Looking for diagnostic utility

[rdeckert]

I'm looking for a pc diagnostic program that I can use for free. I don't want to pay any money for a crap program. And I especially don't want to download something for free and wish I hadn't. I figured someone here would be able to point me in the right direction. I want something I can run in Safe Mode as my pc won't run any other way. I've already ran spyware and virus scans only to find nothing. I have gotten the blue screen a few times though. So, any help would be great. Thanks.

[awaj]

what was the blue screen error message? also, are there any error messages affiliated with it? What are the specs of the computer? There are a bunch of people here that have knowledge about Blue Screens of deaths. http://www.iobit.com/ has some decent software that may help too.

[PrntRhd]

This is XP Pro?

[rdeckert]

XP Home. It's my girlfriend's pc. I personally would rather use Pro

[PrntRhd]

I am not entirely certain a diagnostic program will find anything, what is the error message?
It could also be a corrupted file or driver issue, need more info.

[rdeckert]

I have absolutely no problems whatsoever booting into Safe Mode. Something has changed though. Before I could sometimes boot normally, and sometimes it would just freeze at the login screen. Even if it would boot, it would still give me the blue screen of death within only a few minutes. Now though, it won't even get past the Windows XP screen while it's booting. Instead of going into the login screen, a blue screen comes up and says

"Stop:c0000218 Unknown Hard Error
Unknown Hard Error"

Is this a hard drive problem? The driver version I am using for my hard drive is "Microsoft 5.1.2535.0". And shouldn't I be able to run defrag while in Safe Mode?...because I can't. I've also ran chkdsk and came up with no bad sectors. Below is a list of the info I could get. If you need anymore info, let me know.

PC: Dell Dimension DIM3000
OS: Windows Xp Home SP2
Processor: Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz
RAM: 512MB

[PrntRhd]

I would start by downloading the HDD diagnostic for her HDD and run it to check the HDD.

[awaj]

Did any new software get added, or did any hardware get replaced or upgraded?

[Sylvander]

"STOP: C0000221 unknown hard error" or "STOP: C0000221 STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH" error message occurs (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314474).

Got HERE (http://www.kayodeok.btinternet.co.uk/favorites/kbasewinxp.htm) at "Stop 0xC0000221 or STATUS_IMAGE_CHECKSUM_MISMATCH" along with some other possible causes.

[rdeckert]

I ran two different HDD Diagnostic tools and came up with zero errors.

I didn't update any software or upgrade any hardware. I uninstalled Avira Antivir. That's the only change that was made. And the error code that I recieved "c0000218" wasn't on that page you showed me Sylvander. I googled what I got and came up with the possible cause being a registry error. I guess I could try reinstalling WinXP or use System Restore if you think they may work. Got any better ideas?

[awaj]

run CCleaner to carefully go through the registry? it's often dangerous to go through and just say fix all, but if you go through one at a time it may help (or just take up time...) at the moment, that's one of the easiest registry cleaners I can think of.

[Sylvander]

According to the stop errors listed at the 2nd linked page...
Relating to Windows XP:
Stop 0xC0000218 = "STATUS_CANNOT_LOAD_REGISTRY_FILE"
And...
STOP C0000221 = "Unknown Hard Error"

There are various suggested causes and fixes.
e.g. How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545).
That seems somewhat complicated using the Recovery Console and DOS commands; I'd be inclined to use a BartPE style disk [I have UBCD4Win made] and a file browser to look at the registry files and manipulate them to effect a repair.

Good idea to make an image of the Windows partition before beginning.

[rdeckert]

tried using the boot cd and it didn't work. So I tried to run Ccleaner which also did not work. I was thinking about trying to upgrade the Xp Home version( which is what this pc is running on) to the Pro version. Does anyone think that might update the registry and fix the problem? Any other ideas? If not, I guess I'll just try to re-install WinXP.

[mjc]

A repair install stands a better chance of 'fixing' the problem than upgrading does.

To do the repair install...

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[Paul Komski]

I tend to agree with mjc but I would also try running chkdsk with the /r switch from a command prompt in Safe Mode (if you didn't already do this) substituting the correct letter for X: below. A reboot is then required.

chkdsk X: /R

You could also try disabling all startup items using msconfig in Safe Mode and see if booting normally then works.

Malware must also be a possibility and one that a repair installation is unlikely to fix.

Yet other things at least worth trying are "Last known good" following F8 and system restore from Safe Mode to some point back in time when things were working.