System errors

[fook3d]

STOP: d0000017 Unknown Hard Error

Does anyone know what this is?

Yesterday, I tried to open some programs and i got some system errors, So i thought i had hit the wrong things in task manager to end the process of, So i rebooted as most people would do.

And then my problems began.

I got the above error when i rebooted, So i though, Ok my installation has gone corrupt, So in goes the XP disk and install starts, HD formats, Windows system files install and reboot happens so it can carry on the installation.

Computer starts up, Windows loading page starts and i think my problem is solved, Wrong again.

Next i think the hard drive must have crashed and burnt, So this morning i head to town and buy a new one (Maxton 250GB IDE (Lost sata cables so just got IDE again)) and come home, Slap it in and start the XP installation again and the same crap happens, So piece by piece i start stripping parts from the system and finally after getting to one of the CD drives and the 8in1 card reader it seems to load ok for once.

Right now, Im trying a new install....again but the windows install sits at "39 minutes remaining" on the post boot setup.

Anyone know what that error means? (Google doesnt really tell me anything)
Anyone know a solution to this not going past the "39 minutes" part in the installation?

Only good thing to come out of this is that i got a new bigger HD and my old 80 GB probably works so i will now have one drive just for OS and another for storage.

[clocker]

System specs?

You need to run some diags on your core components (CPU, motherboard, RAM) and quit making baseless assumptions (i.e., "Next i think the hard drive must have crashed and burnt, So this morning i head to town and buy a new one (Maxton 250GB IDE (Lost sata cables so just got IDE again" BTW...for lack of a SATA cable you downgraded to IDE???).

[fook3d]

System specs?

You need to run some diags on your core components (CPU, motherboard, RAM) and quit making baseless assumptions (i.e., "Next i think the hard drive must have crashed and burnt, So this morning i head to town and buy a new one (Maxton 250GB IDE (Lost sata cables so just got IDE again" BTW...for lack of a SATA cable you downgraded to IDE???).

Can i run diagnostics without gettings into the system? Its stalling on the installation so not accessible.

Specs:

Celeron 2.66Ghz
768 ram (512 & 256)
250GB maxton hard drive (As above)
ATI Sapphire X1550 PRO AGP 512mb
AsRock P4i65G mother board
DVD-RW drive (Use alot)
CD-RW rom drive (Dont use)

As for the hard drive, No downgrade, Had IDE drive before and was gonna get sata but couldnt find the SATA cables so grabbed another IDE drive.

Edit Before it went weird yesterday, Nothing had changed in my system for days. No new software / Hardware etc. So no problems with newly installed stuff as far as i know.

Edit 2

Did a full re-install again and after reload i get;

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Winows system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000354 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down.

[clocker]

You can stop trying to install Windows till you track down the hardware problem that's fucking everything up.

Most diag apps are DOS based and don't require an OS to run- however, being an enduser it's unlikely you have access to most good ones.
So...try this-
Inspect motherboard for blown/swelled capacitors.
Remove one stick of RAM (doesn't matter which but you may as well leave the 512) and the unused CD-RW drive.
Clear CMOS and reset BIOS to default.
Try another OS install and see what happens.

[lynx]

Both the "Unknown HARD Error" (the code can vary, more usually c0000218) and the Stop c000021a are often indications of disk access problems.

Since you've replaced the HDD and the lead, the disk itself is unlikely to be the problem.

That generally means that the problem will either be in the motherboard or the memory - either the motherboard is failing to transfer data from the disk correctly, or the contents are being corrupted after it has been loaded into memory.

However, if it was a memory problem I would have expected to see different types of error, not just ones related to the drive access, which leads me to believe that the problem may be motherboard related.

Just to be on the safe side, try running memtest before you go any further.

[clocker]

... which leads me to believe that the problem may be motherboard related.

AsRock P4i65G mother board

As soon as I saw the brand of board I was going to call it but decided not to be a grumpy pessimist.

It's probably the motherboard though.

And it's lynx's fault.

[fook3d]

Is there something i should know about AsRock? Some american guy i know suggested using AR boards and said they were decent, I get the impression they arent now

If AR really are so bad, What do you guys suggest? ASUS maybe?

[clocker]

For regular performance I've always had excellent results with Gigabyte but Asus is favored by many.
You can hardly go wrong with an Intel board either but they tend not to be very feature rich.

[Chewie]

I've always regarded the cheaper end of the motherboard market with disdain but if I absolutely must purchase from this price band (tight customers abound, you know) then I usually plump for an ASRock. I find if I avoid the SiS chipset ones they outlast their warranty so I don't get any hassle from my tight-arsed customers.
Everyone selling ASRock gear blabs about it being a part of Asustek; if that's true then it makes you wonder whether Asustek deliberately label the product ASRock because it's inferior to Asus product and would detract from a very highly regarded brand.
ASRock would be hard pressed to have inferior Customer Support, however.

I wouldn't touch anything in an ECS or PCChips box with a bargepole, though.

[lynx]

Next on my list of boards to avoid, after those mentioned by Chewie, would be Jetway and ASRock.

To be fair though, MSI would have been on that list at one time, so there's always chance for them to improve. I suppose the bottom line is that if they are churning out boards at rock bottom prices neither the manufacturers nor their component suppliers can have much money to spend on QC.