BSOD a week after BIOS flash

[freddykid]

Last week I used a live update Cd from my motherboard company MSI. PC worked fine until about 5 days later, where I received a BSOD before Windows boots. No corrupt file just goes directly to a dump and leaves a hex error code. My system has two hard drives one is my main usage one and the other is a dual boot with linux and Windows. I leave my second inactive and only use when I need Linux. So when I tried to turn the main hard drive off and use the second linux works fine and Windows worked at first. But After a few times of shutting off my PC the Windows on the second hard drive received a BSOD as well. Linux worked fine still. I ran Recovery console on both sets of Windows but nothing. Anyone got a idea of what my PC's issue may be?

 

[pscowboy]

Just some educated ideas. If you only have the one comp, go to a friend's house to use his/hers. You have to tell us exactly when the BSOD occurs. I'm making the assumption it's before you reach the XP logo screen.

1. Unless there really is a problem, one should not upgrade the BIOS. But you flashing it, would not cause the BSOD's five days later. If the flashing would have been the problem, you'd have seen it right away.

2. You didn't mention hd's size, age, or flavor, but many of them start developing bad spots. The only utility I know of to help you out of that problem is SpinRite v6.0 from grc.com (about $89). Run it level 4. Depending on size, this could take 18-26 hours.

3. Memory, sometimes, just goes bad. Get MemTest (free) - make its' cd, and run it for at least 4 hours. Every half hour or so, check the working screen for errors. If you have two sticks, remove bank 1 and run the test. Then, remove the bank 0 piece, pop in the one you removed earlier into bank 0, and run the test again.

4. Power supplies can also go bad. When they're not supplying the proper voltages (or wattage), your hardware will not function right. I suggest purchasing a compatible (at least the same wattage - more would be better; and physical size) power supply, and swap out. If this results in having a spare, this is a good thing. Every one owning a pc, should have a spare p/s. It's one of the first pieces of hardware that goes bad. ($40-$50)

Because what you describe is almost always hardware related, you have to eliminate those three areas I talked about, as the problem, first. It'll take you a couple of days to accomplish that. If they all come up clean, this is a good thing for you to be armed with knowledgewise; and a relief.

Then you're faced with these:
1. Boot sector virus (mbr corruption)
2. Corrupt boot loader files (also possibly caused by a virus)
3. Corrupt O/S files - dll's, drivers
4. You may have to reinstall XP if the various tries at fixing don't work.

When you pop in the XP cd, does it run as if it is doing an install?

 

[freddykid]

I have two maxtors the mian one is 200gb SATA and the secondary is a 40gb (regular IDE), both less than a year old. don't remember the models. I ran diagnostics from Maxtor that did run for several hours, the Diagnostics revealed no errors. I also ran a chkdsk /r and no errors. When I put a XP CD in it does run like an install. The BSOD does come right when the windows logo comes up. Hope its not a Virus but I had Mcafee Enterprise runnning with personal Firewall both up to date. I haven't run the mem test yet. I will try that out.
thanks for the input

 

[pscowboy]

The bsod coming after the logo shows up, (providing the ram checks out), tells us that you have file corruption. Please, also eliminate the p/s as the problem.

Couple of simple things you could try:

1. Boot up with the XP cd until you get the screen which lets you option for a Repair. Pressing R gives you the Recovery Console. Type fixmbr and then fixboot to see if that helps.

2. Right after the POST beep (but before the logo) hit F8 to get a menu. Choose Safe Mode, and see if it goes. If it does, Restart and:

3. F8 to get menu. Choose Last Known Good Configuration.

If none of that helps, you'll have to re-install. If the new install also has problems, you may very well have a boot sector virus which CAN ONLY BE REMOVED BY DEBUG UTILITY.

I'll post the procedure if you need it. Takes one minute, but will require a new XP install after.

 

[freddykid]

I tried switching the memory out. I have 3 512MB two generics and a Corsair, so I removed 2 of them and windows booted on my second HD in Safe Mode. Then I tried to do a Shutdown so the good start would go to the registry. But when I booted up again BSOD and can't go boot into safe mode any more. I Used a scecialized PE disk with antivirus software and found no viruses the MBR or Boot Partition. I feel kind SOL because no matter what I try it fails I will be running MEMORY test and update on what I get.