HELP! Big PC problems

[Guest James]

Hi Guys, hope someone can help me get to the bottom of this problem i am am having..

Had some problem with my BIOS where i was flashing a new version and the PC reset itself!! so i then had to flash the BIOS from a a DOS boot disk... done ( i believe corectly)

NOW, here is the problem, i am not sure i have set the BIOS back up correctly...

1. First it would not start. (Fixed be enabling RAID in the BIOS)

but i am not sure i have done it correctly, because although the PC is running fine, I cant download files without them being corrupted!

any clues where to start looking?

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Is this any files you try to download and in what way are they corrupted?

[Guest James]

its mostly all files.... big ones more than small ones.

windows tries to install them but says they are corupted, if i download at work then install them its fine (except java)

[Guest genaldar]

Do you have a lan? If so does it happen on files you transfer from other local computers?

If yes it could be a problem with the hard drive caused by the aborted flash (raids can be touchy). If local transfers aren't a problem then it could be an internet issue. If you don't have a lan try copy files from a cd or dvd.

If you have errors then my guess is one of the hard drives (or the cable). I'd suggest running HDTune (it's free) and running an error scan and checking the health tab.

Of course if local transfers fail but cd transfers work it could be your lan port. Try another port if you have one, if not pop in a nic (or a usb nic) and try local and internet files with it.

Good luck.

Edited September 13, 2006 by genaldar

[Guest James]

thanks will try tonight.....

[Guest tonywalk]

thanks will try tonight.....

Quite possible the memory timings are off and as such it is getting corrupted and hence the file stuff. Grab a copy of memtest86 from http://www.memtest86.com/.

You can either create a bootable CD from the ISO images or it looks like you can create a bootable floppy from the per-compiled Windows download.

You should have some sort of auto setting for the memory timings should they need adjusting - failing that they might be on a sticker on the modules themselves.

Hope this helps,

Tony.

[Guest fraser]

The tool CPU-Z (evolved from CPUID) can tell you the memory timings tables for your RAM. It also tells you other things like bios names and revisions; very useful tool.

I use memtest86 as well, it's very good. Leave it running for 24 hours if you can. The last time I was having issues it only failed on one particular test after several hours.

Have you tried reseting the bios to default? I once managed to change some obscure setting that caused all sorts of subtle issues and I never did work out which setting it was!

[Guest James]

just to let you know i fixed this... i had to not only disable but completly remove the NVidia NForce network access manager