Windows/tech Nerds: a challenging problem

Hi-

I've got a bizarre problem with my machine. ( Windows XP Pro, Celeron of some sort, 512k ram, Asus Motherboard.)

Several weeks ago, it started throwing up "windows has encountered an error" messages whike I was playing music in itunes. OK, I thought, iTunes is broken, so I reinstalled. Problem continued. Cunningly, I then moved all files that I valued onto the secondary harddrive.

After a couple of days, the machine crashed on startup, saying some files were missing or corrupt from system32. Ok, I thought, let me re-install.

Re-installed Windows XP, and then it would not allow me to install SP1 or SP2- both ( downloaded and burnt to CD, working elsewhere ) would not extract- I got a message saying the file was corrupt.

Ok, I thought, bad installation. So I repartioned and formatted the HD, and installed windows again. Once again, could not install SP1 and 2, so I decided to try the free MSDE sql installer. Once again, "the file is corrupt'

OK, I thought, bad hard-drive. So I removed the primary drive and installed onto the secondary. Same problem.

Alright- flash the BIOS. No luck.

All my software, from 7zip to Flash, all are in compressed or self-extracting compressed files. Now my machine cant unpack these, and so cannot install anything.

So here is the challenge: what should I attempt next, and as the symptoms point to a hardware problem not a software problem, how would I know how to test?

Check your RAM!

memory is the only thing you've not touched. well that and have you cleared the mbr on reinstall?

The mbr would have been cleared on repartition and reformat!
My gut feeling says RAM.

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My gut feeling says RAM.

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Where did LAXMAN go ???

I've got two cards in, tried them each, one at a time.

It does make sense- the RAM is where the files' data is stored while they are being unpacked. But it doesn't seem likely that both would blow at the same time.

You'd be surprised... It really depends.
If that doesn't work, then you really need professional help. What if the ram cards are okay and it's your asus mainboard that's f'd?
This is not a problem that can be diagnosed well online.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aldorr

The mbr would have been cleared on repartition and reformat!
My gut feeling says RAM.

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not 100% true. recoveries and repairs and quick formats actually don't initially touch the mbr. they alter it after the fact with whatever you've changed up to.

So, the idea would be to go get another Motherboard, and use the same processor and memory, and see what happens.

I took it for professional advice, the advice was, "We dont know whats wrong, why not pruchase a whole new machine from us?"

The real challenge, I guess, is "Has anyone ever come across a compressed folder problem like this before?"

Thanks for everyones advice.

only time I came across an issue like this was a long time ago when ARJ was out for Win 3.1/WinNT 3.51 and I had a problem uncompressing every file that was ARJ'd on an Compaq server.

Later found out it was the memory that wasn't acting right. That's about 1994 or so.