MotherBoard or Hard Drive?

[Ma3x323]

Hey peeps,

Here is the problem. My computer has been crashing for about a month now (shrug). I get errors not being able to read a .dll or files corrupting left and right. I recently uninstalled a game and suddenly, I can't install it again. There was some sort of I/O error. I installed a couple other games but there are a few games that wont install. Not only that but the games I have installed crashes once in a while and says something about not being able to read a file or the file is corrupted.

So, I thought this was just an OS problem and reformatted my harddrive and installed XP again. . . bad move. Once installing XP, I was missing files and took me forever to have an installation with sufficient files to run the OS (though it might be a bad idea to have a partially installed OS). Once again, I get I/O errors, cant install some games and games crashing because of missing or corrupt files or cant read files. . .

SO. . IS IT THE HARD DRIVE OR THE MOTHERBOARD???

I myself think it's the controller on the motherboard but I need to know what you guys and gals think.

- Thanks -Feryl
--> Just a silly software engineer wannabee.
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[wolluf]

I think you have a hardware problem somewhere - but could be ANY component, not just mobo or hard drive (in fact, hard drive would be down the list a bit for me). I'd start with memory - if you have more than one stick, try the machine with one stick at a time (reinstall XP like this - stop it you get errors during the install). If you haven't, can you borrow a stick to try? If still the same, try removing hardware (eg, sound, modem, network cards, zip drive, CD writer). Then reinstall XP like this.

Other thinks to look at are power supply (you didn't give machine specs) and processor/memory speed (if you're overclocking, go back to rated speed. If you're not, you could try running processor a little slower than rated speed (depending on your motherboard).

 

[Ma3x323]

Sorry bout that, forgot to put the specs on:

Asus A7v Mobo (2 yrs old)
1Ghz athlon thunderbird
Generic 256MB memory (already tested with another computer and it works fine)
Forgot the name known brand 512mb memory (also tested with another computer and works fine)
Soundblaster live value
Linksys 10/100 network card
Forgot the brand power supply (recently bought because I also thought power supply was a factor. fan was dying too)
Abit Siluro Geforce4 ti 4200 128mb AGP 8x (yes new too since I just wanted to get rid of the crappy geforce2 mx)
IBM deskstar 40 gb
Acer dvd 16x, 40x (been put on another comp and tested)
Burn-Proof 12x10x32X burner (been put on another comp and tested)
Forgot the brand LS120

Yes I have also tried UNDERCLOCKING my cpu. Thought it was because it was running too fast of speeds for memory but STILL crashed. . .

Thanks for the reply -Feryl
--> Just a silly software engineer wannabee.
If you feel a post has been helpful to you, click on the link at the bottom of their post to cast a vote for "TipMaster Of The Week". You don't need to be the one who asked the question to vote.