Some help

[Bigboomer]

Two Parter.

My computer had the same error it had before... all my drivers are updated (Mobo, vid card, sound card, monitor), as are my games. All play perfectly. Playing Need For Speed Carbon today, and it starts getting wierd graphic errors, need to manually restart it with the button. Now, its got the error it had before, wont start in normal / safe mode, or any mode.

Putting in a WinXP CD gives me the error I should check my memory, or video card / video card adapter. The shop said the hardware set up is perfect, nothing to worry about.

What is this problem ? So far, 20-25 days within putting WinXP on this computer, it gets the same errors. Windows won't boot, or will give me a disk read error. Sometimes it restarts itself booting up. Putting in a winxp doesnt even give me a menu, it just loads files and then gives me the error message.


Second Part

How do I reformat winXP if I cant select the option from the WinXP CD menu ? Cant find a dos prompt to - format C:

 

[Osiris]

Your setup is perfect? how does he know? You could have a bad mem stick or slot, possibly a bad vc, etc.

Run memtest http://www.hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html


To format, insert cd, reboot, boot from cd, then follow the prompts

 

[Bigboomer]

I cannot follow WinXP prompts... when it boots from the CD, it loads files (listing at the bottom, they sound like WinXP files) without showing ANY options, and then displays the error message, no options other than to restart the system manually. I can get the options to open in safe mode / normal mode, but either one will freeze at startup, or restart my system.

The tech said he put a different harddrive in my computer, and ran 3dmark for 24 hours and found nothing wrong.

But im having the same problem, 22 days after getting it back from the shop with a fresh format.

 

[Bigboomer]

Well, mysteriously my computer is now booting up. It started back up into normal mode (i tried 3 hours later for hells sake) and reverted itself to and old registry file.

I ran mem test... 102% - 0 errors....

Any other programs that can tell of hard ware / soft ware conflicts ??

 

[Law]

Reseat your hardwares. Check for any loose cords.

Here's an objective, when it happens again, boot with only the minimum bare bone (CPU, RAM, HD, Video C.)

 

[Bigboomer]

Well, the problem is further along now

Playing A Half Life 1 mod (Natural Selection) my system began to freeze up for 5 - 10 seconds (the sound looping / stuttering) then would play normally for 5 minutes before doing it again, eventually, Half Life locked up and I had to restart.

The same problem is plagging my Internet Explorer, will run well for 10-30 minutes, but if I start browsing 3-4 pages it freezes up, and locks up my system.

Any idea whats causing this ? The only things installed are games (BF2, Hl1 / 2 / mods for them, Oblivion and NFS: Carbon [uninstalled now])... I have InCD and PowerDVD, and all my drivers updated.

I only had 1 file of questionable intent (a torent that was spyware / virus checked, and a .ISO to match) and im positive it isnt that


** edit **

I went into the Device Manager in My COmputer, and found a PCI Device listed under "Other Devices" with no driver, and a ! mark beside it. Tried to auto update driver, and windows cant I.D what it is ???? It says "7600GS" under display adapters, and "Soundblaster Audigy" under "Sound, Vidoe and Game controllers" so it cant be either of these two ?