Win XP Pro re-install

[Hodsocks]

Before I tear out what remains of my hair, can anyone suggest a way out of my problems.
I have a pc with win xp pro installed, it was repeatedly rebooting itself at anytime....on internet, on loading the desktop, running antivirus etc. etc. Sometimes it may run for just a few mins, sometimes for quite a while. I have checked all the usual things, ran my Micro 2000 diagnostics which revealed no problems with hardware. When I was doing checks outside of windows it would run for several hours without rebooting. Therefore I assumed it may be a software problem.
I decided to reformat and reload XP Pro but am having problems with numerous error messages eg. "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" or "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA"
OR "KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR" All occuring while copying files to disk.

I checked them out on the Microsoft support site but none seemed to make any sense,mainly hardware related but I followed there advice where possible, removing all cards where possible.
I managed to finally copy files to disk but then a message came up referring to a setup problem.....please contact your administrator. I haven't managed to get passed this stage yet, anyone any suggestions.
The system is as follows:

Jetway 867AS motherboard
Athlon 1333MHz
256Mb SDRAM
Seagate 40Gb
Geforce MX400 graphics
300W PSU (tsumani)

 

[Masque]

Possibly a memory problem. If in two dimms, could you try them one at a time? Possibly cleaning the contacts might help as well.

Also, the fact that it lasted longer outside of Windows suggests that you may be having a heat-related problem (the O/S takes a lot more computing power as you no-doubt know). Check the location of the box, make sure all fans are running and all heat sinks are attached (I recently helped a friend whose North Bridge heat sink had loosened and fallen off).

My $.02

 

[Rick]

The errors you gave are typical of bad memory or a bad hard disk. I recommend testing both.

www.memtest86.com
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools

 

[Hodsocks]

Only one DIMM installed which I have removed a couple of times and replaced incase it was poor connection, may try in other slot though. I have put H/D and CD-ROM on seperate cables which at least enabled me to go 2/3 of the way through installing windows then it blue screened with a message about NTFS.

Rick, I have checked the hard drive with seatools and it was OK, have checked memory module with my Micro 2000 and it also showed up as OK.

 

[Hodsocks]

Well despite my checking of the memory, I replaced it with some known good memory and everything seems to be OK.
It seems that it is not necessarily the best thing to believe the results of diagnostic checks.

Thanks for the help

 

[Hodsocks]

To open this up again, I ran this machine for about 12 hours and had no problem so I returned it to the owner. They ran it all day without a problem but the next day it would not boot up.
It was throwing up the "Invalid system disc" error. I tried to recover from the CD and it threw up a message saying that there was no hard drive installed.
I rebooted the machine and it went straight into windows....go figure......
I ran the machine for about an hour....scanning for possible virus probs but none showed up.
I rebooted the machine to be shown the "Invalid system disc" error. Again I loaded recovery from the cd and ran chkdsk, rebooted the machine and it went into windows without a problem. I left it to run for a while and rebooted it to be met with the "Invalid system disc" error.
I have changed the hard drive to see if that will cure the problem. although I have run the seatools application again and it throws up no problem.
If changing the hard drive does not cure the problem I guess I am left with changing the motherboard.
Any more suggestions?

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Under XP there are some programs in the recovery console, Fixboot and Fixmbr, if I am correct. Did you try those?

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Loose or almost broken hdd cable can also cause that kind of symptoms.

 

[CRiMSoN]

this sounds like the same problem i am having, but as the memory and mobo are new do you think it could be a hdd problem ? i cant get past the windows setup without the error message , furthest i got was 100% on formatting the partition xp made to install onto

 

[Hodsocks]

Mict.....that set me thinking....I checked the cable and drive and there is a pin missing from the HD ....and not the usual one