especially applying service pack 2 and up-to-date video drivers.

I don't suppose you can access a windows xp *with* service pack 2 install CD? I expect using this disk might solve your boot problems.

I'm open to Wannabe's opinions at this point... this has turned nasty unfortunately!

[wannabe1]

See if it will complete the setup by putting the cd back in.

[wannabe1]

Do you have files on the machine that are important to you? I'm thinking a full destructive recovery may sort this issue out. The initial problems with sound coupled with driver errors during the repair leads me to believe we're dealing with a corrupt chipset driver...probably on the south bridge. A repair installation won't fix that, but a format and clean install usually will.

Give it some thought....

wannabe1