The Ultimate Computer Problem~

[VexSilver]

Computer OS: Xp
Main Problem: BOOTMGR is missing + Blue screens like no tomorrow.
Another Problem: Computer has 2 fans. 1 fans works perfectly, the other one makes a lot of noise like it's working super hard.

Something to know:  I wiped out the harddrive using another computer to do it. So I pretty much have a very clean harddrive in it now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please Please bare with me. 

First time posting on this forum about my problem so I'll just give all the information I can. 

Ok *takes a deep breath* I have a broken computer, and by broken I mean 5 years ago it started giving me these weird error boxes when I'd start the computer up.  Now I don't remember what they said, but I'm sure those where major registry errors.

After some time I noticed my fan would start blowing hard. If you can imagine it starting low, then getting slightly higher and higher until you’d think it'd blow up.  Occasionally the computer would just blue screen saying something was wrong and your computer will now be shut down, but the computer would all in all still work.

Ok.  After while again the computer just decided not to turn on.  I guess I had a lot of viruses on it even though I had virus software on it. When I'd boot the computer up it'd say "Missing BOOTMGR".  Now I had no idea what that was. 

I figured this: Maybe if I could find some XP disk, I could just...reinstall windows right?  Well I tried it.  I ran the disk from the boot up (keep in mind I cannot reach the OS itself at this point only the boot up screen) and it would say starting disk.  Well I'd see the installation screen for XP and I thought I was home free, but I was wrong.

Blue Screen!  No matter what, after I get to a certain point of doing anything past the beginning boot screen (for example trying to install a new OS) it would just blue screen at random points.  Yup not just at one specific area, but at random points it'd just randomly blue screen.  Heck I almost got to the end of the XP installation, but it blue screen on me and well..I was a sad panda.

So I was wondering.  What could the overall problem be? 

I took the computer apart and look at it, but I am not the hardware type so I really have no idea what I'm looking at besides the ram and mother board.  I have this feeling.  That computer is still runable, but my knowledge is the only thing keeping me from getting it to work. 

So doctors.  Now that you've all heard my story.  What is the diagnosis? 

[BC_Programmer]

What did/does the bluescreen say? particularly the STOP code and any file reference it gives would be helpful.

5 years ago it started giving me these weird error boxes when I'd start the computer up.  Now I don't remember what they said, but I'm sure those where major registry errors.

No. Probably malware. Possibly not even real "errors". (There is no such thing as a Registry "error" anyway)

After some time I noticed my fan would start blowing hard. If you can imagine it starting low, then getting slightly higher and higher until you’d think it'd blow up.  Occasionally the computer would just blue screen saying something was wrong and your computer will now be shut down, but the computer would all in all still work.

CPU was taxed. Also likely due to an infection.

I guess I had a lot of viruses on it even though I had virus software on it.

Given the last two symptoms, it sounds like it was absolutely loaded with malware.

When I'd boot the computer up it'd say "Missing BOOTMGR".  Now I had no idea what that was. 

That's indeed strange since BOOTMGR is the windows Vista/7 boot loader. Missing NTLDR would be the equivalent XP error.

Blue Screen!  No matter what, after I get to a certain point of doing anything past the beginning boot screen (for example trying to install a new OS) it would just blue screen at random points.  Yup not just at one specific area, but at random points it'd just randomly blue screen.  Heck I almost got to the end of the XP installation, but it blue screen on me and well..I was a sad panda.

saying it "blue screens" tells us very little. The blue screen isn't in and of itself a diagnostic tool, what the blue screen says (particularly the STOP code and any referenced drivers) is far more important then simply saying it blue screened.

[JJ 3000]

1 fans works perfectly, the other one makes a lot of noise like it's working super hard.

The fan that makes the noise, is it the one close to where the power cord plugs in?

Something to know:  I wiped out the harddrive using another computer to do it. So I pretty much have a very clean harddrive in it now.

What does this mean? Did you install windows? Is it just a blank hard drive now?

[VexSilver]

saying it "blue screens" tells us very little. The blue screen isn't in and of itself a diagnostic tool, what the blue screen says (particularly the STOP code and any referenced drivers) is far more important then simply saying it blue screened.

Well thats neat to know, but I'm gonna have to wait till tomorrow so I can see that since I don't have my keyboard with me. Yes I know it was prolly full with viruses or this "malware" stuff i know nothing about.

What does this mean? Did you install windows? Is it just a blank hard drive now?

It means I took it and said format. It's wiped clean with nothing on it.  See I thought if I cleaned it out completly it'd take that blue screen away seeing it was practically dead anyways.

So if finding something wrong with the computer depends on that error type from the blue screen then I'ma be trying that out tomorrow when I can get my keyboard back.

[JJ 3000]

When was the last time you cleaned your computer out with a can of compressed air?

The fan that makes the noise, is it the one close to where the power cord plugs in?

[Allan]

Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next reply

[BC_Programmer]

Download BlueScreenView:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
unzip downloaded file and double click on BlueScreenView.exe to run the program.
when scanning is done, go to EDIT - Select All
Go to FILE - SAVE Selected Items, and save the report as BSOD.txt
Open BSOD.txt in Notepad, copy all of the content, and paste it into your next reply

The computer has a wiped harddrive, and the bluescreens occur during setup...

[Allan]

oops

[Geek-9pm]

The may help. On maybe not. Useful reference. You Tube Video.
Fixing BOOTMGR is missing Error While Trying to Boot Windows Vista

[VexSilver]

Ok I'ma add on some more stuff.  You guys know a whole heck of alot more than I do so I'ma just post what I am seeing.

Yes Harddrive is clean.  It has nothing on it as of right now.  Ok here is what I see.

When I start up I get the normal Press Del for the setup and f9 for Xpress recovery.

Ok I am capable of pressing those and having it go to either one.  Now lets say I don't press it and I let it continue. It says this.
-----------------
Verifying DMI Pool Data .........................
Boot from CD:
Press any key to boot from CD........
BOOTMRG is missing
Press Ctrl +Alt+Del to restart.
-----------------

Edit*

Ok if I have my XP cd in there and I press to Boot from CD it'll take me to Windows Setup and hang up there.

Sometimes It says it's doing stuff like "Setup is loading files" and then other times it'll just hand up and like...just freeze.
-----

If i do sucessfully get past that it tells me "The File aic78u2.sys is corrupted" Press any key to continue.  Then it'll just say setup failed. Press any key to restart your computer.


I'ma fiddle with this and see if i can get that error to pop up.

*Edit again.

Now it is saying INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 13.  Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

Edit

The file dac2w2k.sys is corrupted. Press any key to continue.




Oh to answer that question about where my power plug is,  It looks like it plugs directly into the back of where that fan was that was sounding like it was going to explode. 

[JJ 3000]

Try cleaning the CD. If that doesn't work try a known good CD drive. Also, you should clean all of the dust out of your computer with a can of compressed air. Give that little box where the power cord plugs in extra attention while you are cleaning.

[Geek-9pm]

Also, some more history about this computer.
How old is it?
Are you original owner.
Original components?
Motherboard model or Make and model of then whole system?
More that one Hard Drive?
How big is the hard drive? One partition?
Did it ever have another OS on it? (Some OS will leave some drives in mess that XP can not handle. Rare? Yes.)

[VexSilver]

Also, some more history about this computer.
How old is it?
Are you original owner.
Original components?
Motherboard model or Make and model of then whole system?
More that one Hard Drive?
How big is the hard drive? One partition?
Did it ever have another OS on it? (Some OS will leave some drives in mess that XP can not handle. Rare? Yes.)

Ok.  The computer was made from spare parts about 6 years ago by some guy my dad knows.  The hard drive was really small...less than 100 megs I wanna say.  I remember not having much space on it at all for playing around with and the only OS on it was XP.

About cleaning it.  Yea I kept it pretty clean.  Seeing we got free air cans I'd always blow this out at least once a week.
--------

Here is a question though.

I remember having a completely new harddrive in one of my old school classes and installing it in a computer...sorta like mine.  I booted from the disk and that whole thing about setting up partitions came up,which we did, and then simply installed it.  On this computer though, even though this harddrive is cleaned, it's still giving me bookoos of "This item is missing".  Does that mean there is something wrong with the hardware itself?

Could I be getting these "missing" errors because something came unplugged?

[Geek-9pm]

No. The clue is BOOTMGR is not an XP vocabulary item
Quick answer. Try another Hard drive. The problem will go away or I will eat crow. Trust me on this.   
Alternate answer. Get a copy of GPARTED. It is a bookable CD. Use it to delete any and all partitions. Then create a new partition that uses only 7GB of the drive.Format it as NTFS. And mark the partition active and MSDOS type.

Unless the XP CD has been damaged, that should solve the problem.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

[BC_Programmer]

Judging from the completely random nature of the setup errors, and the fact that those errors are with reading the files from the disk, either the disk is scratched/damaged (doubt it, it would probably error out on the same file every time) or some of the RAM has failed. best way to check RAM would be to burn and use memtest (http://www.memtest86.com/).

for ISO burning I recommend IMGBurn.