Ok for those who read my other thread, I did have a dead stick of RAM and it was replaced. All of my memory is fine and not corrupt.

I have a new problem! When the Dell guy *shudders*, was trying out a stick of RAM which later turned out to be corrupt and replaced, a blue screen of death came up. When he was done replacing the RAM with RAM that worked, my Zone Alarm forgot what stuff could access the Internet. A day later today, I am having more problems. Random start up programs wont work, saying a file is missing. Every ultility or program I download off the Internet won't install because it's corrupt. When I booted into safe mode to install a USB mouse rate changer, I couldn't get past the log in screen and got a blue screen of death. When I tried doing an error scan check on my hard drive, I got another blue screen the second I hit start. I caught what it said:

Quote: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL some other non important stuff ***STOP: )x000000A (some more letters and numbers) memory dump completed blah blah blah

Programs have also been crashing, like Firefox. And I've been getting the memory at xxxx cannot be read still. I think this is an OS problem.

This doesn't look good to me.

I had to write this fast in case FF crashes.

Check out http://www.tweaksforgeeks.com/IRQL_N..._OR_EQUAL.html - it's probably not the HD, but if you can keep the thing running long enough for a backup, it couldn't hurt.

Ah, too late. Minutes after I posted this and tried backing up, all hell broke loose. I couldn't use my computer so I called Dell. I was unable to boot into Linux or Windows. I couldn't reinstall Windows either. I never knew you could get a blue screen of death while installing Windows. When I turned on my computer half an hour ago, I was presented with a beautiful, black screen with a shimmering, blinking white cursor.

Dell is going to replace the hard drive and the mobo. Luckily, I'm not paying for it. Yesterday, Dell replaced my memory. Now they're also paying for a new mobo and a hard drive. I'm glad I got the extended warranty. The cost of the parts has either been equal to or topped the price of the warranty.

I can't until I get the cash to buy my own rig though. I wish I could fix my computer myself, but I don't want to void my warranty and I don't have another computer readily available to get help if I need it. I'm using my mom's computer right now because she's done with it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry Ah, too late. Minutes after I posted this and tried backing up, all hell broke loose. I couldn't use my computer so I called Dell. I was unable to boot into Linux or Windows. I couldn't reinstall Windows either. I never knew you could get a blue screen of death while installing Windows. When I turned on my computer half an hour ago, I was presented with a beautiful, black screen with a shimmering, blinking white cursor. Dell is going to replace the hard drive and the mobo. Luckily, I'm not paying for it. Yesterday, Dell replaced my memory. Now they're also paying for a new mobo and a hard drive. I'm glad I got the extended warranty. The cost of the parts has either been equal to or topped the price of the warranty. I can't until I get the cash to buy my own rig though. I wish I could fix my computer myself, but I don't want to void my warranty and I don't have another computer readily available to get help if I need it. I'm using my mom's computer right now because she's done with it.

Respect to your mum . Really didn't sounds like an HDD error to me tho, saying that its been awhile since I had one..

Well at least your getting new parts, and with any luck that will fix your problems.

On a somewhat off topic note: A friend of mine has gotten so lucky with insurance and with extended warranties. One night he purposely broke the head unit in his car, he got a shiny new 300 buck Kenwood at no cost. A week later he leaves his power book on the ground by his car, I think you know what happened. Anyway home owners insurance is going to buy him a new power book that is better then his old umm flat one. Always go with the extended warranty.

Lesson learnt? Don't buy Dell.