Major Ouch

Question

After installing RAM (seemingly successfully) I was running a game which crashed. When I tried to restart the game I was informed by Windows that one of the system files was missing. So I shut down and restarted my PC.   On restarting, my PC went straight into CheckDisk due to a 'dirty volume' - unfortunately it froze at 30% of Stage 2 and on restarting it froze at the same spot over and over.   I tried booting from the reinstallation CD which gets as far as 'Starting Windows' before I get a STOP error 'Unknown Hard Error \systemRoot\system32
tdll.dll'   I can't get past CheckDisk as there are no options available and I can't use the CD boot up. This isn't the first time I've installed RAM but I have returned all the hardware back to how it was 'out of the box'.   I've emailed Dell but haven't had a reply yet - anyone else got any advice please?   Dave

ejn63 · Answer

Remove the new RAM - does the system operate normally?

rickmktg · Answer

@japhakayk wrote:

Yeah, as I said, everything is now as it was when it came out of the box - all new RAM and periphs have been removed. Still nothing.

Its a Dimension 2800 - 9mths old

Since there is no Dimension 2800, I assume you mean a 2400?

Regardless, try Symantec PC Restore - CTRL F11 on bootup ASSUMING you have all your data backed up.

japhakayk · Answer

Yeah, as I said, everything is now as it was when it came out of the box - all new RAM and periphs have been removed. Still nothing. Its a Dimension 2800 - 9mths old

ejn63 · Answer

It could be any number of things ranging from a corrupted file due to faulty RAM, or a failing hard drive.

If you need to back up and can't boot into Windows, remove the drive and place it into a working system as a secondary. Copy your data to that system's boot drive.

Then return the drive to the existing system, run the Dell diagnostics on the drive (F12 at boot). If it passes, you can try a repair install of Windows, or reformat and reinstall from scratch.

japhakayk · Answer

Ok well I'm going to give it a go - thanks for your help guys - much appreciated!!

ejn63 · Answer

If the data is important, back it up somehow - you can buy a 160G drive for $50-60 this week at Circuit CIty or Best Buy. If you have to, use it to do the reinstall, and then back up your data.

japhakayk · Answer

The software packed with the PC has the Windows software on the reinstallation CD and it doesn't give me an option to run a repair install of Windows.   Do I need the specific Windows XP software? Should I HAVE it? Again, is there a way or running this other than boot from CD and letting it run through and hitting that STOP error?   I don't really have the option of using a second system as I have no HD space on the other system for doing a back up.

japhakayk · Answer

Sorry yeah, Dimension 2400

If there's away of NOT doing a system restore I would be a happy chappy - I haven't done a back up in a few months unfortunately and I could do with holding onto my most recent stuff.

Is there any way around CheckDisk or is the restore my only option?

Am I right in thinking the dll file in question is corrupted and therefore my problem or is there something else?

Storage, Drives & Media

Major Ouch

Was this post helpful?