Memory errors: is it HW, Virus, or OS?

I would appreciate some help deciding what my next move should be. I have a Dell 9100 running Windows XP that has been giving me fits.

I started getting this blue screen error soon after buying my computer: RQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL… STOP: 0x0000000A

Dell insisted it wasn't a hardware error and told me to do a PC restore, but I was skeptical and ran Utility Tests instead which revealed Error Code 2F00:0419 System Memory Failure.

Dell told me to reseat memory and restore BIOS defaults. I did and reran Utility Tests. All passed, but then got "FLOPPY DISKETTE SEEK FAILURE" on every boot. Dell then had me flash BIOS at which point the RQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error reappeared. Dell had me turn off the diskette drive in BIOS, leaving only the RQL error. Again Dell told me to wipe the computer clean and start over, but the support rep sounded like he was reading from a script so I decided to look into it further myself.

Then I noticed memory errors happening pretty frequently. After Dell again insisted it was not a hardware issue, I finally posted here last June to see if it could be a virus. http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.php?show…mp;#entry294537 but found nothing significant. I started getting this blue screen error: STOP: c000021a (Fatal System Error). Below this error, different files would be referenced each time (several times it said msmsgs.exe was the problem and memory could not be read, sometimes explorer.exe was the problem and runtime terminated the application in an unusual way, less frequently ati2dvag couldn't be loaded.

Pretty soon, my antivirus software started having trouble loading at startup. It would say data files were corrupt, or that it was missing a start-up file. I couldn't uninstall and reinstall because the add/remove would get errors. This also happened when I attempted to access the internet.

This went on until my system was out of warranty, About 3 days later, I found the utility WINDIAG.OSI and confirmed a memory error, so I called Dell and screamed until they sent me new memory (refurbished) and for the first few hours, I stopped getting the blue screen errors. Norton and Spyware Doctor still couldn't be installed successfully (even after uninstalling through the Symantec site first), but things seemed fixed.

Then I started getting Fatal System Errors left and right. I also got this error: Drive 5 not found: Parallel ATA, PATA (PRI IDE slave). After running hijackthis and finding nothing, and removing every optional piece of software, I asked Dell for help once more. Dell walked me through some Recovery Console steps, using CHKDSK /s and then /r, and using FIXBOOT. Again everything seemed fine for a short while.

Then I get SYSTEM MEMORY FAILURE or PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA errors left and right. Every time I boot, it takes several attempts and I get a message saying the data reference points had to be recovered from an earlier version. I ran Dell's hardware utility and got errors during all the March tests as well as the MATS test. It said the error code and then "… Suspected memory component located on System board, at label Dimm_2. I ran WINDIAG.ISO again and it found the same errors as before, but on the new memory sticks. I also got this message somewhere down the line "The procedure entry point GetTokenInformation could not be located in the dynamic link library advapi32.dll." Dell insists my OS must be corrupt from a virus and I must format and start over.

After many googles that sent me here and there, I found this one posting talking about Dells having bad caps (http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=450&highlight=Dell), but it's above me so I don't know if it applies here.

So here are my questions:

1. Could a deep virus that doesn't show up in hijackthis, or online scans, or USB remote scans be causing these symptoms? And if so, is there anything I can do to find and destroy it?

2. Could this be a PCI problem? I found a post about several Dell owners claiming the PCI supplier was the cause of similar errors to mine (PCI is not checked by Dell's Utility). And if so, how would I proceed to confirm and correct this?

3. Could a power problem be causing all of these symptoms? It seems extremely unlikely that two sets of memory sticks would end up having the same error on DIMM2 unless something is zapping it. I apologize if this was an ignorant statement… I'm not a HW expert.

4. What troubleshooting am I missing? I'm afraid I'm going to end up formatting this system, Dell will be done with me, and I will see the same symptoms return, and I will be out a lot of data. Dell support is out of India and their servers are not forwarding emails, so the only interaction I have with the advanced support tech is the single phonecall to check on my progress about every 3-5 days. I must gather all the information I can to be ready for each phonecall and know what I should ask for.

Please help, anyone?

Well, I thought I would reply to my own message in case someone uses my posting as a reference later. I bought a new hard drive and installed it. I reinstalled Windows XP and everything seemed to be going great, until it was time to install drivers. I couldn't get the system to recognize any of the drivers. When I went through MY COMPUTER to install them manually (with a CD of drivers) it said it couldn't find any. When I tried to use Dell's Driver Utility program it detected all the things that needed drivers but said it couldn't create the directories to install the drivers. When I ran a product installation CD (like in the case of my Epson) it went through all the steps successfully but the drivers still appears as missing. I reran the Dell Diagnostics and got another error on my memory, so I booted with windiag.iso and immediately got a failure. I reversed the memory sticks and reran the Dell Diagnostics and received no errors but the MARCH C-Y tests were greyed out. Don't know what that means, but the memory problem doesn't seem to be consistent which tells me it's a memory board issue. I don't know if my conclusion is correct, but it's all I have. I talked with several other people who said they had many problems with Dell harddrives that went out between 2005-2006. While I agree with them because all three of my Dell Seagates crashed (and most in the first 3 months) I think I had bigger issues. Hope this posting helps somebody else out there.

I just got the same error code utilizing the the Dell CD. Mine worked out. It seems like you have a problem with your mother board. Look inside of the slot that the memory sits inside of. Look for dust or corrosion. If you use compressed air to clean it, be sure not to hold the can upside down or you may freeze something. Will