pci then ntfs then variety of blue screens. help!

[innerd00r]

hi everyone, new here but need your help!

my toshiba laptop (winxp home) recently wouldn't boot up, said it was missing system32\drivers\pci.sys files. i only have toshiba's install discs for windows xp, so couldn't use recovery mode. long story short i reinstalled xp (twice!) and still had the same issue.

so took it in and the shop said it was the harddrive and have given me a 40 gig harddrive to use until the 60 gig one comes in...so i get home and guess what? i get a blue screen about an ntfs file being corrupt, and then after another reboot, a different blue screen and then finally after another reboot in safe mode, i'm back to the pci.sys message!

how can i have the same problem if it's a completely different harddrive, what could be the problem? i'm (as i'm sure everyone feels) desperate as i use this machine to perform with (music) and i've got gigs coming up in about 10 days. any insights would be greatly appreciated!

thanx in advance,

bill

 

[Liquidlen]

Welcome To Techspot!
That message can mean a damaged component. I am not convinced it is HDD from your description and especially since you are still getting the same errors.
Check the Toshiba site for some troublshooting history and maybe some updates.
When you return to the Shop you should question the HDD Work???
Because some other hardware is causing your problem.

 

[innerd00r]

thanx, i'm taking it in tomorrow and will point out the fact that nothing's changed. i'm wondering if it's the motherboard? i've never had a mb go bad on me though so i have no idea what the symptoms might be. if they can't sort it out by friday though, i'm goint to have to ship it to an 'authorized' dealer i'm afraid (and maybe learn how to play the spoons for this upcoming gig!)

thanx for your input,

b.

 

[innerd00r]

just heard back from my tech. it was one of the ram chips getting too hot and corrupting the data from the harddrive....damn, and i almost sent it back to toshiba to replace the motherboard ( - £600).

'course i don't have it back yet so we'll see.

thanx again for your comments,

b.

 

[Liquidlen]

Let us know what transpired.

 

[innerd00r]

hi all,

well, i lucked out and it was one of the ram chips i had installed in my laptop before i moved here to scotland. i upgrade to a gig of ram and the new 512 chip was overheating..so apparently when the harddrive was using ram memory to boot up the info was getting corrupted and thus all the weird blue screen messages etc. not sure if it was a faulty chip or someing in my laptop causing it to heat up, but i've ordered a replacement 512 to put in and will see...anyway, once the chip was pulled, the thing booted right up, on the old drive too! so i'm very relieved and happy.

hope that might help someone in the future

cheers b.