Does this sound like harddrive failure

[Anchor]

Hello' all
I am new at this so please bear with me.
I know just a little about computers , just enought to be dangerous To the subject, my sister has an HP that
has been really strange lately. error popups on most programs.
the one that I can't understand is( Windows encountered an
error accessing the registry windows will repair the registry
for you and restart) HP help said windows did not have room
for swap files. I ran a full restore on this PC and the first (of many) error messages I got was this one again. The only thing
on it is what came on the restore disk. harddrive is 20GB.
OS is windows ME. I can't even get on line with it with internet explorer because every thing I go to causes an error and
it shuts down. Does this sound like a Harddrive problem?
or is it something else maybe.
I don't know what else to do.
Thanks

[Force Flow]

Is your Hard Drive full? Go into "My Computer" > right click on your Hard Drive (I'm assuming it's "C:\") to check.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Do a full virus scan.

Do a full scan of the HD using Scandisk.

[Colonel Sanders]

I would check to see how much free space you have. Then I would run a disk-cleanup, disk-check(including any options that you might have to re-boot for) then defrag the drive. It sounds to me like your probbably low on space, however I would think windows would reserve space for it's swap-file.

Logan

[Anchor]

Originally posted by force_flow2002 Is your Hard Drive full? Go into "My Computer" > right click on your Hard Drive (I'm assuming it's "C:\") to check.

Thanks for everyones responce.
Drive C is almost empty. I ran a full recovery on it.
I tried to run scandisk and it wouldn't run so I tryed to run it
in safe mode and again no success finally got it to run in DOS.
It didn't find any bad sectors. The virus software on this pc is
over a year old and it won't run either. It just sends me online
to buy it. Shouldn't running the recovery disk wipe out any virus on the hard drive?

Thanks

[edge345]

Go to the harddrive maker and get the harddrive utility software to check the drive....

[Anchor]

I tryed to find one on HP's web site but they aren't very
helpful once the warranty runs out. I have a new HP and can
access lots of helpful things there but not for her model thats just over a year old they wont let me.
Thanks

[Nuclear Krusader]

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Do a virus check online.

[edge345]

HP does not make the hard drive look on the had drive for a sticker that saYs who makes the drive, maxtor, western digital, seagate, exc.... Then go to the harddrive maker and get the harddrive utility software to check the drive....

[Force Flow]

HP did make HDD's several years ago. You mean they don't anymore?

[mike breck]

When you say you did a "full restore" was that just "Restore" or "Format and Restore"? If you just did a "Restore", then it might be worthwhile backing up any data and then doing Format & Restore. But leave this as a last resort.

Is the correct amount of Ram showing up during POST and in Windows?

Can you boot into Safe Mode without any memory errors?

Download and run Doc Memory to test the Ram

http://www.simmtester.com/

Is Windows handling your Swap File usage - right-click My Computer>Properties>Performance>Virtual Memory "Let Windows manage my Virtual Memory Settings".

In the Virtual Memory box, look at the "Hard Disk" dropdown box, how many MBs do you have free?

[Anchor]

Originally posted by mike breck When you say you did a "full restore" was that just "Restore" or "Format and Restore"? If you just did a "Restore", then it might be worthwhile backing up any data and then doing Format & Restore. But leave this as a last resort. Is the correct amount of Ram showing up during POST and in Windows? Can you boot into Safe Mode without any memory errors? Download and run Doc Memory to test the Ram http://www.simmtester.com/ Is Windows handling your Swap File usage - right-click My Computer>Properties>Performance>Virtual Memory "Let Windows manage my Virtual Memory Settings". In the Virtual Memory box, look at the "Hard Disk" dropdown box, how many MBs do you have free?

I did a format & restore. Yes I get errors in safe mode.
Yes windows is manageing memory.
C:\ 17895mb free
system resorces 85% free
63mb ram
C:\ capacity 19 GB
used 1.61 GB
Free 17.4
I started the PC this morning and tryed to get online and it
said that an image from aol couldn't load because of insuficent memory.
I'll see if I can get online long enough to check the ram.
thanks

[Redo40]

Have you tried a different stick of ram? I know that bad memory can cause the registry access error also.

[Anchor]

Originally posted by Redo40 Have you tried a different stick of ram? I know that bad memory can cause the registry access error also.

I downloaded a ram testing program and it said the ram was bad so, I'll try a new module and see what happens.
thank you all for helping

[glc]

Make sure you buy ram for that specific model HP - the generic stuff you buy at the store may or may not work. Best bet is direct from crucial.com, look up your exact model.

ME will run on 64mb, but as long as you have to buy ram anyway, step up to 128mb or more.

[Anchor]

Originally posted by Anchor I downloaded a ram testing program and it said the ram was bad so, I'll try a new module and see what happens. thank you all for helping

I did put new Ram in and everything seems fine now.