Compaq R3200 Blue Screen Of Death

[EMOYERS]

Hey guys, I'm having relentless problems, hoped I could get some help here. My Compaq R3200 (AMD) comp had gotten a virus that wiped out all kinds of things in the registry and in drivers, so I started over. I formatted the drive, reinstalled XP, and now it just goes to the logo screen then Blue Screen of Death. I have tried tons of things, even tried to repartition and install another instance of XP on a different partition. If I load the Repair console, I can log onto the C: drive just fine, but cannot load the OS. I even bought a new HDD and the same thing. Sounds like maybe (?) BIOS, but I cannot figure out how to update the BIOS without having access to the OS. I loaded the new BIOS setup file onto a flash, but the file doesn't show up in the directory. Any suggestions? This problem keeps getting worse, I went from a minor problem to owning a paperweight. I'd like to nuke this thing and start from scratch, but I'm afraid I may not have the resources to do it successfully.

 

[frozenlead]

Reseat the RAM modules and/or switch the DIMMs in their sockets. Then run memtest. See if you get any errors.

 

[EMOYERS]

Is memtest third party? I dont see it in the help list of commands and if I just type it it gives me an error, I'm in "DOS" of course, that fake thing that loads when you put the XP setup disc in. This is just extremely weird since it went from my wireless not working, to formatting and starting over, to not being able to load OS. I mean, I can see the files in the directory when in the repair console or "DOS", but it just wont load. So where is memtest? And thank you for the reply.

 

[frozenlead]

Memtest is indeed third party. You can get it (along with a host of other diagnostics and testing software) by downloading the wonderfully great Ultimate Boot CD.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

[EMOYERS]

okay great, thank youI have the disc and will run memtest tonight. If I do not get any errors, what do you suggest is the next step? This system originally had XP Home, and I installed XP Media Center in its' place, could that be a factor? I'm really struggling with this thing, I am typically able to solve most comp problems, but laptops seem to defeat me alot more lately. When I formatted the drive, did I erase critical drivers that link the OS? I need an epiphany here.

 

[EMOYERS]

Okay, ran memtest and got no errors

 

[frozenlead]

Alrighty. Try using an external CD drive to install windows. Did you reseat your RAM? Try a BIOS update via a floppy drive, if you've got a USB one.

 

[EMOYERS]

I can install Windows just fine, it just wont actually load the OS after install. Goes to splash then BSOD. I'm doing a fresh install tonight of Home OEM instead of Media Center tonight, any ideas in the meantime?

 

[frozenlead]

Sounds like a hardware instability issue. Are you installing SATA drivers when loading windows? Can you get into safe mode?

 

[EMOYERS]

I cannot get into safe mode, gets to the classic driver loading list and crashes. mup or whatever. This is an ATA/IDE interface, would I need to poad those drivers specifically? I have XP Home burning in while I'm at work to see if that was the problem, I read somewhere that different versions may not work on laptops based on hardware. I guess we'll see. Is there anything else on UBCD that may help diagnose? What I really dont get is how this computer worked perfectly until I reformatted and loaded a new OS. Dangit.

 

[frozenlead]

The IDE interface doesn't need any drivers, no. I honestly don't know what else to do. Run any and all the CDs diagnostics, see if anything comes up bad.

 

[EMOYERS]

Fixed it!!! It was the stupid OS, I restarted and installed the XP OEM version and the comp runs perfect, must have been compatibility related, thanks for all of your suggestions, you kept me from throwing it out the window. Who would have thought a system could be compatible with XP but not XP Media Center.

 

[frozenlead]

I've no blessed idea why, all the hardware should be compatible with every XP version...but who cares, it works.

 

[dwellman]

Well. . . I can say that using non-genuine software is something of a crapshoot. Not to imply that you are, but if you are that could be it.

Otherwise, Media Center does have it's. . . foibles. Yeah, it's supposed to be a superset of XP Pro, but it does have rather more stringient hardware requirements, e.g, mpeg hw decoder and all that crap. I forget the exact details.

 

[EMOYERS]

OEM discs, but I get what you mean, honestly, I'm a third rate go to guy (for poor people) and I normally fix stuff easily, but I never woulda guessed the OS caused it. I made the poor guy go to CC and ask about his warranty cuz I swore it wasn't the OS. Lesson learned.