All Kinds of Problems

[drewqb2]

Computer-
950 mhz Gateway Running Windows XP Pro SP2
512 MB Ram
Every update available is running
Mcafee Updated everynight
Spyware Scan every night
Formatted Frequently.
Very Clean Computer.

The problem started about a month ago. The monitor showed gray bars running accrossed the screen. I did some troubleshooting and determined it was the video card. Before I could do anything the computer would start to freeze. Not during any specific time. Sometimes it would freeze right away during start up sometimes after a couple days. I figured the video card was freezing the system. The problem got so bad I couldnt start the system and it would lead to further problems.

I installed a new video card ATI Pro 128 nothing special, and the problems persist. I push the power button on and the computer will test ram (which I have switched out and found nothing wrong with) then go to the Windows will not start properly screen. I have tried every option including last good config and all the safemodes. The computer sometimes will make it to the splash screen but before that it usually restarts it self.

So I plugged the XP CD into the drive to try to repair. Sometimes I will get all the way to finished loading files trying to begin the install, or sometimes It will just freeze when loading files.

I have got a Blue stop screen during this process, and have googled it but every help forum says to go to chkdisk or safemode, neither of which I can get to. Here is the Stop message:

STOP 0x0000007e,(0x0000005,0xf8489A53,0xF89F9B08,0XF89F9808)
Acpi.sys at Bade F8476000 Date Stamp 3b7d8550



This problem isnt super urgent, I guess I am just more curious to learn to troubleshoot past here, I cant really think of anything but a huge hardware failure.


Thanks alot

Drew

 

[tweaks_sav]

I would check the mobo for bad caps: http://badcaps.net/ident/

Acpi.sys stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. Try to either update the BIOS or reset the CMOS.

 

[drewqb2]

CMOS Reset

I checked for the bad caps, everything looks good none of the described is evident. I took the cmos battery out like suggested to reset. Left it sit for a minute or two. Restarted the computer and the new video card came up, Rage 128 Pro 2 GL 4II AGP. Then you have to hit a key, it starts the post test fine, then beeps twice then waits then one more beep and goes to a screen that says cmos settings are wrong press f1 to run setup or f9 to Load default values. The problem is no matter which I press it freezes at that point.


drew