Faulty Hardrive Faulty Windows Update ?

ssc456

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right heres the story,

i have a dell D600 laptop,

i plan to use it as my web server / media pc at night,

the thing is i have install xp on it 3 times now,

every time i install windows, it runs fine for several hours working great, but then i do windows update and the first problem i encounter is WMP wont install properly i try open it and says that it cant open due to error, then i download the latest media player from microsoft site, install then it reboots and upon reboot it says that it cant install due to the fact it cant find umdf.exe file,

so i think ok i was connected for a very short time without my anti virus, so i reformat and reinstall, again runs fine before i do windows update, this time media player again wont install so i try installing VLC media player, this completes installing and then every time i try open it my hardrive, sounds like it spins up for half a second stops spins stops, etc. and then after bout 15 seconds i get VLC media player has closed.

so the third time i installed windows updated i made sure anti virus was installed before network drivers were on, then i install all drivers and again everything is fine, media player will open VLC will open, then i do windows updates and then windows media player will not open but VLC will, although every now and then my hardrive will do the spin, stop, spin stop, thing.

what the hell is wrong, my experience would tell me its the hardrive thats faulty but why does this only happen after windows updates ?

i currenty have the laptop running after the 4th XP install without updates running fine, this is not ideal but its working, what would you say the problem is,

i have done chkdsk /f and it was fine
 
Since its failing on Windows Update though, it seems like it could be either:
1) Windows Update isn't working right
2) Your internet connection is corrupting what comes down
3) Its noticing something weird with whats installed and isn't configuring correctly
 
Since its failing on Windows Update though, it seems like it could be either:
1) Windows Update isn't working right
2) Your internet connection is corrupting what comes down
3) Its noticing something weird with whats installed and isn't configuring correctly

what bout the hardrive noise though ???

dont think its the net connection as i have several other comps on same net that download windows updates fine,

3. ive had this laptop up and working fine, before but i had a blue screen a while back and couldnt get into safe mode or n e thing to fix, so it was put in my wardrobe for bout 3 months now its back out and giving me all these problems
 
Ah...

Well, first check RAM which could also affect this. You'll need to download the program and create a bootable CD using it:

http://www.ramprobe.com/

As for a test for the hard drive, Chkdsk won't find all problems on a disk, and in my experience, only checks thinly for errors, and not really for real surface errors and other problems.

Now, try this hard drive diagnostic tool, called Seatools.
I believe you'll probably have to burn a bootable CD for this too, as it needs to be ran as the computer is starting up, so doesn't need an Operating System, just like Ram Probe:

http://pcsupport.about.com/gi/dynam...gate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools
 
Ah...

Well, first check RAM which could also affect this. You'll need to download the program and create a bootable CD using it:

http://www.ramprobe.com/

As for a test for the hard drive, Chkdsk won't find all problems on a disk, and in my experience, only checks thinly for errors, and not really for real surface errors and other problems.

Now, try this hard drive diagnostic tool, called Seatools.
I believe you'll probably have to burn a bootable CD for this too, as it needs to be ran as the computer is starting up, so doesn't need an Operating System, just like Ram Probe:

http://pcsupport.about.com/gi/dynam...gate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

kool ill have a look at those tomorrow .

do you think i should do that now, or do windows update so im experiencing the problem and then do the tests,

or maybe infact if it is hardware then the software shouldnt matter, maybe i should do them before and after.
 
I think you should run them before.
Running them after wouldn't make the tests any more positive for finding errors, as the errors should already be there in the RAM and on the Hard Drive in the first place
 
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