crash with bootable CDs

Hi there dear geeks

We have a PC at home (Dell Dimension 4550) bought totally legally which started a year ago to show that it needed reinstalling ie the system information is not available, it sometimes crashes upon right click... So I tried to reinstall the original XP SP1 CD. I set it up to booting from CD but this makes the whole PC unstable so a few seconds after starting to read the CD, the PC simply turns off. I tried with another bootable CD (XP SP3) and with the original utilities bootable CD but all bootable CDs lead to the same problem. A new DVD burner and an extra hard disk have been installed 3 years ago on this machine without creating much problem so I dont think they cause this. Otherwise everything is original. Btw, the CD drive works fine with other CDs when open under XP.

Any idea what bootable CDs do?

Thanks! :wave

Kossong

 

The first suspect is the power supply. Run Everest and under 'Sensors" check out the reported voltages. If voltages take a dip when you first insert a CD then that's a strong indicator that your power supply is weak.

 

Does the machine have a CD and a DVD drive? Have you tried booting the CD using the DVD drive?

 

There may be an issue with the motherboard, or possibly the memory. I think the way the hardware addresses bootable discs is different than how it addresses discs from Windows and this is what is causing the error. You can try testing the system memory by using a Windows-based memory diagnostic like MemTest and run it for an extended period of time, like overnight. Most other RAM diagnostics are bootable, but some can be run from a bootable floppy. Personally, I think the bootable RAM tests are better as they have unfettered exculsive access to all the system RAM w/o Windows getting in the way. The Microsoft Memory Diagnostic has the option to create either a bootable CD or floppy, and so doesMemTest86+ (use the 'link to authors site' at the bottom of that page for the floppy version). You could also try using new data cables on the drives (all of 'em, including the hard drive) or update the firmware on the CD drive that is causing the problem, but if you have 2 CD/DVD drives and they both crash, then the problem is not likely to be with the drives. Good luck! Keep us posted!

[dlb]

 

Hi again!

yes I have tried booting from the dvd drive and the same happens. I could open the cd and reinstall XP so now everything works fine but I would like to format the master hard disk and do a clean install. If I understood well the microsoft instructions I found online, I must boot from the cd to do a clean install.
I have run the memtest and nothing abnormal was reported. I tried everest as well, found the sensors but I could not find who to see the voltage report. What have I missed there?

I am now running the dell built in hardware diagnostics (found under the boot menu F12 upon start). Everything looks fine so far

any suggestion on how I can format the hard disk and do a clean install?

Thanks!!

 

HELP!!!:cry:cry:cry

now I have really screwed up the poor thing! After my previous message, I tried to revert to an older restore point and that went all wrong!

The PC crashed during the process and now when I start it all I get is 'Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt <Windows-root>\system32\hal.dll'.

I have had a little look around online and found out that the booting system doesn't point to the right drive or the right partition and that the way to go is to reboot from the CD! Unfortunately I cannot reboot from the CD!!

I read that I can also get the 6 system recovery floppy disks but I dont have a floppy disk drive on my PC. Does anyone know if I can get the Windows Automated System Recovery in any other way?

Thanks for your help!!

 

I would go back to the RAM. If you have more than one stick try removing all but one and test booting with the install CD. If you have the same problem try with a different stick of RAM. It just seems the most likely suspect.

 

Hi Sach2

thanks for the suggestion! I have tried but the boot CD crashes even if either of the 2 512 sticks are removed. We used to have 2 256 sticks on that PC. Do you think it would help if I would put them back on instead of the 1 512 that's left in now?

Thanks! Please suggestions coming!

 

Here's a link to the "hal.dll" problem. http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/missinghaldll.htm
That link is all what I can help you with, sorry. Good luck!

PS: on my Dell Dimension 4600, the RAM functions only in pairs. Don't know about yours.