Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read the post.

Now for some background... my system details are below in my signature. As you can see the system is on its last legs and am trying to keep it alive till SATA6 / USB3 / i9.

I was running XP Home for several yrs, but with BSOD increasingly common. Finally one day I start getting the 'NTLDR file is missing' during my boot phase. After some research and trying to copy NTLDR and NTDETECT over I still cant resolve. However I get my hands on a boot disk of sorts that gets me into XP. But anytime I try to do anything like moving my data out in preparation for an XP reinstall i get BSOD. Having then tested my ram, I chuck out some sticks and replace. Have tested the HDD's on SpeedFan. The older Seagate has a 'fitness level of 7%'. Is this one cause of the BSOD?

Unable to do anything I partition and load up Win7 Ultimate 64bit. Even though I am running at 1.5gb ram for a 2gb ram min requirement, Win7 is very stable and all fine.

Any idea why Win7 is ok, but XP all clanged? Should I just go ahead and reinstall XP anyway?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

quote

The older Seagate has a 'fitness level of 7%'. Is this one cause of the BSOD?

it might be, but we need the actual BSOD code. that is the line beginning with STOP. also, if there is an error message at the top that looks LIKE_THIS, include that, and if there is a file mentioned at the bottom, post that too.

are both operating systems on the same drive? if not, then the hard drive that XP on is a probably cause.

Without the BSOD code, we can only guess. but this sounds like you might have had bad drivers that cause a problem with your XP OS. However when you loaded up 7, the new drivers are running stable.

Msg I get is as follows:

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
STOP:0x0000009C (0x00000004, 0x805515F0, 0xB2000000, 0x00070F0F)

Now I know this is pointing me towards a hardware error of sorts, but how do I find out whats wrong? I dont have a replacement PC to swap HDD's / Mobos to test. Also, if the hardware was the problem why is Win7 stable (so far)

Thanks

Here's something on your error.

Microsoft's take

Sorry for the double post, but I wasnt sure if this is worthy of another separate thread or not, but it could be related to the probs I am having.

I had 4x512 DDR1 ram sticks. As I mentioned, I found a fault with 2 of them and chucked. Replaced with a 1gb stick (slightly diff timings, but same otherwise). However now all I can get is 2 sticks to work together, either the 1gb + either of the 512's or the pair of 512's, but not all 3. Dont understand this as I hoped that the pair I had earlier (in the same coloured slots) + 1gb would get me back to my original 2gb ram.

Thanks for the help

if your mobo's max memory capacity is 4gb, and it has 4 slots, then one slot can hold only upto 512mb of memory.

quote Saransh Comsole

if your mobo's max memory capacity is 4gb, and it has 4 slots, then one slot can hold only upto 512mb of memory.

it does have 4 slots (in 2 pairs), and the max mobo capacity on the website is 4gb, so thats 1gb in each slot. besides my 1gb stick IS working, just cant get it to combine with 2x512's.

Thanks

quote sarang

it does have 4 slots (in 2 pairs), and the max mobo capacity on the website is 4gb, so thats 1gb in each slot. besides my 1gb stick IS working, just cant get it to combine with 2x512's.

Thanks

oh sorry for the miscalculation i was feeling a little sleepy...

yeah, mismatches can happen, some sticks just refuse to run with specific ones. I have experienced this myself. I had to swap to both identical sticks bought at once to make them run easily.

Thanks.

I'll put this down to random mis-match. Now for the next experiment... lets see how long Win7 ultimate runs on 1.5gb ram without crashing!!

windows 7 should have no problems with running on that much RAM. windows 7 uses less system resources than vista. hell i have no problems running windows 7 on 768 megs of RAM (back when i tried the RC).