Weird problem on a laptop - BSODs, ...

Here is a problem I find very intriguing and extremely frustrating on an Acer Aspire 1692 laptop running XP. I apologize if the description is long, but believe me, its just a summary. Sorry for cross-posting.

I began receiving BSOD errors a few weeks ago on my laptop (0x000000F4
(...)). Because it only happened a couple of times and because my
computer was still able to reboot perform a chkdsk and start Windows
properly, I didn't pay a lot of attention to them. Later, I boot my
computer and it simply couldn't make it passed the Windows splash
screen. It would freeze right before the logon screen. Also, it wouldn't
make it into safe mode. I did all the troubleshooting I could think of,
from a chkdsk to all the disk checking tools you can find on UBCD4Win,
to memtest, viruses, adware, searching google with the BSOD error codes,
etc. I tried a system restore from the f8 screen and a complete repair
of my Windows installation without success. It simply wouldn't go passed
the XP splash screen. Once in a while, it would boot and the bios
wouldn't find the hard drive at all (OS not found). So I suspected my
hard drive was bad even though the diagnostic tests were telling me
otherwise, or some system files were corrupt.

So, I got tired of trying and bought a new hard drive and used the Acer
recovery cds to get a completely new installation on a fresh drive. Here
is were it gets interesting... after a few days of the new system
functioning properly, I got some BSOD again (0x000000F4 (...)), and once
in a while the bios wouldn't see the hard drive at all. Sometimes,
Windows would tell me that the delayed writing to the disk had failed
(e.g. "delayed writing has failed writing c:/$mft) before I got a BSOD.
Other times, the system woudl work perfectly for several hours. So I
flashed a new bios, fixed the Acer lunchapp.ocx bug, tried scanning for
viruses with the latest updates, uninstalled Norton, did some more
chkdsk (with /f /r), some more memtest... with no success. So if
everything stayed like that, I would have to conclude that some
intermittent hardware problem, for example cables, is the source of all
this grief.

Here is where it gets esoteric. Before I installed the new hard drive, I
put my old hard drive in an external enclosure and copied all the files
on it to a spare and empty hard drive on a desktop. By the way, my old
hard drive was working fine in an enclosure. I did not open or execute
any file on the desktop. A few days later on that desktop (while it was
idle), I see an error message "delayed writing has failed writing
f:/$mft ..." f: is the drive on which I copied my old hard drive! I
reboot the desktop and the BIOS couldn't find the drive! Exactly the
same symptoms as on my laptop...!????

Either this last part is an amazing coincidence, or there is a
software/hardware interaction I do not understand, or Sigmund Freud is
making fun of me...

Please help me before I start believing in aliens!

Guillaume
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Weird problem on a laptop - BSODs, ...
    ... I began receiving BSOD errors a few weeks ago on my laptop (0x000000F4 ... computer was still able to reboot perform a chkdsk and start Windows ... it would boot and the bios wouldn't find the hard drive at all ... Windows would tell me that the delayed writing to the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
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    ... computer was still able to reboot perform a chkdsk and start Windows ... I got tired of trying and bought a new hard drive and used the Acer ... in a while the bios wouldn't see the hard drive at all. ... Windows would tell me that the delayed writing to the disk had failed ...
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