BSOD Harware - How to isolate issue between Hard Disk, CPU or Motherboard?

Question

Sadly, my battle-hardened 5-yr old Inspiron 8200 (1.7GHz, 384 MB RAM, 30GB) Win XP Home is showing signs of HW issues (I think).    -   Started with random BSOD Stop errors while surfing (wireless - external USB) which gradually increased in frequency even after uninstalling/updating USB wireless adaptor and driver.  -   I eventually backed up all mydata (with some struggle between BSODs) and then clean formatted (NTFS) and re-installed XP Home from the System CD but the problem reappeared even without any other software or hardware attached.  -   Even Boot from XP CD started giving STOP 7F(D,0,0,0) errors if 'R' for repair is chosen or STOP 24(x,x,x,x) 'ntfs.sys' if new installation is chosen.  -   Also sometimes encountered 'setupdd.sys could not be loaded. Error Code is 4' during Fresh Installation  as well as 'Windows could not start because ..\SYSTEM is corrupted or missing errors'. Needless to say Safe Mode etc etc all fail for these reasons.  -  Have now formatted twice with clean new installations and same issues. Can't go anywhere or do anything with the Blue Screens.   1-  I can boot up from Dell Diagnostics CD and have ran Full/Extended tests on ALL devices. Once had an error with DIMM-B slot but two more subsequent tests passed. 2-  I have taken either of two RAMs out, swapped them and also used RAM from another working laptop but same issues. Either Windows get corrupted or Blue screen during installation. 3-  Besides Dell Diagostics, Chkdsk from command prompt also shows no issues with the Hard Disk.   So I really want to isolate the issue between the Hard Disk or Motherboard/CPU or any other issue to assess if laptop is salvageable. Unless I am on the wrong track, would appreciate any sure shot or accurate tests/softwares (bootable) for Hard Disk, CPU etc. (keep in mind that Dell Diagnostics doesn't find anything). Thx!

Red Dragon · Answer

Try the diags with a memory stick in A only.  You might also try the XP reinstall with only one DIMM.  My latitude had one DIMM slot go bad.  I used it for another year or so on one DIMM.   The problems you are seeing are a lot like what I saw on that old system.

jcn77056 · Answer

I've not done a comparison between the Dell memory diagnostics and memtest86+ but what you see sounds like a memory error.  You might try downloading memtest86+ from here, burning the ISO image to a CD and running it for a couple of hours.  This would give you a second opinion.    Since the memory is only parity, two bits in error will not be seen but will corrupt the data.  I've seen this before on systems and it was difficult to find until it was too late.

Axim_X51v · Answer

I really doubt your HD is the problem as once booted and the OS is loaded to memory you would get an access error not a BSOD. But to be sure, you could download a Linux distro and burn it to CD and boot from the CD and run it from the CD. That would eliminate the OS and HD as culprits. Swapping memory slots as Red Dragon suggested to check those. Download Memtest86, create a boot CD or Floppy and run that for lots of hours to test your memory. PC's can work fine with memory problems, and then suddenly fail because the OS accessed that particular memory location. There is a free program called EBCD Pro that also creates a bootable CD and has many advanced programs for troubleshooting hardware. This is very advanced CD program and no documentation for it.

So, if your laptop passes memtest86 and you have problems while running Linux, then either your MB, CPU or one of the many integrated components is failing. This is not repairable. It would cost more than a new laptop to have the MB replaced if the parts were available. The only chance would be to find a used one on Ebay.

drumstreak · Answer

Sorry, didn't update sooner. Red Dragon's recommendation was spot on. Turned out to be RAM in DIMM B after all. Couldn't really boot up with a memtest CD in a couple of tries but an OS re-install with RAM in DIMM A alone removed the errors and its been working fine ever since (a few months) although a bit slow.

Thanks to all who replied ... RAM diagnostic was the correct one.

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