Serious PC problem

katiepwr

My comp at work has started acting really weird, first of all one day 2 weeks ago i went to turn it on, it booted up fine but then it just frooze before it goto to the bit where i log on, i asked a few guys as to what i should do, when i restarted the machine i got a few options one of them being to restart the machine to a last known configuration that worked, of course this seemed like the most likely choice so i choose that one but yet again the machine stopped just before i could log on.

Another guy said try boot it in safe mode, i tried this it seemed to go into safe mode but all i got was a black screen with safe mode in white text on the top of the screen, nothing else would work.
I tried put in the restore cd and repair the os but when re-started, it would do the same thing.

So after re-installing my os and software it seemed fine until a few days later when i booted it up, it did the same thing. Today was the last straw, i had to re-install all my software and os 3 times in the last 2 weeks, and i am trying to hide it from my boss as he would think it was something i downloaded.
i am lucky i have access to all the adequate installation cds, including a link to the companies up to date virus software.

My os is windows XP PRO SP2, and the problem only really occurs when i turn off my pc and go to turn it on the next morning, otherwise i try to keep it on for as long as i can. I have spent 2 full days trying to restore my machine back to its previous state and at the same time, trying to hide the situation while catching up on my work at home.

I am starting to think it is a hardware problem, as i have erased my C partition
so many times, please can someone help me, as im afraid to turn off my machine

anthony4335

Possible hard drive problem ,you can download diagnostics from most of the manufactures of hard drive, but there and just alright . Best to replace.

katiepwr

what could have caused this problem and how will software sort it out ?

Tom Dunne

Phew. I'm glad it's a serious PC problem, not one of those pretend PC problems.

First things first - check your C: drive. Right-click on the C: drive, choose properties, tools and Error Checking. Run this and post back any errors.

Offalycool

Something like this happened to me a little while ago.. This worked for me..

boot of your win xp install disk.. just set it to boot off the cd in the bios.
When the xp disk is finished loading, select the rescue option.. it's one of the F-keys, it will tell u which one.
U will have to tell it which partion windows is on.. I think I just pressed 1 And hit enter.
The C: prompt will appear, type HELP,
you will get a list of options,
type Help Chkdisk, or something similar to this.. u will see it.
It will present u with a list of commands to put in after the Check disk command... use the last two.. it will run it with all options turned on..

sit back and let it do its thing..

My system registry went crazy. Windows would lock up on boot up, but this fixed it..

Good Luck

Tom Dunne

What I described was chkdisk. I think my way is a tad easier.

Offalycool

Right you are .. I should have mentioned this might help if his system refuses to boot again, may be better than a complete reformat.

youcancallmeal

After the chkdisk you could try googling Memtest86 and run it to check your Ram.

Fanny Cradock

First off, I’d recommend getting a new job if you feel you have to go to these lengths to hide something that isn’t your fault.

As has been stated, this could be a HDD problem and, if that is the case, it is possible that no amount of reinstalls will fix it. Assuming it is a HDD problem – remembering that it very well may not be - you can either run chkdisk or find out the make of HDD, go to their home page and then download the appropriate diagnostic program. This should be more thorough than the windows version. Run either of them and they and it will hopefully – but not always – report back on any errors. I would also suggest checking your RAM. Download Memtest86 and run it. However, you should bear in mind that it can take many many hours to go through the entire test.

Khannie

Fanny Cradock wrote:

First off, I’d recommend getting a new job if you feel you have to go to these lengths to hide something that isn’t your fault.

Me too. That's silly stuff.

As others have pointed out, it's probably the hard drive. Hard drives die all the time. They have moving parts = they break...just like cars.

zilog_jones

Yeah I'd also guess it's the hard disk or some hardware issue. But doesn't your company have any sort of IT support?

BostonB

Its really an IT problem as you'd need to swap out hardware to isolate the problem. It also might be a random error that might not show up in once off testing.

katiepwr

this is the result of a chkdsk, i am not sure where the errors are logged

Slicklink

You are running that in read only mode. It didnt fix any errors anyhoo.

type chkdsk /f at the prompt

Tom Dunne

I forgot to ask yesterday, but home come you can't get an IT person to look at this? If the computer needs a new hard drive, as may be the case, will you be able to do that?

Anyway, in the instructions I gave above, I should have told you to click on the two tick boxes (i.e. make sure they are ticked). This will attempt to repair what it can.

katiepwr

dere is no IT people in d company, i am in a small office sector of the company. i
ticked the two boxes and it asked to restart the machine, it took quite awhile with the percentage complete blue screen on so it must of done something, thanks tom hopefully this fixed the problem.

My initial query was to find out if there was something i could do to fix the issue but if it gets out of hand of course i need to seek the help of others.

i am not sure wat chkdsk did tho

Tom Dunne

katiepwr wrote:

i am not sure wat chkdsk did tho

It checked the disk

And hopefully fixed the problems.

katiepwr

i know, what i meant was i typed chkdsk into dos, and only 2 out of 3 stages completed if u looked at the attached doc. about 2 posts up

Anti

No IT people ? What at all...


So if something breaks you have to fix it yourself. If i were you i would ask my boss to get a contractor IT tech in to have a look, no point doing this all yourself.

And to me aswell, itsounds like the harddrive is knackered.

Slicklink

katiepwr wrote:

i know, what i meant was i typed chkdsk into dos, and only 2 out of 3 stages completed if u looked at the attached doc. about 2 posts up

Yes but you must type chkdsk /f

the f is for fix (the read only error is letting you know that it didnt fix it)

Do it again.