Fatal computer problem.

[Pocalypse]

Thank you very much for your help Entoptic.

I can steal a different video card from a computer here to try that out. I agree that it's probably the mobo, since with the video card removed it should be making some beeps, but isn't. I'll try the different one anyway.

I definitely won't ship them my hard drives now I know thats an option. Too much data on there I don't want to lose.

Thanks again, makes me feel more confident about my data at the very least .

[Pocalypse]

*sigh*, my other video card won't fit in any of the slots.

I'll arrange to send it off to alienware tomorrow then .


Thanks again for all the help.

[Pocalypse]

Update:

I got my computer back, with a new motherboard. Put my hard drives back in, and try to boot up.

Now windows is giving me trouble.

First it asks for an activation (even though I haven't formatted this computer since I bought it). I click ok, then it won't recognise my network, and I don't want to do it by phone, so I click do it later.
But windows never gets to the desktop.

I've gotten a few different blue screens so far, or sometimes it just hangs on the desktop until I shut it down. (I can see my old background, but the start menu or icons never show up)

Blue screens:
* IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
* PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, STOP: 0x00000050
* STOP: c000021a (Fatal System Error)

I sometimes get non-blue screen errors such as:
*svchost.exe error: Instruction at 0x74e9dde0 referenced memory at 0x74e9dde0. The Memory could not be read.

Support says that windows became corrupted because of the new motherboard, and that I should format and reinstall.

Luckily, I can access safe mode, and have already started to offload my important data (read: macros and keyclone settings )

My question is, does anyone know of a way to "fix" windows, and not reinstall or format? I'll do it if I have to, but I consider that a last resort.

Thanks

Edit: Ok, after activating by phone, I can get to the desktop but still get a crapton of errors and after a while get a blue screen. Obviously none of this was there before the crash and motherboard replacement.

Does anyone have any experience in this matter?

[Fizzler]

An Alienware computer is a fair amount of investment in a computer. If it was in warranty I know exactly how I would fix the problem.

1. Unplug the power

2. remove the keyboard mouse and any periphial device.

3. stick it in a box and take it to UPS.



Unless of course you have a bunch of midget porn on there you need to get off first. In that case, oh man you are a freak!! :P

*edit* wow I misspelled porn there goes any internet creditability that I might of had....

[Caspian]

Update:

I got my computer back, with a new motherboard. Put my hard drives back in, and try to boot up.

Now windows is giving me trouble.

First it asks for an activation (even though I haven't formatted this computer since I bought it). I click ok, then it won't recognise my network, and I don't want to do it by phone, so I click do it later.
But windows never gets to the desktop.

I've gotten a few different blue screens so far, or sometimes it just hangs on the desktop until I shut it down. (I can see my old background, but the start menu or icons never show up)

Blue screens:
* IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
* PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, STOP: 0x00000050
* STOP: c000021a (Fatal System Error)

I sometimes get non-blue screen errors such as:
*svchost.exe error: Instruction at 0x74e9dde0 referenced memory at 0x74e9dde0. The Memory could not be read.

Support says that windows became corrupted because of the new motherboard, and that I should format and reinstall.

Luckily, I can access safe mode, and have already started to offload my important data (read: macros and keyclone settings )

My question is, does anyone know of a way to "fix" windows, and not reinstall or format? I'll do it if I have to, but I consider that a last resort.

Thanks

Edit: Ok, after activating by phone, I can get to the desktop but still get a crapton of errors and after a while get a blue screen. Obviously none of this was there before the crash and motherboard replacement.

Does anyone have any experience in this matter?

Those are memory errors. I just built a new PC and saw most of those while just trying to install windows, so reformat is not the solution. It took a while googling the errors and digging through tech papers things from MS along with physical trouble shooting but that is what it was.

You can try the "all the memory out add one back at a time trick" to isolate the issue but it will have to go back. I recommend sending your disks back with it this time to keep them happy but I would find a way to backup all your data first. If you can drop them in another machine as secondary drives and copy the data over is the fastest if they are just normal stand alone drives and not in a raid configuration.