Major Bios/hd Failure....

[Nanaki]

Alright, about 4 days ago my Windows XP pro + SP1 machine started randomly crashing with the typical blue screen saying something about BIOS, hardware, and IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, the errors changed every time it would do it. Eventually, every time it would get past bios the entire system would restart. I tried reinstalling XPpro+sp1 from the bootleg Boot CD I was using, worked for about an hour then started to it again. Now whenever I try to boot from the CD it says

"Cannot Load setupdd.sys error code 7"

Also tried using an old XP home CD I found, same error. I took it to a local PC repair place and they said that XP has some built-in anti-piracy feature that sabatoges computers using pirated software, and said I would have to come back with a real XP CD if I wanted them to do anything. I think this is just some made up story to keep them out of liability for it.... I've never heard of such a "feature".

Should I go out and waste the $300 on a new XP pro CD or does anyone know a way I can fix this? I can get into BIOS but that's about it, after it tries to load from either of my HD's the computer restarts... I'm doubting it's a virus because I have norton corperate fully updated as well as spybot S&D....

Any help? Please? heh....

[foot loose]

This behavior may occur if your computer contains a hardware component that is either damaged or is incompatible with Windows XP :ph34r:

[zapjb]

Another reason to have a spare HDD.

[Nanaki]

I recently put in a 256mb stick of PC3200 ram, which was working fine. the old stick was PC2100, but i don't think that should've caused a problem.....

I do have a backup HD, and when i swapped them out it's doing the same exact thing.

A friend says it could be the power supply, current changes, but that doesn't explain why the boot CDs wouldn't work....

Oh, and I just tried to turn it back on after I let it sit for a day or so and now no BIOs or anything loads, just powers on, fans spin, you can hear the hard drive move a bit then stop, but nothing on screen, no loading sounds or anything....

any help?

[Nanaki]

the motherboard is an A-Open ax45-8xn, award BIOS 6.00pg.... if that helps at all...

[_John_Lennon_]

Your not using both sticks of memory at the same time are you?

[Nanaki]

yes, i was, but it didn't cause any problems for the first week or so i had it in...

[sparsely]

you can try swapping them out to see if it works with just one of the RAM sticks, but I doubt that's the problem or the error would
likely be the same every time.

as foot loose said, it's likely a hardware compatibility issue.
have you had XP installed on this machine before?

you can run a hardware compatibility check from the XP Pro CD, by typing this at a DOS prompt (use a 9x boot disk)
E:\i386\Winnt32 /checkupgradeonly
Of course, substitue E: with your CDROM drive letter.

and the HCL is here (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx)

[lynx]

Originally posted by Nanaki@29 October 2003 - 22:18
I took it to a local PC repair place and they said that XP has some built-in anti-piracy feature that sabatoges computers using pirated software, and said I would have to come back with a real XP CD if I wanted them to do anything. I think this is just some made up story to keep them out of liability for it.... I've never heard of such a "feature".
As you rightly suspected, this is total hogwash. Apart from anything else, it would be highly illegal for MS to do anything like that. Even the rumours about pirate copies of XP being disabled by attempting to apply a service pack are untrue, although they do prevent the service pack installation.

It sounds like some component has been slowly failing and has now completely given up. Try removing all the cards, memory, etc and reseating them. If none of that works, and you don't have alternative parts you can try (or another pc you can try your parts in) you may need to take it to a repair shop, but steer clear of the one you went to before, they are untrustworthy.

[Pitbul]

Originally posted by Nanaki@29 October 2003 - 20:35
I recently put in a 256mb stick of PC3200 ram, which was working fine. the old stick was PC2100, but i don't think that should've caused a problem.....
wow you seem brilliant. yes that is a problem whether it starts acting up sooner or later. when you have memory they all have to be the same speed. take one out and keep the other. preferably the PC3200

[Nanaki]

Ok, I took all of your adivce guys, removed the new RAM, took out all extra PCI cards, and wipped the BIOS with the jumper on the motherboard.

It loaded perfectly, I was pretty happy with myself...

Only problem now is, though, if for any reason the system powers down/reboots/etc., the BIOS are wipped and I have to reset it with the jumper every time I want to turn it on. Major problem >_<...

I did go to the Aopen website and use their tools to update to the newest BIOS version, still doing it....

I also found out port 443 (HTTPS) was open on my computer for the past few days, sending info to some random IP that only showed the default text viewpoint.com.... very suspicous. I recently heard that this is part of a major DDOS virus/worm that is turning computers into zombie boxes and then attacking... possibly causing whatever problem i&#39;m having with the BIOS. This is just speculation though, no facts. Norton obviously knows nothing about it or todays update would have caught it i&#39;d think....

Any ideas? I really can&#39;t stand unplugging everything from my computer and resetting the BIOS by hand every time I turn it off...

[johnboy27]

If you have XP then if it is a virus it could be sitting in one of your restore points.Disable system restore and do a virus scan again.If there was a virus there it should be deleted then and you could turn system restore back on.

As for the BIOS resetting everytime you reboot,are you sure you returned the jumper to the proper position? I am not saying you are stupid but it does happen sometimes,I have seen it. Does your board have a jumper so you can write protect your BIOS? If it does then just enable it and you shouldn&#39;t have anymore problems with it resetting.

[Nanaki]

Ok... I&#39;m going to try the restore method..

and i&#39;m 100% sure the jumper goes back on the right setting before i power on.

no, I don&#39;t think there is a jumper for write protection...

I&#39;m out for the night, thanks for the help guys...