Memory dump and dead pc

Hi all I have a laptop pc for my 9 year old son. It's a used machine, about 3 years old, made by Evesham Micros in the UK. When I got the machine the previous owner had re-formatted, but I had to run the 'recovery CD'. WindowsXP would start, all OK. It then started shutting-down by itself, with a "memory dump" message. It occassionally behaves itself, and I was advised to run auto-update from Microsoft and it downloaded and installed 80+ updates! Now, it can take 15-20 attempts to get the machine to even start-up. It gets to the windowa screen and then immediately crashes - blue screen and memory dump. I am not clever enough to know if this is a hardware or software issue, but thought it may be windows related. I have downloaded some of these "registry fixing tools", but of course they all want cash before they fix all of the problems that they say are there. I don't mind spending money, but want to spend it successfully. So, any ideas? What should my next steps be? Thank you in advance Brett1

I would run the windows recovery console,and do a R for repair not the recovery that does the reinstall of xp,,and type in CHKDSK /F note there is a space between the K and the /F

Thanks for the reply. To be honest, I got fed up last night and ran the 'recovery CD' from the manufacturer. There was really no data on the PC, so nothing to lose. I did notice that there were a couple of exe files and dll's that almost didn't load off the CD, and I had to keep selecting "try again" until the setup continued. Perhaps the guy that did the recovery last time just skipped through these, who knows. So, right before bedtime I ran Windows Update, and this morning came down to 79 critical updates. See how it look s when I get home from work tonight. If it's no good, can you kindly explain the "windows recovery console" - what is it, and where do I find it?? Many thanks

If it's no good, can you kindly explain the "windows recovery console" - what is it, and where do I find it??

Many thanks

Hello,you shouldn't need the recovery console now ,but if you ever do you should find it when you boot to your recovery cd,you should have 2 choices enter to install winxp,or R for Repair .the r for repair is the xp recovery console,if you ever get to use it just type help at the prompt for all the commands you can use when in the repair mode .

Hello Bret1

The recovery console routine caperjack is talking about is availible on the standard off the shelf/retail versions of Windows.

On the Recovery style of disks you seem to possess will not have this option. Recovery disks are really a basic "image" type type of media rather than true installation media. Common OEM practice. (toshiba, acer, hp, sony, ect) Suppose to save the company money in terms of Tech support, cost of Media, ect and pass the savings on to the end user.

They just replace everything on your computer with whats on the disk. A mirror image No advanced manual routines.

Caperjack gave really good advise none the less for standard XP problems.

What I am thinking is you have to rule out some hardware issues, First of all Memory issues. Here is a link to a Microsoft tool and its use for checking ram.

You will know if ram fails due to the red "failed" in the test results.

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Failure means bad and should be replaced. Simple as that.

Also if you can determine the maker of your harddrive and if it is a IDE or SATA (yours is most likely IDE or sometimes called PATA or just ATA) go to its manufacturers website and download a harddrive diagnostic. Hitatchi, seagate, maxtor, toshiba , ibm Deskstar, are common and all have a tool to test them.

Regards

Kaz.

Thanks again Yes, I couldn't find the 'recovery console' when I put the disk in last night. Last night I got the machine working, downloaded some more Microsoft updates, but it still isn't really stable. Probably 20 times in 2 hours it just stopped, blue-screened, and re-booted!! Very frustrating. Are you thinking it's more likely to be hardware than software then? Forgive my ignorance, but is there somewhere where it tells you whose hardrive is installed, perhaps under 'system' in the control panel? I'll see what I can do tonight and report back. Thank you both for your help. Brett

So, the story continues……. Last night the PC would barely boot at all. When it did boot, as soon as I tried to do anything (connect to the internet to search for the hardware checkers) it just crashed! After 2 hours of trying I just gave up. Is it likely to be something to to with the 10's of updates it has had? Conflict somewhere, perhaps. Or, is it starting to sound more like a hardware issue? Any and all help very much appreciated……. Brett

Hi, it's a bit worrying that the original owner reformatted the drive and then as soon as you took ownership of the machine it was necessary for you to use the manufacturers restore disc ( essentially this wipes the drive and reinstalls the operating system and puts the machine back to the condition it was in when it left the factory.) It looks as though you have recently used the restore disc again, but you are still having lots of problems. Providing you used the disc correctly and it is not damaged in any way the use of the disc should mean that your operating system (Windows XP) is in good shape providing that immediately after the use of the disc you installed a good firewall and antivirus(AV), and that you have not connected to the internet (even for just a minute or so apart from connecting to the Microsoft website to install the updates and to update your AV (There are generally 70 to 80 Windows updates required, provided, of course you have installed Windows XP service Pack 2) It is most important that Windows Service pack 2 is installed (you can buy a disc from Microsoft if necessary , as its a big download.) 1 To check if SP2 is installed you can right click on My Computer and select Properties. 2 When you reboot your computer make sure that you have nothing extra plugged in to it…no usb drives, printers, scanners, webcams etc, just a power supply and see how you go. 3 Next shut down your machine, remove any external power supply and try to run it on battery power only see how you go, 4 next shut down again and then remove the battery and reconnect the external power supply, reboot and see how you go. 5 Next shut down and then disconnect the power supply, reinstall the battery, reconnect the power supply and reboot into safe mode, tap F8 once per second immediately after the BIOS loads BUT before Windows starts to load, at the advanced menu ,select "last good config.." and see how you go. 6 You can find out your drive details and other stuff by looking in Device manager and then download the drive manufacturers diagnostic tools, run them and see how you go There are lots of other steps we need to ask you to do, but if you post back and let us know how you go we will take it from there Regards paws

OK, sounds good. The recovery disk is already SP2, so that step is done. I am tempted to run the recovery disk again tonight, to get it back into its "should-work" state, then I'll go through the steps that you recommend. I'll report back as soon as I can. Many thanks Brett

Hi, Yes that's a good idea , then we will know that your operating system is Ok and can probably move directly to help you check out the hardware side of things. Regards paws