The day my PC died...

So my computer did some pretty hardcore dying on me, and I really need some help to figure out why.

It used to be that when I would play a game or do several things at the same time my computer would "freeze" (video would lock up, sound would continue to run for a little then sound like a skipping CD for about 5 seconds...) and I could hear the sound of one of my two hard drives spinning up again. Red Flag? I think so. But I kinda just ignored it, because I'm smart like that.

So that whole thing would happen off and on, sometimes it would do it 20 times in a day (the freezes last a good 15-30 seconds) and sometimes it wouldn't do it for like a whole month or so, or at least long enough for me to forget about it.

Then after I get home one day, the thing was stuck at the initial boot screen trying to detect the Master HDD. I just hit a hard restart and it detected everything, but I noticed the computer didn't do the start up beep thing (yes that is the technical name...but as a side note wtf makes that noise?). Anyway, After all my bootup screens finish, including the windows load-bar one, a blue screen of death (BSOD if you will) appears and notifies me that some /SECURITY file is missing from windows that that a Physical Memory Dump was starting. After a bit Windows told me to contact my sytem admin (aka-myself) as the error was not a software issue. So each time I restart this thing happens...never different. I did open up the case and notice my second HDD was really really hot, but other than that everything seemed fine. The XP Pro OS is installed on the 1st one, BTW.

I did try to repair AND reinstall windows, but both of those fail. I also tried all the safe modes, and the "your last configuration that worked" modes, but those gave me the same BSOD. If any of you tell me to try any one of the things I just typed, I will just jump off a building. Probably a really tall one. Maybe onto your mother :thumbsup:. I just really need some help....really. If you are lucky and you actually help me out, maybe you will get puch and pie. What is broken and how did it break?

EDIT: semantics and spelling are fun!

I think your HD is well and truly f**ked, lol. Try booting from a Knoppix CD to retrieve your files if you need to?

I know you said one of the disks are working, but take both of them out and buy a new one to install Windows on. The stick the other two back in and pull your data off them.

What are the reasons that make you guys think that its the HDD as opposed to the MOBO or RAM? Mobo doesnt even beep at me on startup...so it still could be that...

I just dont want to spend hundreds of dollars and tons of time replacing 2 HDDs only to find out that I still get the same error before I can reload everything.

Yeah it could be, but having said that is the pc speaker plugged into the mobo properly? Have you tested the ram in another machine?

I'd strip the pc down and run it bare - mobo, hdd, ram and video card - just the bare essentials and see if it still pisses around then. If it does, then you know you gotta problem with one of them.

Yup, I did double check the speaker and all the power cable jumpers, etc. Nothing wrong there. I will probably test the ram in another machine soon...I have been so busy lately :eek:. Hopefully just a stick of Bad Ram is the only problem.

yeah ok...

It might be, seeing as crap RAM causes all sorts of problems.

as a side note, are your HD's next to each other? i noticed that after i moved mine to be in slots 1 and 3 (rather than 1,2) they ran a lot cool cos of the airflow.

if you could give more info on the BSOD error msgs and exaclty what file is missing i might be able to find some more info on what exactly went wrong

http://www.updatexp.com/stop-messages.html is a good page for explaining the XP stop messages...

Hey, I bought a new HDD and now everything seems to be working ok. The only thing that I am concerned about now is cooling. I am not Overclocking or anything, but everything still seems to be running hot. What temp should my comp be running? I got 2 hdds, mini atx board, radeon 9600 pro, an audigy 2zs platinum pro, and an ethernet card in the thing. I have a top, side and rear fan, and the thing still idles at like 52C. What is a good temp to be running at, and how do I get there?

Well a "start to worry" time is when your cpu exceeds 70 degrees I would say - I think *average* tempreature is between 40 and 55 degrees. Some components are more heat producing than others, i.e. the cpu so make sure you have a good heatsink. In terms of cooling, a top, side and rear fan should be fine.

Just buy a new computer.

Just buy a new computer.

Just for cooling? I think I'll just do some case modding and make that thing a wind tunnel :D.