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when do you scrap a winxp install?
My motherboard died recently, complete with visually obvious capacitor bulging and a weird burning odor. I've replaced the motherboard with a nearly identical one a friend offered which had been running rock solid when used and doesn't have any visible damage. However, when I tried to re-activate windows XP (forced as a result of the hardware change) the internet activation failed directing me to use the phone number which resulted in being transferred to somebody to manually complete the activation which resulted in them telling me that the numbers that windows xp was displaying for me to give them were invalid. They had me generate a new number which also was said to be invalid.
I was directed to technical services with a case number to resolve the issue. I had to wait until the next day because technical support hours had ended. The next day the problem got weirder as I was greeted at my log in attempt for activation with 4 pop up error messages stating that certain files could not be 'validated' "probably because of a missing root certificate" before I had even clicked the first option in the activation process. The technical service rep was able to wlk me through an activation using numbers generated at their end somehow from the numbers I had recorded in the previous attempts and the original product certification number. The tech then advised me at the end of the call that I should back up all my files, format my hardisk and reinstall windows xp from scratch on a totally clean harddisk because he said a pre-existing windows XP installation was not usually stable after such a "major" hardware change.
I didn't like that idea at all so I waited to see just how unstable it would be. The system at first was grossly unstable but removing a long suspect memory stick (suspect because it was the one that had been in not one but twosystems at those systems times of death) allowed the system to run for hours without crashing and removed a constantly repeating video artifact that had appeared in various games I tested after the reactivation.
Now everything seems stable in games but when booting up the system refuses to post about a third of the time (especially the first boot up after a crash) and my cable modem connection gives me cannot find page errors about a third of the time I go to a web page even though when it does reach a page it loads as fast as ever. The system now only crashes when web activity is occuring but the web activity doesnt even have to be very intense.
Can I assume that I need to reinstall windows to troubleshoot this problem or could it be that the mainboard failure has somehow damaged the other components such as my netcard?
What should I do to troubleshoot such an intermittant problem before taking the drastic reinstallation advice? Given the hit or miss internet connectivity (which blocks windows update at least half the time from even checking) I don't see how I could be sure of being able to properly update windows back to post service pack 2 status after a reionstall.
I was directed to technical services with a case number to resolve the issue. I had to wait until the next day because technical support hours had ended. The next day the problem got weirder as I was greeted at my log in attempt for activation with 4 pop up error messages stating that certain files could not be 'validated' "probably because of a missing root certificate" before I had even clicked the first option in the activation process. The technical service rep was able to wlk me through an activation using numbers generated at their end somehow from the numbers I had recorded in the previous attempts and the original product certification number. The tech then advised me at the end of the call that I should back up all my files, format my hardisk and reinstall windows xp from scratch on a totally clean harddisk because he said a pre-existing windows XP installation was not usually stable after such a "major" hardware change.
I didn't like that idea at all so I waited to see just how unstable it would be. The system at first was grossly unstable but removing a long suspect memory stick (suspect because it was the one that had been in not one but twosystems at those systems times of death) allowed the system to run for hours without crashing and removed a constantly repeating video artifact that had appeared in various games I tested after the reactivation.
Now everything seems stable in games but when booting up the system refuses to post about a third of the time (especially the first boot up after a crash) and my cable modem connection gives me cannot find page errors about a third of the time I go to a web page even though when it does reach a page it loads as fast as ever. The system now only crashes when web activity is occuring but the web activity doesnt even have to be very intense.
Can I assume that I need to reinstall windows to troubleshoot this problem or could it be that the mainboard failure has somehow damaged the other components such as my netcard?
What should I do to troubleshoot such an intermittant problem before taking the drastic reinstallation advice? Given the hit or miss internet connectivity (which blocks windows update at least half the time from even checking) I don't see how I could be sure of being able to properly update windows back to post service pack 2 status after a reionstall.
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