Need help / can't start windows.

Gateway 835GM
pentium D
Windows XP - media center 2005
Graphics card - Nvidia geforce 7300 gs

OK...I have been having this problem for a while now and had it fixed by a student at DeVry but messed up again. Was watching sports of sopcast and walked out for about 20min. when came back computer had tried to reboot itself and was saying problem w/ windows so I tried did a system restore and it worked. Then I finally get everything back up and running and played a game then quit game and no applications running left for a while and comp. re-booted again this time tried to restore and I am getting an error windows can't start due to missing of corrupt file - system32/drivers/pci.sys. I tried to do a full system restore with the back up discs I made when I purchased computer but getting same error. So even when it is fixed it's not working like it used too then eventially goes down again. Can anyone help me?

 

Check your ram.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4226.html

 

i am not on my pc...so i can't run the test. it says 1024 MB DDR 2 dual channel mem and 250GB SATA HD 7200rpm 8mb cache

 

It needs to be tested. Random problems like that often occur as changes to the registry get saved when you reboot/shutdown. What happens is, it corrupts when being saved from the ram, which is indicitive of faulty ram.

Its worth checking out, and you should let it run for several hours.

If the problem is actually with the files, which is unlikely, then the hard disk might need to be checked out, too. Start with ram, though.

 

how do i test it? forgive me but i am very new at this...can i download the test to a cd then run on my pc?

 

You download the test, then burn the .iso as a file to a CD. Stick the CD in the drive, then reboot. Your computer should boot from the CD next (mine is the only one I know that wouldn't do that), and go straight into the memtest. If it turns red, you have bad RAM.

 

thanks i will try that and let you know what happens ...

 

Ok...Sorry that took so long just been really busy. I copied the test and put it in my system and got the red screen. What do I do now?

 

Desktop or laptop?

Remove a stick of ram and retest. If you only have one stick, you need to replace that one.

assuming by red screen, you mean you had test failures.

 

I have a desktop and I guess the red screen is failures. I copied the ISO to a CD from my wifes pc and rebooted my pc with the CD in the drive and it tried to reboot the screen turned red for about 15sec. then continued to the place I usually get stuck at. Do I need to try both sticks of RAM by them selves if I have two? Will this fix the problem or is it probably something else that messed up my RAM that I will need to fix?

 

Process of elimination, try each stick separately to find the bad one. chances are, its only one bad stick, and thats all that need be replaced.

Usually.

 

I tried each stick individually and got nothing ...no red screen just same error msg I was getting. Then I put both in together and tried to test and same thing no red screen. I am not trying to do a system restore and so far it is working. If I get windows up and working should I try the memory test again? I would like to find out why it keeps messing up on me.

 

Could always just have been loose ram...happens pretty often.

 

Well my sucess was short lived. I was able to start up probably twice with no problem then on Sunday I turned on the pc and walked away to do something and there was a black screen when I returned. I tried turning off then on again and tried to start in last working start up and that didn't work then I tried starting in safe mode and got error windows32/config missing or corrupt. I realized I had left the memtest disc in the drive and took it out and tried again...still no luck. So I am going to try and restore it again tonight. If I am able to restore it again what should I do? When running the memtest should you see anything when you start up the computer?

 

...ok...I took out my graphics card and made sure my memory cards were in right. I did a system restore (non-destructive). My system seems to be working better then before. Is there some tests I should run now that I am up and running? Also is it possible that my graphics card was causing the problems if so what can I do to fix them? One more question what is windows xp SP2?