BSOD when trying to repair/reinstall Windows

Ubaro

Posts: 6   +0
Hello, first post here.

Little backstory: I got this computer from a friend of mine for relatively cheap price around 10 months ago. For some reason it woudn't boot up so I did a full reinstall of Windows XP. The computer worked flawlessly until up around November, thats when I started getting random crashes, freezes and BSODs every 2-3 days. I thought this problem was somehow related to steam because it only crashed when i was playing steam games. But latley it has been crashing non-stop 2-3 times a day. Until today when it crashed and when I tried restart the computer it said something along the lines of
"File missing or corrupt "system32/windows/config".

I tried to use recovery console but as soon as I select disk C ( the only option) and press eneter it gives me another bluescreen with the "Registry Error" message. Same thing happens when i try to reinstall windows I get another BSOD right after i accept Terms of Use and agreement. I now cannot log into windows or reinstall/repair.

Here are some of the blue screen errors that I saw
IRQL_LESS_THEN_OR_EQUAL
DRIVER_IRQL_LESS_THEN_OR_EQUAL

And these errors only started happening today
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
REGISTRY_ERROR
(and another error that I don't remember, it had the word CONFIG in it, sorry)

Another thing i noticed is that past month or so, my computer took a really long time to start up. Like over 2 mins or so.

I think this might be a hardware issue, does anyone have any idea on what is going on and how I can fix this? I am not really computer savvy, so I would appreciate more detailed instructions, explanations of some terms.

Any help at all is welcome
 
So its the memory for sure? I am a little bit tight on cash right now and rather not spend money unless I am completley sure.
 
How many memory sticks are installed? Remove them and re-install them. See if that helps. If you have 2 sticks, swap their positions
 
I have 2 memory sticks, I have to go out now I'll get back in about 4 hours and try out what you said, Thanks!

If that does not help is there any way to check? Are there any diagnostics for memory that work on CD boot? Since I cannot actually log into windows.
 
Alright sorry for the delay I was traveling. I downloaded the memtest and burned it onto a CD.

I have never done this before, so basically just put the CD inthe computer and it will do its thing? Do I have to select or do anything? And how will I know what the problem is/if it needs replacing?

Edit: I just started testing, I took one mem stick out and just testing with 1, just on the first pass, on test #9 [Random number sequence] its giving me thousands of errors, almost up to a million now. Should I keep running the test or just exit now and try the other stick? Or should I just let it run?
 
No, as soon as you see many errors stop the test and swap the memory testing 1 module at a time
 
Thanks, I just started testing the 2nd mem stick and it shows no errors, only on the second pass. Gonna leave it overnight.

Edit: Ran the second memory stick for 13 passes overnight, no errors. When I try to boot up the computer with only the good mem stick, I still get the "windows\system32\config\system file missing or corrupt" error, what gives?


Edit2: Also dunno fi it helps but sometimes after the computer crashed it's audio/internet stopped working, almost as if the drivers weren't even installed, I had to do a system restore if that happened. It didn't happen too often maybe like once a month
 
So do you know whats going on with the computer? Anyways to fix the problems above?

Or should I be looking into replacing the HD and the RAM?
 
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