Young lad has PC, Windows XP Office but no internet connection and never has been used on internet but everytime he tries to start up, he gets error msg, cant remember specific msg but something to do with windows and fat32.
We've already taken it to a pc repair shop, who said they'd done diagnostic check up and everything fine, so we brought it home, tried to start up and we got msg again, so took it back to shop and this time, they removed hard-drive and installed another one for £110. Brought it home and on start up, we rec'd exactly the same message again. Have taken it back to shop but am puzzled as to why we get this msg. Like i said, never been used for internet, and never been connected for internet use, lad uses it for homework, and game playing.

Anyone any ideas???

have the pc shop installed all the software on to the pc or does your son add some when he gets home.
some PC/cd rom games cause all sorts of problems on pc's.

Need to know the complete error message really. When they stuvk the new Hard drive in did they instal windows from scratch so you had to reinstall all your software on it or did they copy the contents of your old drive on to it so it was the same as it used to be?
More info rqd.
:)

I agree with everyone else, can't really help you until you know what the exact message is....can't really see what having an internet connection has to do with it...oh then again, I guess you may be thinking along the lines of spyware and viruses....

Post the exact message and we'll be able to help..:thumbsup:

thanx for trying to help guys, but unfortunately only made 1 copy of error msg to show guy at shop, so can't remember all of it properly, :confused: windows could not start, error on system file fat32, that's all i can remember to be honest.
as for the other stuff, windows was not re-installed, and hard drive was cloned, so to me any original prob would still be there on new copy. All software was added by son, he's only 10, so did put it down to user error to be honest but now we've been to shop 3 times and no luck as of yet.
am waiting for shop guy to get back to us.

I assume you don't XP on the system that is having the problems...? If you do then that's your problem cos XP can't recognise FAT32, only NTFS...

Originally posted by Cutglass
and hard drive was cloned, so to me any original prob would still be there on new copy.


Yep.

If the original problem was something to do with the File Allocation Table and a clone would reproduce the FAT faithfully (ie complete with errors).

What the PC shop should have done, is to repair the FAT (simple to do really - there's always 2 copies stored on the HD) not simply fit a new HD and perform a dump of the old one!

Originally posted by sccsux
Yep.

If the original problem was something to do with the File Allocation Table and a clone would reproduce the FAT faithfully (ie complete with errors).

What the PC shop should have done, is to repair the FAT (simple to do really - there's always 2 copies stored on the HD) not simply fit a new HD and perform a dump of the old one!

Absolutely spot on, couldn't agree more.....that would be like having a car with a knackered engine, puitting a new shell on it and expecting it to run again...?

Get your money back and format the hdd, re-install and away...either that or use system restore, but not 100% that'll work..

Thanks for all your help guys, will let you know what the pc shop has to say!!!

Out of interest, what size is the hard drive?

160 GB but apart from that, think you can all tell that i know absolutely nothing about the running of pc's :confused:

Not too worry....some people have absolutely no interest in them (Like my missus)

That's the good thing about this forum, there are plenty of ppl who are more than willing to help you out (Unfortunately there are also those who just wanna be idiots as well)

Bless you all, at least you're trying to help which seems to be more than the pc shop is doing :thumbsup:

and we have the decency to do it for free as well!

Although a small donation can be made via paypal to keep this service free and availiable....lol

Only kidding...:thumbsup:

well thats very kind of you all, not like the pc guy, already charged us £110 and it still don't work :(

all yr help is much appreciated :thumbsup:

Have you not taken it back and got a full refund....? next step would have to be a phone call to the even more helpful people @ trading standards (http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/sheffield/)
I'm sure they would be happy to help and they are also very free....lol

Just outta curiosity what is the pc shop that did this too you...
PM me their name please as it will just be edited here by the Mods....cheers.

Wayne

Which shop was it? people should be aware!

well we took it back yesterday, the guy who did it the first time wasn't in but his wife was, so left it with her and just waiting for him to get back to us.
Fortunately for you Sheffield lot, I'm in Preston at the moment, but please don't ostracise me cos of that, I was born in Sheff and only left in June 04, so you probably wouldn't know name of shop, quite small really.
but not very happy really with this guy to be honest, sounds like it was something he could've sorted very easily just by doing the stuff you lot have recommended.

Nothing wrong with not being in Sheffield, I personally am from Wolverhampton and don't particuarly rate Sheffield, there are the odd few decent ppl but not rolling in in the masses...lol and as you can see Alchresearch is from just up your rd....lol

Phew.... that's a weight off :lol: there I was thinking i was the outsider but ummmm...... think you may run the risk of offending some of the other forummers

don't particuarly rate Sheffield, there are the odd few decent ppl but not rolling in in the masses...lol

good job we know you're only teasing :thumbsup:

Originally posted by Cutglass

good job we know you're only teasing :thumbsup:

Nope :thumbsup:

Originally posted by Cutglass
well thats very kind of you all, not like the pc guy, already charged us £110 and it still don't work :(

all yr help is much appreciated :thumbsup:

For £110 I would have drove up to Preston (I'm only half hour away as BDB said!) and would have done a full reinstall and not left or accepted payment until it was working and you were happy.

thanks alchresearch but tad after the fact for me :rolleyes: and bob oooohhh you like to cause strife dontcha :heyhey:

Originally posted by BettyBoobs
I assume you don't XP on the system that is having the problems...? If you do then that's your problem cos XP can't recognise FAT32, only NTFS...

Actually Betty that's not true. If you upgrade to XP from 98 the drive remain formated as FAT32 not NTFS unless you convert it.

Originally posted by BettyBoobs
I assume you don't XP on the system that is having the problems...? If you do then that's your problem cos XP can't recognise FAT32, only NTFS...

Not true. Windows XP can work perfectly fine on FAT32 formatted partitions, but more efficiently with the NTFS file system.

Oh really...thanks Wendy, there's summit I never knew....

BTW, I am Bettys geeza & it was I who posted th@ msg...

:thumbsup:

just noticed t020's sig!.
Now we know how you can have fancy cars parked on the driveway :thumbsup:

You are of course correct that Xp does work ok on a fat32 partition. The only difference being that a fat32 partition is unable to 'see' an NTFS partition on say a separate (slave) drive.

Well you lost me on the last 3 or 4 msgs, computer illiterate, but I do know that its got windows XP office but as for anything else, I'd have to look up the specs and can't do that till i get pc back.

Update on error msg.
Just got pc back from shop, booted up 3 times in shop without error message showing, plugged it in at home and immediately got this message again.

<windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
please reinstall a copy of the above file


can anyone explain what this means and why it didn't come up in the pc shop???

Well This (http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000646.htm) explains what the problem is and how to fix it but unless you have a Windows XP disk your going to struggle :(.

cheers for that, am going back to shop tmrw, surely the guy should have realised from original error msg what the problem was??

unfortunately we don't have recovery disk of windows to re-install, so looks like it's buggered unless we buy new.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, that's just sods law innit....been there done that....but as for the guy not knowing, well he aint gonna if he didn't see the msg....lol

Originally posted by Cutglass
unfortunately we don't have recovery disk of windows to re-install, so looks like it's buggered unless we buy new.

Some manufactuers put the Windows install files on a seperate partition.

Just out of interest is it a branded machine at all? Oh & alcheresearch,
536F6D656F6E6520616C776179732068617320746F20627269 6E672074686520636F6E766572736174696F6E2061726F756E 6420746F206865782E2E2E00
:P

Just a suggestion but could it be a loose cable inside, or even a dodgy cable?

I used to work in a PC shop years ago and it happened a few times where a customer would bring a PC in and it'd work straight away but take it home and it stops working or does something weird. Replacing the IDE cable did solve the problem in some cases as well as making sure other bit's inside the PC were plugged in correctly.

That was years ago though ( pre windows 98 ) so it could very well be an XP problem.

well he aint gonna if he didn't see the msg....lol
copied msg on screen to show bloke in shop ;)

well now this is intriguing, booted up ok 3 times in shop, would'nt boot up at home just kept getting error msg , so brought base downstairs, booted up ok on SO's pc and on my pc, so took it back upstairs to lads room, error msg on boot up again, so disconnected everything and started again, guess what..... used different plug socket in lads room and pc booted normally, no error msg and running ok.

Just a suggestion but could it be a loose cable inside, or even a dodgy cable?

Sounds like that could be the solution

Just like to thank all you guys for trying to help, it's all been really appreciated :clap: :clap:

If there are no hardware devices being plugged into it then there is a chance it could be power related. Is the PC being plugged straight into the wall, rather than a 6 in 1 mains adapter?

I've seen similar issues on a Mac - the owner had thirteen powered items in one wall socket, there were extensions plugged into extensions galore!

Originally posted by steev
Just out of interest is it a branded machine at all? Oh & alcheresearch,
536F6D656F6E6520616C776179732068617320746F20627269 6E672074686520636F6E766572736174696F6E2061726F756E 6420746F206865782E2E2E00
:P

I'm not decoding that, it might be a trojan and you could gain control of my PC and demand a fee to secure it!

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35453

Originally posted by steev
Just out of interest is it a branded machine at all? Oh & alcheresearch,
536F6D656F6E6520616C776179732068617320746F20627269 6E672074686520636F6E766572736174696F6E2061726F756E 6420746F206865782E2E2E00
:P

44 6F 20 54 72 79 20 61 6E 64 20 75 73 65 20 73 70 61 63 65 73 20 62 65 74 77 65 65 6E 20 48 65 78 20 63 68 61 72 61 63 74 65 72 73 2C 20 61 73 20 69 74 20 69 73 20 6D 6F 73 74 20 75 6E 73 69 67 68 74 6C 79 20 28 61 6E 64 20 68 61 72 64 20 74 6F 20 66 6F 6C 6C 6F 77 29 20 77 69 74 68 6F 75 74;).




Originally posted by alchresearch
I'm not decoding that, it might be a trojan and you could gain control of my PC and demand a fee to secure it!

Use this (http://bluefive.pair.com/hexwrite.htm) little freeware app (spy/scum/malware/virii/trojan free - I run it occasionally on my PC when needs must;)).

no he only has his pc plugged straight into a wall socket, so just one of those puzzles.

Still no luck with that CD, but by the look of things you have no need for it anyway...does anything else have any problems with said wall socket....try a telly or summit and see if it looses power occasionally or an alarm clock with no memory chip so when you unplkug it even for a second it will lose the time.....could just be the smallest millisecond of power loss and that may be knocking the timing out..!!

How about a surge protector / spike filter? Aren't they supposed to 'clean' a bad power outlet?

Originally posted by alchresearch
How about a surge protector / spike filter? Aren't they supposed to 'clean' a bad power outlet?

Tell that to my Router! If there's a lightning strike in Scotland my Router seems to trip out and that's behind a surge protector :suspect:

Ah, but does the surge protector have CAT5 / ADSL and phone protection as well? I've noticed the new ones do now.