Big Oroblem with a computer... need ad vice

[CaptainHawk1]

I bought a new computer last week and i was planning on selling my old computer as it still worked fine, it had just outlived its usefulness for my needs.

I relocated my tower and everything from my desk to to the coffee table so I could work on transferring all of my files from the old computer to my new one. I was doing it rather inefficiently at first using CD's and DVD's but what started happening was I started getting the dreaded BSOD (Bad Pool Header message). And it happened randomly 3 times, only once when I was actually burning. Let me say that since I changed the mobo 2 years ago, I have never gotten a BSOD. It's been slow as a mofo for a while but it's never done this.

Moving along...

After having more than half of my burns on my DVD-RW drive fail (they either failed or Nero said they were good and then when I put them in the new drive and they were dead), I came to the conclusion that the drive was on its last legs and that didn't really surprise me as it's 4 years old and I have burned a shitload of movies over the 4 years.

So, eventually I just started using my flash drive for the transfers and while I was manipulating files so I could fit them on tho the drive while other files wee being transferred to it, I got the BSOD again.

After finally getting all of my files done, I went to do a clean erase and reinstall of XP tonight and the weirdest shit is happening. When I boot from the disk it starts to fire up and get all of those initial files and then suddenly powers off. I mean no warning, just a complete shutdown. This happens every time.

I tried disconnecting the bad optical drive and using the combo drive instead (I didn't know what that would have to do with it but I know that the DVD-RW is bad) and I pulled the graphics card. The only time I've ever experienced this before is when a CPU overheated and the system shut down to protect itself and I've seen it happen by having a heavy discharge of static from my body. But those incidents happened 4 years ago, and happened when I had the original configurations and hardware. All of my fans are working fine.

The computer was a Dell Dimension 2400 but the only things left on it that are OEM are the fans and the case (and the CPU). The rest is all aftermarket.

Specs:

Mobo: MSI, nothing special. 3 PCI's/1 AGP P4 board 2 years old
PC 2700 DDR 1.5 GB RAM (1GB/512 MB running fine)
CPU: P4 2.66 GHz 4 years old
Power Supply: 450 or 500 Watts, can't remember. I had to upgrade it to accommodate my Graphics Card 1year old
Graphics Card: (now pulled) Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS 1 year old
HDD: 250 GB Maxtor IDE (Hard Drive fine, ran a test on it using HD Health, it's in perfect condition) 2 years old.

I've broken down and built back up a ton of computers and I can usually figure what the problem is pretty quickly but I'm flippin' baffled by this. This thing hasn't given me problems since I changed the mobo. I mean, shit, all I'm doing here is trying to do a clean install of XP.

Any ideas?

-Shawn

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Well, of course the phantom left the moment after I posted this and XP is currently formatting the new partition on the HDD with no problems as of yet (and it's been going for 20 minutes now).

Still, who knows when the phantom could rear its ugly head again and any opinions would still be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Shawn

 

[CaptainHawk1]

Update: All's mysteriously well. XP installed fine, all updates or proceeding as planned.

I'm still curious as to why this problem happened, though.

-Shawn

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I can't answer why, but your best bet was to pull the old hd out of the old computer, put in as a secondary drive in your new computer, and transfer the files fast and easy that way.

Often if a drive won't boot, you can still read files off of it fine, for a while anyway.

You don't have to install it completely, ie screw it into a slot, just hook up the power and data cable and let it stay on the table top next to your new computer.

 

[CaptainHawk1]

The problem was never the drive but you're absolutely right, I should have just attempted to connect the old drive to the new computer (which I've done before) but I simply didn't want to go through all the hassle of opening the new case and I was concerned about the IDE interface because the new computer has a SATA II HDD and I have no idea if the new mobo even has an IDE interface.

I just got lazy is all on that.

The real issue is this bizarre pwering off of the computer. It was literally like the plug was pulled every time.

-Shawn

 

[farmkid]

Something may have shaken loose (expansion card, PSU connector, etc.) when you moved the computer from the desk to the coffee table. Then, when you were messing with it, you reseated whatever was loose and fixed the problem. Or maybe it's Murphy's law of automotive repair being applied to computers.