[codys]

Right now there is one restore point showing, when I hit next to choose it goes to the confirm screen, when I hit next from there it says "The disk ACER (C:) has errors.
Windows has detected file system corruption on ACER (C:). You must check the disk for errors before it can be restored."

The one restore point that it is showing is from 05/05/10/ which would not be far enough back to make a difference.

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OK we need ot check the hard drive then for problems.
Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[rshaffer61]

OK we need ot check the hard drive then for problems.
Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

[codys]

How do I find out what make the hard drive is?

Is there a way other than removing the cover on the tower?

edit: I looked in the device manager and it shows "WDCWD 64 OOAAKS-OOA7B SCSI Disk Device.
Would that be Western Digital Corporation?

Edited by codys, 06 May 2010 - 02:35 PM.

[rshaffer61]

If you are not sure and don't want to open the system up then get the Seagate SeaTools iso for cdrom.
This will work for most brands. Follow the directions I gave to make the iso cd and run the diagnostics.

[codys]

O.K. It will probably be tomorrow before I get back to you again.

Thanks for the help so far.

[rshaffer61]

No problem and I will monitor your topic for your results.

[codys]

I tried to burn the seatools diagnostics to a cd using imgburn on my laptop but it would not work for some reason but I was able to burn it to a dvd. I tested it in my laptop and it booted from the disk alright. I tried booting the pc that is not working correctly with the disk and it would not boot from it. I went back to the website in your post and got the program for the western digital drive(for windows)
http://support.wdc.c...s...606&lang=en

I installed it on the pc and ran the quick test,it passed that so now I am doing the extended test, it will take another 2 hours.
there is a dos file that creates a bootable disk but I did not know if it will work or not.
If you think the windows program is not sufficient I can try burning the DOS one.

I will post back later when the windows test finishes.


edit: the extended test is finished, it says it passed that too.

Edited by codys, 07 May 2010 - 10:38 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Good thats one less issue to worry about.
No lets test the memory itself.
If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.


The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

[codys]

There are 2 sticks of ram, it will start up and it acts the same with each stick installed by itself.
when just using one stick of ram, is there one particular slot it should be in or can it be in either slot?

[rshaffer61]

You would need to figure out which slot is number 1 and that is the slot to use.

[codys]

OK, it would work with one stick in either slot, but was unstable and crashed a couple of times when the ram stick was in what must have been the 2nd slot.
When each stick was in the number one slot , it worked the same as it has been.

[rshaffer61]

When each stick was in the number one slot , it worked the same as it has been.

So in slot one everything worked correctly ?
Anything in slot 2 caused problems?
OK at this point I would do the memtest program test on each stick by itself to see if the problem is the memory itself.

[codys]

So in slot one everything worked correctly ?

Not really correctly, but the same as it has been doing, control panel not responding, etc.

Anything in slot 2 caused problems?

Yeah,with just the one stick in slot 2, It seemed that way, maybe it would start or sometimes it would not, and once it started it might, or might not, shut down automatically.It seemed unstable.



I will do the memtest and let you know what happens, not sure how much I will be able to do this weekend though, it may be a while before I get back to you.

Have a good weekend

[rshaffer61]

OK if that doesn't show a problem then we may need to move on to the actual OS as being the issue.

[codys]

I ended up bringing the pc to my house so I could work on it some this weekend.

I did the memtest last night, 6 passes on one stick and 7 passes on the other ,,there were no errors.