Bad HDD or Corrupted Install Help!!!

[Junkie_ball]

Hi have been running XP Pro SP3 i shutdown normally last night no problems. I turned the machine on this morning and XP boots just passed the splash screen then restarts in a continuos loop.

I booted via safe this works and 50% of the time. I then used the my XP disk to run the recovery utility. Did a Chkdsk /r and receive the following error 'the volume contains one or more unrecoverable problems'! Not sure if my install has gone bad or my HDD. Don't want to waste time reinstalling XP on a dud drive! I do remember seeing an error the last time i ran XP something about user32.dll not functioning.

I run 2x 250Gb on a raid. If this is one of the HDD's going bang how can i check which one it is. Lucky i did a backup recently so not to worried about losing any data. Any help of advise greatly received.

[katzdvd]

Awhile back I had a similar issue with rebooting, it turned out to be a bad memory module. Might want to remove a stick at a time to see if it remedies the problem. You could also run memtest on the RAM. I jumped to thinking it was HD related in my case too.

I'm not saying you might not be having HD problems, just don't overlook the easy stuff first.

[Junkie_ball]

will run memtest on the ram first. Just a quick question i have a Pentium dual core is it ok to remove a module of ram and only run on one? Thought you had to have it in pairs on a dual core machine??

Thanks

[atifsh]

pair of rams are for dual channel mode, not to be confused with dual core cpu's.

not mandatory to use ram modules in dual channel, its just u lose the bandwidth my using single channel. [most of the time u wont feel any difference]

[Junkie_ball]

Thanks for will make determining if i have a bad module easier. Will run memtest later and report back. Thanks for the advice.

[gonwk]

Hi guys,

I am interested in finding what happened to your desktop also Junkie ... be a good learning curve.

Boy I dread running memtest ... the darn thing takes too long!

G!

[Chewy]

wait till he has to seperate the hard drives off the raid and do a low level diagnositc

I hate raid

[Junkie_ball]

Thank god that won't be necessary Chewy. Took Katzdvd advise and just removed each stick of ram one at a time and behold found a bad module! Thumbs up on the advice Katzdvd.

Anyone know a good place for decent ram now?? May aswell upgrade whilst i'm at it! lol!

[Junkie_ball]

Oh thanks for all the quick and useful advice guys!

[Chewy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145034

what voltage can your mobo push

lo voltage=premature ram failure

[Junkie_ball]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034

what voltage can your mobo push

lo voltage=premature ram failure

Thanks Chewy unfortunately i'm in the uk and newegg only ship to the united states. Sure i can find a comparable site that ships to the uk.

Not sure on how to check the voltage. I could install a program to monitor the voltage but this won't tell me how much voltage the mobo can push will it??

[Chewy]

brand and model number and a crystal ball

[Junkie_ball]

brand and model number and a crystal ball

Well finally got around to checking the make and model number out etc. The mobo is a Foxconn 965X7AA

I installed a little program to that tells me the ram is running at 1.8V and the CPU around 1.24V

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

@ JunkieBall ... what is thw name of you rlittle Program?

@ Chewy ... the Corsair that you recommended ... rating is not high.

Q1: Why did you choose those Corsair? Was it because of the Coupon deal!?!?

Q2: When I am at NewEgg ... choosing RAM for my laptop ... I look at the ones that has the highest Customer Review. Is this a Bad Practice!?!?

Thanks guys!

G!

[Chewy]

@ JunkieBall ... what is thw name of you rlittle Program?

good question

@ Chewy ... the Corsair that you recommended ... rating is not high

.

Voltage 2.1V