Hello guys,

Here's the prob. When I boot the computer, at the boot screen, it sometimes doesn't show it's 'checking' for the memory(usually it goes from 0 to whatever amount memory I have, 512MB). it skips that step at certain boot ups.

When windows is loaded, my DVD drive does not appear(it appears to have problems in device manager), but it did appear to be in the IDE at the boot screen.

My soundcard seem to have problem like the DVD drive too.

I 'chkdsk' and found some errors, but after correcting, the problem still persists. I did a 'SFC /Scannow' but it failed because my DVD drive can't read my in XP CD. The SMART hard drive info/attributes is all fine.

I can't seem to edit the registry although the remote registry is started. Certain programs I installed seemed to not run smoothly. Like my anti-virus prog, it doesn't run it's auto shield.

Help me guys, which part of my computer is causing the problem?

Thank you.

first thing i would do is open the box, remove and then re-insert the ram. if u have 2 sticks, try removing 1 at a time and rebooting. I often find ram to cause lots of problems. Also, in your BIOS, try to change your boot to normal, not fast boot. This should enable the full POWER ON SELF TEST and might reveal the problem. Try the ram 1st, though.

Try the ram 1st, though.

it might also be a build-up of dust on your ram modules causing an imperfect contact between the module and the slot. as vinodh says, open up your case and do some "house-keeping"

....but bear in mind the computer's warranty [as opening it up may make your warranty invalid ]

If its a computer thats 3 or more years old, you're motherboard could be failing also [or other parts of the machine].

Regards

Nath

Mine doesn't do a ram test either if I do a soft reboot (start-shutdown-restart). Only when then computer is powered off and back on (or reset is pressed) will the RAM test show up. Don't know if yours does the same...

Thanks guys for the reply.

I disabled the quick boot like vinodh suggested. The test repeated itself for like 3 times and then it proceded. Is that normal? Those problems like my DVD ROM and sound card still persist.

I also took out my ram modules and wipe the dust of them and cleaned the contact points..

What should I do now?>

you removed the ram, cleaned, re-inserted and the ram check was done 3 times? If this is what happened, then your ram is fine. 3 times is normal.

you can try removing the dvd rom and sound card from device manager. the click "Action>scan for harware changes" and let windows detect the hardware. It should reinstall everthing automatically and remove any conflicts.

Edited May 2, 200620 yr by vinodh

Thanks vinod again. I did what u suggested but the exclamation mark is still there once it detected the hardware and reinstall.

hmmm

right-click on the exclamation mark. see what the issue is. post what it says. might help. BTW: did you mess around in the BIOS recently? if you reset the BIOS, the onboard sound might be conflicting with you stand-alone sound card.

Here:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

The driver that is showing that msg is the "Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator"

My one and only soundcard is an 'onboard' one. I did not touch my BIOS recently..

so, have you tried reloading the driver? or downloading newer ones?