A Big Mystery To Me

Okay, having some problems with my system at home. I'm going to run
down a list of problems, things I've tried, and the results. I'm
stumped here, so I'd like whatever feedback is out there...

I've got a P4 2.4GHz processor with 512MB PC2700, GeForce 4 Ti4200,
Soundblaster Audigy2, 300w power supply, c:\ drive is a 60 GB Maxtor,
and d:\ drive is a 120GB Western Digital.

- Got home one day and the monitor was black. I rebooted the system
and got into Windows, however, my D:\ drive didn't show up.
- Tried rebooting again only to not be able to boot into Windows at all.
It would get to the Windows XP Loading screen, then go blank, wait a
few moments, and restart.
- Booting into save mode froze and died on me when it got to agp440.sys
(I think it is)
- I hastily installed Linux on a free partition on my c:\ drive, and was
fortunately able to recover many of the files on my D:\ drive and burn
them to DVD. Not the slightest problem accessing the drive or the data.
- I tried physically disconnecting the D:\ drive, and the system booted.
- I went into the Windows XP recovery console and ran chkdsk on the D:\
drive. It said it found one or more errors on the drive.
- The system booted up fine into Windows after this for all of one day;
I ran a chkdsk from Windows and found that the D:\ drive reported 4KB in
bad sectors.
- The next day it went back to going blank after the XP loading screen.
- I tried the recovery console again, chkdsk found errors on D:\, but
this time the system still didn't boot into Windows.
- I ran chkdsk on the C:\ drive and it said it found one or more errors.
- I tried using the XP disk to recovery my Windows XP installation. At
one point during the process, it reported that a dll couldn't be loaded.
After restarting the system and re-attempting this process, everything
installed properly. However, upon trying to boot into Windows I got a
very rare BSOD with the error message of "INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR".
- It did this every time I tried to boot the system. Finally, I gave up
and formatted the C:\ drive and reinstalled Windows. It booted into the
system fine, and everything seems to work well.
- I ran a chkdsk from Windows to happily find that there were no bad
sectors on the C:\ drive.
- I have yet to plug the D:\ drive back in. I'm kind of afraid to.

I haven't added any new hardware or any significant software on the
system in quite some time, and it appeared to have been running fine
under its previous configuration. I haven't a clue what started this
frustrating chain of events. I'm open for any input and/or speculation.

Kenneth

"Kenneth" <kennethNOSPAM.DeleteThis@pardue.com> wrote in message
news:10aa46gk7c5nted@corp.supernews.com...
 > Okay, having some problems with my system at home. I'm going to run
 > down a list of problems, things I've tried, and the results. I'm
 > stumped here, so I'd like whatever feedback is out there...
 > I haven't a clue what started this
 > frustrating chain of events. I'm open for any input and/or speculation.

Here might be a good place to begin:

1. Make sure your CPU and case temperatures are OK, and
that the CPU fan, case fans, and any other fans are
working.

2. Shut down your computer and turn off power *at the
surge protector* (which cuts off standby power while
leaving your computer grounded) or unplug it. Take
the standard protections against static electricity
(wear a wrist strap or keep one hand grounded at all
times).

3. Open up your computer and dust it out. *Do not use a
vacuum cleaner* - it might cause static discharge.
Get some dust remover spray (RadioShack has it) and
a dust mask, and take your computer outside and spray
out the dust. Keep the end of the spray straw at least
six inches from any components and keep it moving so as
to avoid excessive thermal shock to the components.

4. Reseat all the modules, including the memory modules,
and cables inside your computer.

5. If your computer is a few years old, remove your CMOS
battery and check its voltage (or just replace it). In
any case, Clear CMOS (see your mainboard manual for how to
do it) and set up your BIOS again.

6. Run a few cycles of "memtest86" (download from
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.memtest86.com" target="_blank">http://www.memtest86.com</a>) to thoroughly check out your
memory. You should get zero errors.

7. Run a full set of hardware diagnostics. ("diag378.exe",
downloadable from <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="ftp://ftp1.dell.com/diags," target="_blank">ftp://ftp1.dell.com/diags,</a> after a few
complaints, will run on most non-Dell computers.)
You should get zero errors.

-- Bob Day
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