// STATS 2200 Mhz 2048 MB Ram HP Pavilion dv5000 XP Pro (Single Boot) // PROBLEM My computer crashed during use. My wife says Firefox was the only thing she was using. "She did nothing abnormal." It simply crashed and rebooted. Since then, the computer is stuck in a never ending reboot loop. // BOOT OPTIONS [Start Windows Normally] The splash screen is shown for a second, the computer blue screens for half a second, and then the system reboots. I recorded the blue screen flash and got a screen shot. The technical info I get is as follows (hard to read, but here's the gist): *** STOP: 0x0000007g (....) *** sptd.sys - Address F72D7784 base at F7206000.... blah [Last Known Good Config...] Same issue. [Safe Mode (all three)] Hangs on sptd.sys for a bit and blue screens. Give me an option to ESC but that does nothing. Still reboots. I believe sptd.sys has something to do with a program I use called daemon tools. I have had it a year though. Not sure why there is a problem now. // SOLUTION ATTEMPTS [OS CD] It attempts to boot but then crashes during loading. Tech info: *** STOP: 0x0000007F (0x0000000D, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) [Another OS CD] Same deal. Slightly different address. [Recovery Disk I made on purchase of PC] Blue screen again except I get a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA [Many DOS boot disks] Useless because I forgot you can't see NTFS in Dos... *sighs* [MEMTest86 3.2 ISO] Well, I let the thing scan and it generated MILLIONS of errors during the RAM test. There is a good chance the RAM has gone bad. I am trying to get ahold of my warrenty people, but you know how that works... [Ubuntu Linux Live CD's I have laying around] I thought maybe I could mount the drive and rename the file... but no. The 32 abd 64 bit versions won't boot anymore! CRC Error! Agh... [XP Boot disks I made] I even put CMDCONS necessary for recovery console, but it didn't work... I will try this again later. [Hiren's BootCD] Haven't tried it yet. Going to tomorrow. // THE BEG AND PLEA Does anyone know how in tarnations I can get to recovery console! For the love of pete, nothing seems to work. I want to rename that sys file that I believe is causing issue. I don't care how I can access it. I just need to get on this system ASAP. During my recent move (I am using my computer on boxes right now... not a desk), I neglected to continue my backups. It's been a bit and I really need to get my info. I can't even pay my bills. lol. Thanks for anything and everything friends! Esteban Francisco

if you're getting a crc error with ubuntu it is most likely a memory issue (memtest86 is checking the memory at each boot)). have you tested your ram modules separately? Today's subliminal thought is: 'Calm down ... it's only ones and zeros.' icq 10183575

I haven't test them yet. When I get home tonight, I am going to test them separately. I hope there are two. *grin*

I removed the first memory module and my system boots now. Getting my warranty honored to replace the memory is the other trick. I have to send my computer away for three weeks just to replace a module... *sighs* Anyway, does anyone know what causes memory to go bad like this? In the past I had some ram go bad also and I am curious if this is purely hardware or whether some software can cause some sort of corruption. Esteban

Well, in the last week, while my system was working (with half the ram now), I was trying to consolidate and clean off my external hard drive so I could ghost/backup my machine and send it off so they can give me new ram. Guess what? That's right, my other module seems to have failed. Is that even possible? Both in such close proximity? I have been using Hiren's BootCD 8.6 all day trying to find a way to ghost/backup my machine so i can just send the thing to get repaired. Guess what? The memory module seems to be causing crc-failure errors even with these programs! I can't get any of the ghosting or backing up software to work. I CAN get file managers to work with my NTFS partition as well as my external USB mass storage. However, that is painfully slow. DOS based file managers take 100 times longer than anything to copy information. Just copying 30 MB took several hours. I have about 20 GB I want to save! Anybody have any advice? I can't avoid the CRC failures. No ghost/backup software from Hiren's BootCD 8.6 works. I have used the first memory module to see if that one was actually good... it wasn't. I switched the memory to different slots and that still didn't work. I am pretty sure they are both bad (don't know how that's possible) which leaves me in a deep rut. Thanks for any help! Esteban

As of now, the computer is on it's way to replace the RAM and also fix two other common and known issues. Yippie. I hate when I invest in something that turns out being a problem child. All well, at least I was able to back up my info and I still have my wife's PC I can use. Survey: In your opinion, what's the best and most cost effective backup solution? Currently, I have an external hard drive that I backup to. What software do you recommend investing in? Esteban