A hardware prob, but what?

[ahhaa]

A friend has an older Dell desktop that she rarely uses but completely doesn't understand.
It came with XPsp2, but somewhere around the recent sp3 download, it acquired a bad case of Blue Screen of Death.

In fiddling with XP, a variety of 'not found' error messages showed up; Restore & the XP system disc failed also. Googling, I found many mobos had failed after the sp2 update, due to what M$ called a BIOS error. This unit is from 2004.

I thought Puppy Linux, running without the HD, would diagnose if this was a hardware or software problem.

Puppy got to Process ksoftirqd and then a bunch of Stack readouts, a Call Trace, and then said
Kernel Panic- Not Synching- Fatal Exception in Interrupt

I'm thinking this is a hardware fault for sure, unless its in BIOS, but I'm way beyond my knowhow here.

Any advice on what kind of hardware fault would let an OS almost load?

[jagabo]

Overheating, bad CPU, bad memory, bad graphics card, bad audio card, bad NIC, I/O conflicts...

Remove all non essential hardware. See if it will boot the Linux disc. Try a memory diagnostic.

[Nelson37]

You mean windows system restore failed, or the Dell system disks? XP disk failed how, on a new install or repair install? Text of error messages? "it did not work" is amazingly unhelpful.

Format the hard drive and OS install fails, then SP3 has absolutely nothing to do with this. Mobo does not fail, as in break, because of SP3, just some are not fully compatible with it and/or do not work correctly.

The "not found" error messages would be dramatically more helpful if you included a little more info about exactly WHAT was not found.

For the Linux test, assuming the goal is to eliminate the HD as a possible cause of the problem, then ELIMINATE it. Disconnect the power and data cables.

If there are no important data files, then format the hard drive and re-install XP, preferrable using the Dell disks or at least have the drivers disk or files handy. Replace the RAM or remove all but one stick. Replace the power supply with a spare if available.

Remove or disconnect EVERYTHING not absolutely needed to boot. With a 5-year old box, you very quickly run out of feasable options from a cost-benefit standpoint.

[Bjs]

Actually some people are misinformed about service packs and damaged motherboards... it is rare but dose happen which is why they state the "incompatible clause" policy.

As for the system with issues if it dose not make the initial post beep upon power up and replacing psu dose not help then the motherboard is at fault or a connected device is faulty.

As others have said, strip it down to only the required basics including the disconnection of all drives and try.

Next, take the cmos battery out, remove power and leave it over night ... reinsert cmos battery and connect power ... and cross fingers it fires up .

If it gets to post beep Id flash the bios with last known update. But seriously I think you'd best be seeking a replacement board (dell) ... If considering rebuild using non-dell board you'll need to get another license for the os ... and if so, get a motherboard which has dual bios.