Internet Explorer 6 Error Messages - HELP PLEASE!

[drsletmedown]

I don't claim to be a computer guru but I have built several computers & this is a first.  I have a friends older computer I am trying to upgrade.  Pentium 11, 400 Mhz, 20 Gig H.D. 320 MB. Ram.  I reformatted it several times. I did full & complete installs everytime not upgrades.  I have put ME, 2000 Pro, XP Pro & everyone of them does the same thing. They all get variations of this error message.  Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close.  We are sorry for the inconvenience.

AppName: iexplore.exe       AppVer: 6.0.2900.2180       ModName: mshtml.dll
ModVer: 6.0.2900.2802       Offset: 000df830

The dll's, sys, exe etc at the end vary & change.
I have tried everything & spent two days on the phone with Microsoft & tried all kinds of patches & fixes & downloads.  Before I ever got online with each O/S I tried I installed Spybot, Adaware & Avast virus protection & immediately updated them all & got all win updates.  Is does it with other versions of explorer as well 5.0, Firefox etc.  It does it before & after getting win updates & all scans come back clean.  I'm at the point I think it's the computer but what would it be ?  It runs fine it's just an online thing & sometimes I can check e-mail & surf a little before it happens & other times it happens as soon as you try to go to a website or check e-mail.  I tried running sfc /scannow & it said cross linked on allocation .sys,.dll,.exe, etc & lots of things kept running across the screen & it uses your original installation disk I suppose to retrieve & repair it but it does not fix the problem.  While running this the computer shuts down & reboots & says One Of Your Disks Needs To Be Checked For Consistency then reboots ? ANY IDEAS ? It's making me crazy.  I don't have sound or video drivers for this computer & for some reason XP does not even acknowledge there is a sound card in it but win 2000 does.  With XP no speaker icon or sound Win 2000 it does ?  I thought about putting Win 98SE in it but I need sound & video drivers & I don't know how or where to get them.  I looked a little online & the so called driver sites just made you look at ads & then downloaded stuff that did not work or redirected you to porn sites.
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on what it might be or what the fix might be.

[Fed]

While running this the computer shuts down & reboots & says One Of Your Disks Needs To Be Checked For Consistency then reboots ?

I'd start with a HD diagnostics check, this would be the second one today, they say these things come in threes.

[drsletmedown]

I used Seagates online hard drive checker & it was ok.
Then I did their file system check & this was the result ?
I don't really know what it means or how to fix it ?
Like I said everytime I did a reformat & started clean with a full install & it never showed the install failed ?
What's crazy is while I was doing these checks was the longest amount of time I have been able to be online without getting the Explorer error message ?

Results for volume C:  
 
Volume Label:
Volume Size: 20.01 GB
Some files on the volume are open.  This may effect the accuracy of the file system check and result in false errors.
 
The file system contains errors that need to be repaired.

[Fed]

Run chkdsk from a command prompt, see what it shows up.

[drsletmedown]

I ran it this morning & it checked out fine although the Explorer errors were still popping up when I was trying to open Yahoo e-mail.
? Anything else hardware wise that could cause this ?

[Fed]

You could test your RAM with memtest86.
The consistancy error can be generated because of the incorrect shutdown so there may be nothing wrong with your HD.

[drsletmedown]

THANK YOU FED! I can't believe after a month of frustration, asking everyone that should know on computer junkie websites & Fry's Electronics so called A+ certified techs. including 2 days of wasted time & updates with Microsofts techs. & everyone saying VIRUS! YOU HIT IT ON THE HEAD.  BAD RAM!  I ran the test, isolated the 1 bad stick & everything is fine now. THANK YOU Sooooooooooooooo MUCH!  I have also had similar problems with my brand new P4 3 Gig - 1 gig ram that I built frm scratch.  It just does not happen all the time.  I tested the ram & boom same thing it's a matched pair of Kingston 2 - 512 mb stcks that came together as a set. I tried them 1 at a time in each slot & one has errors.  I will definately check ram from now on anytime there is an Internet Explorer error in the future.

Thank again.

[Fed]

Your RAM may still be OK, it could just need re-seating.
Use a bit of trial & error, one stick at at time.