Corrupted Files On Every Single Reboot

[Fishlore]

I'm having some pretty serious issues with my PC. I just thought I'd tell my story (long) and hopefully someone has an idea or two I haven't thought of or maybe they experienced something similar.

The Hardware:
A78NX Deluxe Mobo
AMD 2800+ Barton CPU
1 gig of RAM; not sure of the make off the top of my head
Nvidia 6800 Video Card
A hard drive that is less than two months old, forgot the size and make.

The Problem:
I was originally running Windows 2000 without any issues. I sit behind a router with a firewall. I'm anal about keeping Windows updated. I run ad-aware every now and then and I never find anything out of the ordinary. So I don't think it's virus related.

After a while my PC would take forever to boot up. Sometimes it would hang at different points in time during the boot up process. Sometimes after a long wait it would boot. After a while it was getting real flakey so I just said hell with it and wiped my computer clean and freshly installed Win2000. It didn't take long before the problems came back.

I thought that maybe it was a hard drive starting to go. I bought a new one. A new fresh install and after some time, back came the problems. My video card was an ATI 9700 and figured it was time to upgrade after experiencing some troubles with it. I went to the Nvidia 6800. I could install the drivers from the disc with no problem. When I went to download new ones and try to install them I would remove the old ones. Then I'd restart and try to install the new ones. They wouldn't install because it said I had no VGA drivers. I tried everything I could, but windows couldn't find one to install. So I installed from the disc that came with the video card and that's as far as I can go.

Maybe it's the OS conflicting with something I thought next. I buy Win XP. Fresh install again. Still can't update the video drivers, windows can't find a VGA driver. I've tried the software with my motherboard, the software that came with my monitor and nothing works. So I stick with the video drivers from the installation disc.

Now with my fresh XP installation every single time I shut down, some file, be it the kernel file or something else from the system32 directory gets corrupted. Every time I want to start up my PC I need to boot my PC from the windows disc, enter the recovery console, chkdsk/r and then expand any corrupted files before it boots back up. Then I have to leave the PC on for months at a time before the power goes out and I have to restart it again. The last thing I tried was flashing my BIOS. Still have problems.

Needless to say I'm getting really pissed. I don't know what else to try, or even what piece of hardware might be failing or misconfigured. I've tried a lot of stuff, but I'm at a loss. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance for anyone still reading.

 

[Reaktor4]

Well adaware only scans for spyware/adware, its not a virus scanner. You can do an online virus scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com or http://security.symantec.com. Its possible that youre repeatedly getting infected and since you indicate that the problems have went away for periods of time, this is probably more likely than a hardware issue.
Another guess would be a faulty hd controller, but tbh i dont know enough about how they work to say if it even could cause this problem. If you can borrow or buy a socket a motherboard, try switching it.

 

[Barney Fife]

Nah Reaktor4 I agree with you halfway and it's Fishlore doing something instead of PC hardware.

After 2 HDDs, 2 V-cards, 2 OSs, the problem still exists?
If it is a virus, malware, spyware its him, continuously downloading, either from the Net, A corrupted Floppy Or CD that he has with some freeware in it.
My advice is, go back and do clean-install, but this time update Windows and do not download or pop CD with some (God knows what) share-wares in it, and use the PC like it was intended for.
If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first.

Check and see. Sometimes the problems is the user not the used.

Good Luck.

 

[DrDevin]

After installing windows did you install new motherboard drivers?

 

[Reaktor4]

do not download or pop CD with some (God knows what) share-wares in it

Or games w/ starforce, who knows what that will do to your pc.

 

[Fishlore]

Nah Reaktor4 I agree with you halfway and it's Fishlore doing something instead of PC hardware.

After 2 HDDs, 2 V-cards, 2 OSs, the problem still exists?
If it is a virus, malware, spyware its him, continuously downloading, either from the Net, A corrupted Floppy Or CD that he has with some freeware in it.
My advice is, go back and do clean-install, but this time update Windows and do not download or pop CD with some (God knows what) share-wares in it, and use the PC like it was intended for.
If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first.

Check and see. Sometimes the problems is the user not the used.

Good Luck.

As I mentioned in my post I have done completely fresh installs each time. Deleted partitions, recreated partitions and done new installs. Since this has been a problem for a while I install practically no software. Obviously the first thing I do is completely patch up Windows. I never have more than one game on my computer. I have MS Office and that is all the software I install with the exception of some of the utilities (lan drivers, etc.) that came with my motherboard.

I'm a professional softare engineer and I've been building PCs for over 15 years. Never in my many years have I ever had a problem like this. I've never pirated anything, or used this computer for anything more than playing a game or doing some browsing on reputable sites. The only downloading I've done is sound/video drivers from the manufacturer.

Can you further ellaborate on this point?
"If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first."

All of my problems are boot related and I was leaning towards problems in one of those areas.

I appreciate the input fellas. Thanks for taking the time to read my story.

 

[Fishlore]

After installing windows did you install new motherboard drivers?

I did install motherboard drivers from the original disc and again from the manufacturer site. But I'm glad you mentioned it because I'm looking for any possible issue however remote and I think I'm going to test this aspect further. Maybe updating a second time is what's causing problems. Thanks.

 

[Fishlore]

Or games w/ starforce, who knows what that will do to your pc.

Another good point. One of the installations I had problems with had only one game on it. X3. I can't remember if that game uses Star Force or not. Isn't there a utility to purge that evil from your machine?

 

[Reaktor4]

Can you further ellaborate on this point?
"If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first."

I think he means the mobo should beep if theres a problem with it. I would still try changing it.

Another good point. One of the installations I had problems with had only one game on it. X3. I can't remember if that game uses Star Force or not. Isn't there a utility to purge that evil from your machine?

http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com/protect.phtml?c=55
scroll down for the remover

 

[Barney Fife]

As I mentioned in my post I have done completely fresh installs each time. Deleted partitions, recreated partitions and done new installs. Since this has been a problem for a while I install practically no software. Obviously the first thing I do is completely patch up Windows. I never have more than one game on my computer. I have MS Office and that is all the software I install with the exception of some of the utilities (lan drivers, etc.) that came with my motherboard.

I'm a professional softare engineer and I've been building PCs for over 15 years. Never in my many years have I ever had a problem like this. I've never pirated anything, or used this computer for anything more than playing a game or doing some browsing on reputable sites. The only downloading I've done is sound/video drivers from the manufacturer.

Can you further ellaborate on this point?
"If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first."

All of my problems are boot related and I was leaning towards problems in one of those areas.

I appreciate the input fellas. Thanks for taking the time to read my story.

Brother please don't think I'm down-talking to you please, but its very bizarre for someone with the level of your knowledge, after installing 2HDDs, 2 OSs, 2 Video Cards end up with the same problem.
We all know somewhat about computers, and most of us had build one (At least) in the past, and he/she knows that, without BIOS Okaying, nothing will boot.
For Example Take out of one of your memories and see what happens after you reboot. BIOS will tell you one of the memory or some of the memories are missing and you press F1 or Del to Okay it. Now take out both memory sticks and see what happens, BIOS will peep nonstop and nothing will boot. That's what I meant by saying "If it was a MOBO issue like HDD, Memory, Bus controllers, BIOS wouldn't even boot system without at least telling you about it first."

Sorry about the misunderstanding.

As far as your issue goes, I'm stuck facing the wall fresh out of ideas, but hopefully some one will help you out so stick around, don't give up..

Good Luck.

 

[Fishlore]

No worries Barnie. And again, thanks for taking the time to read this post. I do appreciate it.

Anyway, to put my mind at ease I used the symantec virus and online threat scanners. Thanks for the links reaktor. Everything was clean. No threats, no viruses. I ran adaware again and nothing there either.

It's just strange that the computer runs perfectly fine while it's on. I'm able to play graphics intensive games like X3 without a problem. It's just when I shut down that this issue happens with the some file or another becoming corrupt.

Anyway I'm going to use the StarForce remover tool next. X3 is in fact in bed with the enemy. Thanks again reaktor. I'll try playing around with my RAM after that, but to be honest using dxdiag and looking at the system properties and the device manager, the RAM seems okay. I'm desperate though so I'll try anything.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Barney Fife]

OK for whatever its worth, try this: Do disk defragmenter. (After installing windows, updating, and installing your games drive kind gets messy with disorganized files)
Clean up your prefetch folder by deleting all of it's content.
As far as your VGA not present, go into your BIOS and see what's set for default graphic adaptor, and see if your AGP/PCIx is disabled somehow.
Win2K has a bad temper about dual cards being present in the same MOBO, try disabling all other Graphic ports except the one you intend to use. for example if integrated graphic adapter is enabled and you intend to use AGP/PCIx 2X gets pissed.

Good Luck. Let me know how it goes.

 

[VirusType2]

Microsoft help

www.Microsoft.com

email a help guy and they will answer back with experience and expertise.. and possibly some other fancy ex- word, and probably can have you all set in 1 day.
I speak from experience; I had uncovered some wicked bug and they emailed me back very quickly (first thing in the morning) and they told me what to do and with his email I was able to fix it immediately

The windowsXP operating system is large and does have the occasional bug, and certain situations can reveal them.

I think this could be your problem. They can coach you through the process to fix your problem; becuase it sounds like a software problem, and you are running windows XP.


you can cut and paste the original post (and any other important info) from here to an email to them.

I can't believe you were resolved to leave your PC on forever, that must suck.

Even if it is not a Windows problem, they can likely help you pinpoint the problem.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Alright I think I can add 2 more points to this.

Mobo and PSU.

Give us the specs and make of your PSU, theres a good chance it isn't sufficient or it is just bad so it doesn't give the HD enough to power itself fully or just instable power.

Your Mobo could also be damage/bad. Try hooking the HD up to another IDE slot on the mobo and see if that helps, or heck get a new cable for it and make sure it is going in the right way(if it isn't keyed).

Good luck!

 

[Fishlore]

I can't believe you were resolved to leave your PC on forever, that must suck.

LOL, it really does. I had it on for about a month straight. Ran fine while it was up, able to game all I wanted. Then they were doing work in my apartment and cut the power. It took me about six hours to get it to boot again. Once I got it back up it worked fine again. It's been up now for a week straight.

Thanks everyone. I'm at work now, but as soon as I get a chance I'll be all over these suggestions. I'll start the ball rolling by writing an email to the microsoft help link, Thanks for the link VirusType2.

While I'm waiting on that I'll do a full defrag and clean out the prefecth folder per Barney's suggestion.

Good point Glirk with regards to the PSU. It's definitely the oldest aspect of my system. I'll get the specs during my lunchhour. I never really considered it because I thought that it might be an all or nothing type thing. It either worked and had enough power to supply everything or it didn't. But giving it more thought, it could be a problem. Especially since the upgrade from an ATI 9700 to an Nvidia 6800. I'm not sure of the power usage there.

Thanks again everyone. I'll be back on later tonight to let you know how it went.

 

[VirusType2]

I had it on for about a month straight.

Completely off topic, my oldest brothers kids just leave their Nintendo Game Cube on all the time. My brother said they have had it on for over a year with no problems.


LOL! don't try this with your other consoles - infact just don't try this period.

While turning things off and on frequently are the real terror to the electronics and just about anything electrical for that matter (when a lightbulb burns out it is almost always when you turn it on) leaving electronics on for long periods creates alot of heat - another enemy of electronics; also I have to think that must kill the life of the fan in the unit.

but anyway..

 

[gweedodogg69]

I think it's the motherboard, I KINDA had a problem like this with a PC, but instead...the mobo didn't like the memory I put in it even though it's same speed, same CL. It was a basic office IBM PC for work and it wouldnt load all the software, it would reboot while I was installing Windows Updates, etc.... So I tried the same memory in a Dell PC and it worked fine. Russim frussim frickin frackin IBMs.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Good point Glirk with regards to the PSU. It's definitely the oldest aspect of my system. I'll get the specs during my lunchhour. I never really considered it because I thought that it might be an all or nothing type thing. It either worked and had enough power to supply everything or it didn't. But giving it more thought, it could be a problem. Especially since the upgrade from an ATI 9700 to an Nvidia 6800. I'm not sure of the power usage there.

That upgrade would do it. Tell us the brand and the watts if you can. There should be a sticker on the side. If you can post the rails as well. The 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails too...tell us the amps each has.

If the rails are unstable it is liking turning your comp on and off really fast which can actually damage components...such as a HD.