HP Pavilion a6200n VISTA Hard Drive Issue?

Ok, all scans for HD come out ok eccept the 1 bad block (as seen in last image report) I am not familiar with the bad block sector issue however I think scan disk at start up checks for bad sectors? Mabe I should run that as well. Yet for the most part, HD looks good. (I did the LONG scan)....

On the Mother Board it says " HT 2000 " - " Serial ATA " - " 8 Chanel Audio "

 

I am also running a Motherboard scan,, It's called "HOT CPU TESTER PRO 4 (lite ver.)"

I guess that can't hurt :eek

 

The Motherboard test ran for 6hrs. I got up and the PC had refreshed and I never saved log

 

Here is were I stand with this..

1.) I am running a memory check on both 1 gig chip 1 at a time I will post results when done. This is a duel channel board 2 blue slots & 2 black slots. If both chips test good, they both should be in the two "Blue" slots correct? Also, do I need to do anything be done in BIOS for this

2.) Hard Drive Checks out ok (1 bad sector block)....
I will do a scandsk at start up to see if it works...

3.) Windows XP continues to update (on it's own) however, when I try service pack 3 update program it keeps telling me I don't have the proper requirements to run program..

4.) Computer runs very well with the XP Pro on it with little to no crashing. However when I install ANY virus programs the crashing it BAD. (crashing meaning "Blue Screens & freeze-up) I tried AVG newest ver and and old ver still have bad crashes. I tried kaspersky (crash crash crash). I tried Panda cloud (thats a very light program) Still crahes bad.. Is this due to no SP3?

 

DIMM1 & 2 are the black slots so I would assume that those have to filled first but I am not sure. You can do a test of your memory with Memtest86+. Even with SP2 you should not crash that bad with an antivirus installed. I could not find your motherboard manual so I am not sure if anything is needed to be done in BIOS. I would think it would automatically detect both sticks and set Dual Channel automatically.

Check motherboard layout here. Note that black is for DIMM 1&2
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=ca&dlc=en&lang=en&lc=en&product=3548643#N454

For the SP3 issue: Did you run the Microsoft patch for AMD processors? Post#37
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717

Your first post said you had a power surge, so you may have some hardware issues.

 

Good day Mr Tgell, Yes I ran the MB patch yet still same thing no update due to "non requirement standard"

As to the RAM I tested both sticks with Memtest86 1 at a time. They were tested in the "Blue" slots. I will now try the Black slots (brb w/ results)
Thanks

 

Ok, here is the total results..

BLUE SLOTS
If I put card #1 in blue slot # 1 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card # 2 in blue slot # 1 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card #1 in blue slot #2 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card # 2 in slot # 2 blue PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put "Both" cards in "Both" blue slots PC does not boot to windows no does "Keyboard" get any lights.

BLACK SLOTS
If I put card #1 in black slot # 1 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card # 2 in black slot # 1 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card #1 in black slot #2 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put card # 2 in slot black slot # 2 PC works and test "Pass" w/Memtest86
If I put "Both" cards in "Both" black slots PC does not boot to windows no does "Keyboard" get any lights.

The only combination I did not try is 1 card in Black slot and 1 card in blue slot (should I try that?)

 

Yes, I would try that, but I believe that you will no longer have Dual Channel active if it works.

 

I did it like that just now 1 blue & 1 black are used (see image)

The PC booted to memory test and it passed

I have not yet tested it in Windows to see if stable..

Whats the down side of "you will no longer have Dual Channel active if it works" ?
Thanks

 

Edit: I am not that much of a hardware guru but I think it may affect your performance. By how much I am not sure. Run CPUz and it should tell you Edit: if you are running single or dual channel.
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

http://majorgeeks.com/CPU-Z_d425.html

 

Hopefully somebody can jump in with hardware experience and tell how much of an advantage single vs dual channel is.

I found this. Guess the difference is not that much.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/PARALLEL-PROCESSING,1705-15.html

 

After testing the 1 card in blue and 1 card in black, The system crashes BAD.. I remove 1 stick for Black slot and keep one in the blue slot and PC runs "Crash Proff"

 

Here are the results of the test you said run

 

I think we have tried ever combonation to ram in slots. We also confirmed all sticks are good. We also confirmed PC runs ONLY with a single 1gb stick..

If theres a fix for this cool, it not I have no issue with only 1gb as it fast for me.

However, is the 1gb issue my peoblem with installing VISTA...

 

I guess you will have to run with 1GB for XP but I have found that 1GB is okay for XP. Vista needs a minimum of 1GB so maybe that was the reason for your crashes.

 

Sounds Reasonable..

If you recall, a few steps we did a HD test. It concluded 1 bad sector. The PC is doing a scndsk / r as we speak. Lets say I get lucky and get the bad sector fixed, would 1 bad sector on the HD be the reason VISTA install crashes?

 

The End Results........

1.) Hard Drive has a bad sector at 32914
It seems nothing scandsk can do but mark it bad. I seen repair tools however mixed feelings - some say (can destroy HD).... Can this be fixed without formatting?

2.) RAM slots have there own issue
seems like no hope

3.)Looks as if PC is updated SP3
would not update SP3 software, had to wait for windows to update it automatically (its done SP3 now installed)

4.) Whats a good FREE Anti Virus program to run? keep in mind this PC is not good under pressure LOL so maybe a nice lite yet effective one????

PC is running stable, no crashing as of now

 

Leave the hard drive as is. Your OS has probably marked it as bad already when you formatted. For antivirus free, I use avast and it is pretty light on my computer but could be different on yours.

 

Just My Luck...........

I find yet "Another 1gb Chip" that will fit this unit.. (1gb X3) making it 3gb.. I play with the chip combinations and "Wa La" It worked...

If you put 2 chips in the blue and 1 in the black it works fine.. The Memtest-86 checked all ram is ok (passed 0 errors)..

Dare I try to put VISTA on now? LOL

I'm 1/2 tempted. However, I have this XP Pro so tweaked out perfect that it runs like a new cadillac

:mad

 

When you run cpuz does it show ram as being dual channel now?

 

In the test it says CPU's found 2 however no place does it say the word Dual.

windows see's 2943mb

 

It says "Single" channel... Is this bad?

 

No,
I was just curious if it would jump to dual channel but I guess having that one in the black buts it back to single channel. As I posted before, it does not make that much difference according to the link I referenced. If I had to choose between Vista and XP, I would go with XP but just remember, XP security updates goes away on 2014.

 

I guess I will put it through a few hours of major abuse to see if I can crash it

 

Well we only need the security updates untill Dec 21 2012 (per Nostradamus) :eek

 

1 Full week, no crashes, no errors, no issues.
Thanks!