XP Randomly crashes

Question

Recently my 1 and a half year-old dell dimension 3000 has been freezing where even the mouse is frozen so i am forced to manually turn it off. The computer has no viruses, or at least Norton 2007 says so. Last week when it was rebooting, after it had completely frozen, windows gave me the UNMOUNTABLE BOOT VOLUME error so i used a windows XP media center 2005 disk from another dell computer i own to run DiskCheck in the recovery menu like windows recommended. I had to use the other XP disk because dell didn't include the disk for the B110. Anyways the computer still freezes up a lot and i need to get it stable again.

Some System info:
-OS: XP media center edition 2005 (but when i go to system info it says Windows XP 2002 even though the sticker on the computer says 2005)
-2.17 ghz Pentium processor
-1.25 Gb RAM
-80 Gb Hard drive
-and an ok ATI Graphics card

My questions are:
1-What is the best way to fix the computer?
2-Can I Reinstall XP with the non-included XP disk without losing any of the data i have on the computer?
3-And what might have caused windows to crash?

Message Edited by Clockwork9 on 04-09-2007 07:14 PM

dunedin · Answer

Try running the command
chkdsk /r
Enter

When that is done type
fixboot
Enter

Then type "exit" and hit enter

If that does not help boot into the Dell Diagnostics and check out the hard drive.

Note. Back up all your precious data now just in case this is a hard drive problem

Reinstall

If you use the option to reinstall you will lose everything on the partition wher XP is installed.

You can use the CD from another Dell machine as long as you have the legal product key for the problem machine you are installing on. During the reinstall insert the product key belonging to the problem machine.

dunedin · Answer

I`d suspect either overheating or a hard drive problem.   Did you run the Dell Diagnostics to check the hard drive?   Take the side off the case and blow a cool air fan inside.  If it stops the freezing, then you know you have overheating problems.   You should not lose data with either chkdsk /r or fixboot   Can`t you back up to CDs?

Clockwork9 · Answer

Thanks for the reply

I don't have an external HD so i can't backup the data too easily. I've done dskchck before and none of the data got erased, so if i do it again and then do bootfix is there a chance it could erase data? Otherwise i'll do that.

Also, just before the computer freezes the computer makes a beeping noise(not from speakers). I don't know if that will help but it's just pretty weird.

Clockwork9 · Answer

I'm thinking it's a problem with the computer overheating, i've left the case open and it hasn't frozen for a few hours. do i have to take the fan out to clean it or should i just use some compressed air to get as much dust out as i can?

And dell dianostics said whatever it tested passed

Message Edited by Clockwork9 on 04-09-2007 07:11 PM

dunedin · Answer

Just use the compressed air. If that cures it you are laughing   Otherwise you might need to add another fan.

Clockwork9 · Answer

I hope it cures it, the air still feels warm when it comes out of the fan.... and there's no additional fan area.

Windows General

XP Randomly crashes

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