Hardware or fixable software issue?

running a dell vista, almost 2 years old. last night, went to turn
off computer before bed. upon moving the mouse to deactivate the screen
saver, i noticed firefox and aim were already closed though I did not
close them. I went to restart them and my computer rebooted. It went to
a black screen after the initial boot, i never saw the log on screen.

after another reboot, i was prompted for a repair program. it searched
for problems, then it took forever to repair and it hung up. rebooted
again

same thing but this time after the repair, it prompted me to do a
restore. i finally allowed it to do a restore point.

after reboot, i got to my log in screen. under normal, i cant log in as
the first application it saw, it seemed like it failed. numerous times i
tried and i would get different errors.

werfault.exe app error

atbroker.exe app error

even got a few blue screens, one of them was PFN_LIST_CORRUPT

another was PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGE_AREA

I got into safe mode but with a black background, nothing on my
desktop. no programs seem to work, at least the few i tried like virus
checker. i cant run msconfig from start screen, it flashes and
disappears. I have to open task manager to do so. I attempted to go to
start-explore and the windows explorer screen flashes very quickly and
disappears. Im trying to backup some documents.

I noticed I can go to safe mode in command prompt and I can run a
directory on documents and my files are there.

however, my comp reboots often for no apparent reason sometimes. during
one of them, i was prompted for the repair program again. this time, i
ran the memory diagnostics tool.

in standard, almost immediately, i get a status update stating
"hardware problems were detected....contact manufacturer". I let the
scan run and when it reboots, i never get to see the log. sometimes i
can log in after the reboot to my initial vista page but black
background.

in extended, it seems to hang at 21% part 1 test or 10% overall done.
im running that right now and its hung there for almost 30 minutes. Ive
noticed some people have issues with it hanging at 21% and they dont
have the same issues (at least not from reading their problems) as me.

lastly, no more warranty, or any paid customer service help from dell.
all that expired after the initial year.

is this definitely a hardware issue and if so, what do you think it is,
the memory or hard drive, etc...?

Edit- dont know if this is any help but when I attach my flash drive to
the computer, i can not open it up to see whats on it even though I know
it has a few work documents and have a 2nd older computer Gateway XP
that it works fine on.

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!!!


--
Michael1981

update

it finally got past the 21% and is close to completing the first of 2
tests


--
Michael1981

extended got done, rebooted, blank screen after log in. never got to
see any report

did memtest...runs for about 5 seconds, it stops at 80% of test. pass
says 0%. reports 2 errors on test 1 (highest error line). This cant be
the complete test, obviously. but its already snagging after just a few
seconds. I dont know what that concludes, if anything


--
Michael1981

Remove all but one stick, retry the test. If it fails, remove that stick and
try another one. Either the sticks are incompatible with each other (in
which case both will pass separately), or one is bad - which should become
obvious.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Michael1981" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message
news:a21aa6447c209735a20beac44652bd49@nntp-gateway.com...
>
> extended got done, rebooted, blank screen after log in. never got to
> see any report
>
> did memtest...runs for about 5 seconds, it stops at 80% of test. pass
> says 0%. reports 2 errors on test 1 (highest error line). This cant be
> the complete test, obviously. but its already snagging after just a few
> seconds. I dont know what that concludes, if anything
>
>
> --
> Michael1981

Michael1981;921845 Wrote:
> extended got done, rebooted, blank screen after log in. never got to
> see any report
>
> did memtest...runs for about 5 seconds, it stops at 80% of test. pass
> says 0%. reports 2 errors on test 1 (highest error line). This cant be
> the complete test, obviously. but its already snagging after just a few
> seconds. I dont know what that concludes, if anything
Hi Gary, I think you have a corrupt Hard Drive or a faulty RAM stick

Depending on what hard drive you have you can prepare a CD to test the
drive. For Maxtor or Seagate go here:-

'Seagate Technology - SeaTools'
(http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/)

If you have more than i stick of RAM you can try removing all, then
testing the system by rotating the RAM sticks until it runs. If this
doesn't work it is probably HDD

Remember to disconnect power before changing RAM, if you don't know
how, Google it


--
NormCameron

NormCameron;921873 Wrote:
> > Michael1981;921845 Wrote:
> > extended got done, rebooted, blank screen after log in. never got to
> > see any report
> >
> > did memtest...runs for about 5 seconds, it stops at 80% of test. pass
> > says 0%. reports 2 errors on test 1 (highest error line). This cant be
> > the complete test, obviously. but its already snagging after just a few
> > seconds. I dont know what that concludes, if anything> >
> Hi Gary, I think you have a corrupt Hard Drive or a faulty RAM stick
>
> Depending on what hard drive you have you can prepare a CD to test
> the drive. For Maxtor or Seagate go here:-
>
> 'Seagate Technology - SeaTools'
> (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/)
>
> If you have more than i stick of RAM you can try removing all, then
> testing the system by rotating the RAM sticks until it runs. If this
> doesn't work it is probably HDD
>
> Remember to disconnect power before changing RAM, if you don't know
> how, Google it



Hey norm, thanks for the reply

Here is my info from my order sheet when I purchased from dell

320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)

doesnt tell me much so im guessing the only way im going to know what
brand i have is if i open up my tower and have a look see?

I believe I have 2 ram sticks, 1 gig each.


--
Michael1981

Michael1981;921932 Wrote:
> > NormCameron;921873 Wrote:
> > > > Michael1981;921845 Wrote:
> > > extended got done, rebooted, blank screen after log in. never got to
> > > see any report
> > >
> > > did memtest...runs for about 5 seconds, it stops at 80% of test. pass
> > > says 0%. reports 2 errors on test 1 (highest error line). This cant be
> > > the complete test, obviously. but its already snagging after just a few
> > > seconds. I dont know what that concludes, if anything> > > >
> > Hi Gary, I think you have a corrupt Hard Drive or a faulty RAM
> > stick
> >
> > Depending on what hard drive you have you can prepare a CD to test
> > the drive. For Maxtor or Seagate go here:-
> >
> > 'Seagate Technology - SeaTools'
> > (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/)
> >
> > If you have more than i stick of RAM you can try removing all,
> > then testing the system by rotating the RAM sticks until it runs.
> > If this doesn't work it is probably HDD
> >
> > Remember to disconnect power before changing RAM, if you don't know
> > how, Google it> >
>
>
>
> Hey norm, thanks for the reply
>
> Here is my info from my order sheet when I purchased from dell
>
> 320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)
>
> doesnt tell me much so im guessing the only way im going to know what
> brand i have is if i open up my tower and have a look see?
>
> I believe I have 2 ram sticks, 1 gig each.

Hi Michael,

Yes that's the easiest. Do the test on the memory before you test the
hard drive, just to get it out of the way. What sort of experience do
you have? want some simple instruction on changing ram?


--
NormCameron

NormCameron;921947 Wrote:
> > Michael1981;921932 Wrote:
> > > > NormCameron;921873 Wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Gary, I think you have a corrupt Hard Drive or a faulty RAM stick
> > >
> > > Depending on what hard drive you have you can prepare a CD to test the
> > > drive. For Maxtor or Seagate go here:-
> > >
> > > 'Seagate Technology - SeaTools'
> > > (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...oads/seatools/)
> > >
> > > If you have more than i stick of RAM you can try removing all, then
> > > testing the system by rotating the RAM sticks until it runs. If this
> > > doesn't work it is probably HDD
> > >
> > > Remember to disconnect power before changing RAM, if you don't know
> > > how, Google it> > > >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hey norm, thanks for the reply
> >
> > Here is my info from my order sheet when I purchased from dell
> >
> > 320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)
> >
> > doesnt tell me much so im guessing the only way im going to know
> > what brand i have is if i open up my tower and have a look see?
> >
> > I believe I have 2 ram sticks, 1 gig each.> >
>
> Hi Michael,
>
> Yes that's the easiest. Do the test on the memory before you test
> the hard drive, just to get it out of the way. What sort of
> experience do you have? want some simple instruction on changing ram?

Hey Norm,

Ive changed ram before...just not on this computer. I havent opened
this one up yet. Should I take one stick out and try to run windows on
only one stick and then swap them to see if windows does/doesnt work?
Or should I run the windows memory diagnostics on each individual one or
should I do the memtest, etc...?

assuming I find neither of the ram sticks are a problem, I need to then
locate the brand of the hard drive so I can hopefully find a test to run
on it.

do i have that right?

thanks again buddy


--
Michael1981

Michael1981;921959 Wrote:
> > NormCameron;921947 Wrote:
> > > > Michael1981;921932 Wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Hey norm, thanks for the reply
> > >
> > > Here is my info from my order sheet when I purchased from dell
> > >
> > > 320GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive (7200RPM)
> > >
> > > doesnt tell me much so im guessing the only way im going to know what
> > > brand i have is if i open up my tower and have a look see?
> > >
> > > I believe I have 2 ram sticks, 1 gig each.> > > >
> >
> > Hi Michael,
> >
> > Yes that's the easiest. Do the test on the memory before you test
> > the hard drive, just to get it out of the way. What sort of
> > experience do you have? want some simple instruction on changing
> > ram?> >
>
> Hey Norm,
>
> Ive changed ram before...just not on this computer. I havent opened
> this one up yet. Should I take one stick out and try to run windows
> on only one stick and then swap them to see if windows does/doesnt
> work? Or should I run the windows memory diagnostics on each
> individual one or should I do the memtest, etc...?
>
> assuming I find neither of the ram sticks are a problem, I need to
> then locate the brand of the hard drive so I can hopefully find a test
> to run on it.
>
> do i have that right?
>
> thanks again buddy

Memtest will tell if your RAM is faulty and it might help to run it if
swapping doesn't fix anything, but the easiest way to tell if one is
dead is by testing one at a time. Normally I troubleshoot a hardware
problem by eliminating suspects. In your case RAM, HDD and then think
what else it could be.

Norm


--
NormCameron

NormCameron;922167 Wrote:
> > Michael1981;921959 Wrote:
> > > > NormCameron;921947 Wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi Michael,
> > >
> > > Yes that's the easiest. Do the test on the memory before you test the
> > > hard drive, just to get it out of the way. What sort of experience do
> > > you have? want some simple instruction on changing ram?> > > >
> >
> > Hey Norm,
> >
> > Ive changed ram before...just not on this computer. I havent
> > opened this one up yet. Should I take one stick out and try to run
> > windows on only one stick and then swap them to see if windows
> > does/doesnt work? Or should I run the windows memory diagnostics on
> > each individual one or should I do the memtest, etc...?
> >
> > assuming I find neither of the ram sticks are a problem, I need to
> > then locate the brand of the hard drive so I can hopefully find a
> > test to run on it.
> >
> > do i have that right?
> >
> > thanks again buddy> >
>
> Memtest will tell if your RAM is faulty and it might help to run it
> if swapping doesn't fix anything, but the easiest way to tell if one
> is dead is by testing one at a time. Normally I troubleshoot a
> hardware problem by eliminating suspects. In your case RAM, HDD and
> then think what else it could be.
>
> Norm

should i be able to run my computer on only one ram stick? everyone i
talk to seems to think i need to run 2 sticks


--
Michael1981