Have you had a computer nightmare?

Stupendous Man

Join Date 12/2002

Have you had a computer nightmare?

My one year old, by turning my computer on and off repeatedly, has just managed to TOTALLY destroy it. I think he corrupted some OS files and possibly damaged some memory, 'cause I can't get the thing to even install XP.

It took me two days to cool off

I wish I could ground him for a week or take the Nintendo away, but, what can ya do? He's a baby.

Anyway, do you have a computer horror story? If so, I'd like to hear it. Maybe it'll make me feel a little better as I try to it up and running again.

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kona0197

Join Date 02/2003

+86

Just as a test I tried loading Win 95 and it loaded in fine also.

I have never been able to do that as I never wanted to convert my HD to FAt 16.

I load 98 all the time. And sometimes the dreaded ME.

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a few, but they got better

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#25 by papidon - 2/2/2004 12:07:26 PM I have just spend a BIG part of my weekend trying to get that thing running, to no avail. What's happening is that when I try to reload XP, it will go through the setup routine just fine, the problem begins when it starts to load in the system files. It'll copy some files but not others. Just as a test I tried loading Win 95 and it loaded in fine also. After trying several different things, I have come to the conclusion that somehow the drive is damaged. If you think it may be something else DJ, let me know.DUNE: I tried erasing the bios, but the problem remained.Thanks to all for your help

What file can it not load? Like a specific error message you get.

You must try all the variables if you believe it's a hardware problem. Like swapping memory with another pc (or taking one stick out), and trying another hard drive. Before that, tell us the specific error message you get. When you try again, make sure you format and do a clean install. You might of tried that already but just in case--boot up with your XP cd, choose to format the C: partition and use NTFS. After it copies the system files and reboots, let it boot from your hard drive (ignoring the "Press any key to boot from CD" message). Good luck.

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dreaded ME

I know people make a lot about this vesion of Win9x and rightfully so, I have heard the problems people have had with it. Before I built this computer and put XP on it, I was a closet ME user

. I had upgraded my last computer from Win98-first edition to ME. For me at least ME was very stable.
Since then, I have had regular doses of shock treatment and am much better now

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

papidon....sometimes if you install from a CD read errors can 'lose' critical files as the CD is searched back and forth...the install is not a sequential read, not by a long shot.

One trick is to transfer the entire content of i386 from the CD to the HD and do your install from there, as the sequential data read to copy it all is 'safer'.

My XP CD is scratched so I use both it and a burn backup to do an install as some files go missing from each....

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DJ & JAFO

Gonna give your suggestions a shot. Let you know tomorrow.

Trying to do this on my computer at work stinks--cause the boss always seems to come in when I'm here, so it looks like I'm not doing any work.

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Jafo,I tried copying I386 to my C drive, no problem. Ran the setup routine and it copied about 7% of the files and then gave me this error message:

Windows cannot copy this file: ddraw.dll

Then I'm left with 3 options:
Press ENTER retry
Press ESC to skip file
Press F3 to exit setup

DJ, what do you think?

Liek I said before I'm reasonably sure it the hard disk. Got one more idea I can try. A friend has XP Pro also. I'm gonna see if his will install to determine if it's the drive of the cdrom.

As always, thanks

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http://www.tufftest.com/tt01.htm If you want to eliminate whether or not the HDD is the problem this diagnostics program will do it for you. There is a freeware version, but it only handles up to 540MB HDD

The full version is only $10 and can test basically any piece of hardware that is recognised by your systems BIOS....You do need a floppy drive to use it...just putting that in because it seems that more and more people are building/buying computers without them

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..
go to the web site for the company that makes the drive and download the free diagnositcs program for that drive, run it and see what is wrong if anything and let it repair what it finds....
..

make sure you have saved all of the files you need saved before messing with the drive or you might find no joy in it finally working (but with the things you wanted all gone) with "no joy"...

anyway...

/ip picks rock back up and slips under "thumP"

[Message Edited]

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#32 by papidon - 2/3/2004 11:35:51 AM Jafo,I tried copying I386 to my C drive, no problem. Ran the setup routine and it copied about 7% of the files and then gave me this error message:Windows cannot copy this file: ddraw.dllThen I'm left with 3 options:Press ENTER retryPress ESC to skip filePress F3 to exit setupDJ, what do you think?

Well, ddraw.dll is a DirectX file and is used by games and multimedia applications to display 2D graphics. What video card do you have? Known issues-- This issue can occur if DirectX is corrupt, your video adapter does not meet the minimum requirements, or your monitor is set as unknown or default http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308117 You could of continued the installation, then installed the latest DirectX version and finally getting your card's latest drivers. But you are getting a different error message every time correct? In other words, is this the first time you got that particular message? I'm really hoping no hardware damage was done.

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Going through all the variables here, have you ever reinstalled XP one or multiple times before this incident without a hitch?

If you try what Essencay and IPlural suggested, and the hard drive is fine but this other cd won't work, swap you cdrom and see how that goes. Good luck.

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actually, you've made a solid point...

If you happen to have a DVD reader or burner installed along with the normal CD
put the cd in it and try...

I have taken music cd's that make my Kenwood CD player skip and put the in my DVD-RW and they read and burn fine...

So it might be a case where they file is thought to be copied and it is in fact garbled...

just a thought

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But you are getting a different error message every time correct? In other words, is this the first time you got that particular message? I'm really hoping no hardware damage was done.

No, I actually skipped a couple of other files before I got to the directx file.

No, I am almost certain it's the hdd, but on the other hand, I had been thinking about buy a nice 60GB drive, maybe this is my chance.

IP as for the files, one of the things I had to do was reformat my HDD

I lost personal files, some stuff dealing with church, 200MB of music (some of which I paid for) along with all my Stardock stuff.

Starting from square one is gonna be fun

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

papidon.....have a really, really careful look at your CD of XP....when simply transferring files from the CD to the HD if you get an error message like that, the chances are it's the CD itself which is damaged....a read error, not a write error.

Try CAREFULLY wetting and wiping the disk with RADIAL strokes with a soft cloth and try again to copy the i386 directory over. Check again if or what errors pop up then....

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