Help! Is my hardware to blame???

AngryD · Cadet Joined: May 13, 2004 Posts: 6 Location: USA

I have a very frustrating problem that I hope someone can help with:

I recently built a new system (last week, to be exact). First, here are the specs:
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2
PS: Kingwin KWI-450WS, 450 Watts
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton" (400 FSB) (bought OEM)
CPU HEATSINK: Thermalright SLK900A Copper Heatsink for AMD: Athlon XP Palamino, Thoroughbred, and Barton 2800+ and up
CPU FAN: Zalman ZM-F1, 80mm Case fan with Quiet Mode Adapter
VIDEO: ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB
SOUND: Creative Audigy ZS SB0350
MEMORY: Crucial 512MB (2x256), 184 Pin DDR PC-3200 4T (bought OEM)
HDD: Samsung SP1614C Serial-ATA, 160GB, 8MB, 7200RPM (bought OEM)
FDD: Sony MPF920, 1.44MB (bought OEM)
OPTICAL: Samsung DVD/CD-RW combo SM-352NENB (bought OEM)
Plenty of case fans (an 80mm intake in front of HDD, a 120mm rear exhaust, and a smaller exhaust one on the side of the case).
Windows 2000 Pro OS

Here is the problem: It was running fine for a while. No problems at all. I even left it on for extended periods to see if it could handle the heat, etc. No problems. I should mention that this PC is plugged into one of those outlets that is hooked up to a switch (The kind that you can plug lamps into so you don't have to switch them on...). I know it should not have been but it was convienent for building/testing. I was going to move it...really I was. Embarassed

Yesterday, I left to go out and I left the computer running. When I came home, it was no longer running. Either I inadvertantly switched of the switch as I left the room or my wife did while I was gone. I booted up the PC and as Windows was booting, I got the BSOD that said my registry was hosed and then it kept rebooting. The exact error was:

STOP: c0000218 {Registry File Failure}
The registry cannot load the hive
\SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE
or its log or alternate.
It is corrupt, absent, or not writable.

Beginning dump of physical memory
Dumping physical memory to disk: __%

Okay, so I am going to have to reinstall Windows...ho hum. It sucks but oh well. Dumbass that I am, I never got around to making an Emergency Disk. I won't make that mistake again.

SO HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS:
I have done some web research and see that this could be a hardware issue. So how can I determine if any of my new hardware is bad? For example, how exactly does one check to see if their new OEM HDD is crap? Or the motherboard? I downloaded a small program that checks the RAM and it ran all last night with no problems so I think I can eliminate that.

I have also heard that this could have been a Windows or CMOS setting. Still it seems weird that a loss of power would have caused such a hose to the system. Even Windows 98 will go into scandisk if it gets shut off incorrectly. So what kind of Windows settings should I be looking out for (if this is even the problem)? I have read that something about "Write Cache Enabled"?

Also, if anyone knows any way that I can get my old registry restored, that would be great. I already did the repair using console and restored the original SOFTWARE hive and then booted into WIndows. That worked but it created a new admin account and I am going to have to reinstall all of my software (And who knows what unseen problems now lurk).

Thanks in advance. Sorry I rambled but the more details you have, the better...


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