Win2k "hard error"

CompKid4 · 11-13-2005, 08:33 PM

i consider myself a computer savy kind of guy, but i recently have had some problems that i have no idea about.
i was running windows 2k pro and i kept getting a bunch of messages that said "an error log is being created" and it was effecting my music player (real player if it makes a difference) and finally today it said something like "cannot continue playback, sound drivers are being used by another program", and wouldn't play any songs. i had no other programs running, and there were only the bare minimum processes running. i then restarted my computer thinking it would fix itself somehow. before any color came up during the boot-up process (still in dos in other words) the screen turned blue and gave me a "hard error" message and said there was something wrong with the file wnntdll.dll and a whole bunch of other stuff about what i should do, such as booting in safe mode, which i tried, and it gave me a big list of (corrupt?) files, mostly system files, when it booted up, but then gave me the same hard error message after. i also tried booting in "debugging mode", still the same thing.
i then preceded to wipe the hard drive thinking that it would help if i re-intalled windows, nothing, it gave me the same message before it finished installing, it would finish the dos portion of the installation, but it wouldn't go any further. this has happened on two of my computers and i'm almost positive it's not a virus.
i would like as much input as i can get, i really need help with this.

-CompKid

Chevy · 11-13-2005, 11:49 PM

Possibilities:

- Faulty hard drive ... Download the diagnostics from the manufacturer's website and see what they say

- Bad ram ... Download memtest86, use the download to create a floppy (just run it), and boot to it. Let it run for an hour or so and see if any errors come up.

- Scrambled data being written due to a faulty or overheating processor

~~whodat~~ · 11-14-2005, 02:55 AM

Quote:

this has happened on two of my computers and i'm almost positive it's not a virus.

what do those 2 computers have in common? the same operating system/disk?

make sure you take chevy's advise and check the memory sticks 1 at a time with memtest.

what antivirus/spy programs do you have installed? and on the other affected machine?

post back

11-13-2005, 08:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
CompKid4 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1 OS: Windows 2k Pro	Win2k "hard error" i consider myself a computer savy kind of guy, but i recently have had some problems that i have no idea about. i was running windows 2k pro and i kept getting a bunch of messages that said "an error log is being created" and it was effecting my music player (real player if it makes a difference) and finally today it said something like "cannot continue playback, sound drivers are being used by another program", and wouldn't play any songs. i had no other programs running, and there were only the bare minimum processes running. i then restarted my computer thinking it would fix itself somehow. before any color came up during the boot-up process (still in dos in other words) the screen turned blue and gave me a "hard error" message and said there was something wrong with the file wnntdll.dll and a whole bunch of other stuff about what i should do, such as booting in safe mode, which i tried, and it gave me a big list of (corrupt?) files, mostly system files, when it booted up, but then gave me the same hard error message after. i also tried booting in "debugging mode", still the same thing. i then preceded to wipe the hard drive thinking that it would help if i re-intalled windows, nothing, it gave me the same message before it finished installing, it would finish the dos portion of the installation, but it wouldn't go any further. this has happened on two of my computers and i'm almost positive it's not a virus. i would like as much input as i can get, i really need help with this. -CompKid

11-13-2005, 11:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chevy Semi-Retired Manager, Microsoft Support Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Notlob Posts: 5,161 OS: Vista Ultimate My System	Possibilities: - Faulty hard drive ... Download the diagnostics from the manufacturer's website and see what they say - Bad ram ... Download memtest86, use the download to create a floppy (just run it), and boot to it. Let it run for an hour or so and see if any errors come up. - Scrambled data being written due to a faulty or overheating processor __________________ “My philosophy, like color television, is all there in black and white” -M. Python