Thread: Grrr, hardware!

  1. #1
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    Grrr, hardware!

    My brand spanking new 2.5 GHz machine is giving me a blue screen of death on boot, looks like a HDD error, so I can't use broadband.

    For now, I'm back to once a day on a slow dial up.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  2. #2
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    Hmmm, back again.

    Very odd, new disk, same problem. Tracked down to the controller being switched off in the BIOS. Good news of course, is that the disk contents are in tact.

    Now, what happened? What I was doing when the machine died was downloading and installing a Win XP patch. Got to the "Creating restore point" then froze.

    Is it possible that the Windows updating software fiddles with the BIOS settings? If so, could there have been another fault which caused the system to freeze, after the BIOS was flipped but before Windows had updated whatever it was it was doing?

    Sorry, I'm thinking out loud.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  3. #3
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> Wouldn't this be better on the tech board

    Yes it would, but in fact I was only posting to say i was back, the rambling was me thinking out loud. I'll move it over there and see if anyone wants to run with it.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

  4. #4
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    Interesting theory Adrian... I was actually getting ready to install XP SP1... is that the patch you're talking about? Or something else?

  5. #5
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> I was actually getting ready to install XP SP1

    That is exactly what I was trying to install. I had downloaded the fast installer, which had then launched the main download. This seemed to complete fine and the install started. It reached a waypoint ""Creating restore point" then froze up. I let it sit there for about half an hour. When I tried to launch something else, the mouse pointer froze, all activity seemed to stop, the disk light was quiet. Booting up said error put the CD in the drive, booting from the CD got as far as "Starting Windows" -> BSOD.

    When the thing was running again, it popped up a dialog saying some of the system files are not the right ones, put the CD in the drive. Once I started the SP1 install again, it said something like "these files, (list), would seem to have been updated already by something/someone else, if you continue with the install, they will be overwritten OK?" which very clearly said to me that the install had been interrupted by something.

    This is not the first time I have installed SP1, I had not had trouble last time.
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  6. #6
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    is it worth installing, or should I just keep my current config?

  7. #7
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> is it worth installing, or should I just keep my current config?

    I would always advocate installing SP's, there are usually security fixes and stuff. Then again, I have never before had a problem with an SP...

    Look at the download site and see if there is anything in the SP you want. If not, and your system is working as you wish it too, go without, but sooner or later, you will run into a problem, or another SP you do want which has SP1 as a pre-requisite.
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  8. #8
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    >>is it worth installing

    no, wait for a better pack.

  9. #9
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
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    well... the thing is, I just spent an afternoon downloading all the security fixes a few days ago... using Windows Update... so I figure I should be ok on that end. I need to reinstall at some point anyways... XP is starting to take a while to load on boot.

  10. #10
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    Originally posted by RoD
    >>is it worth installing

    no, wait for a better pack.
    You do realize that alot of WindowsXP leaks and flaws are
    published after the release of SP1, In other words of you don't
    have SP1 you're walking a risk to get hacked or nuked or
    whatever.

  11. #11
    A lot of people have had problems with WinXP SP1. I've heard lots of people saying that it actually slows down Windows's and Games' performance.

  12. #12
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> I just spent an afternoon downloading all the security fixes a few days ago

    You should be aware that the hotfixes that are rushed out tend to be a little "feature full". The full fix often appears later, or in the next service pack. Hence, installing the patches is usually only a part answer.
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  13. #13
    Redundantly Redundant RoD's Avatar
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    XP SP1 is known more for $$$$ing it up then fixing it, i can wait.

  14. #14
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    Originally posted by frenchfry164
    I've heard lots of people saying that it actually slows down Windows's and Games' performance.
    Then they know it from numbers, Cause i don't notice ANY
    change in performance. That or those people have a good-for-
    nothing machine.

  15. #15
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    >>> XP SP1 is known more for $$$$ing it up then fixing it

    Do you have a reliable source for that or is it simply heresay?

    I have not had a problem with it on any system other than this one, and at this point, I am not totally sure what happened to this one.
    Wave upon wave of demented avengers march cheerfully out of obscurity unto the dream.

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