BSoD before I can reformat..

[Fatality]

A friend of mine asked if I could help fix their kid's computer and with the basic knowledge of computer repairs I figured a simple fresh install should fix any problems...but I thought wrong. There is something wrong with this computer, I'm thinking a hardware failure of possibly the hard drive. Anyways, I'll explain the problem and what I've done to try and fix it. On bootup, the user screen loads very slow and if it doesn't freeze by then it will attempt to load the desktop and icons and the like. Most of the time it doesn't even make it to loading all the icons and the like. It was pretty much obvious that their computer was packed with multiple viruses and pretty nasty ones, too. Well, the first thing I went to try was a fresh install so using their Windows XP disc, I set it to bootup from the CD-ROM first and loaded the CD. On the bottom of the screen where it shows what the setup is currently doing, it makes it all the way to "Setup is now starting Windows" and pauses for a bit and then sadly, BSoD appears. I've tried booting with the Last Known Configuration option, that ended up with it freezing as well. The same with Safe-mode normally, with command prompt, and networking. Basically all options ended in a BSoD or it froze. I had no clue what to really tell them, because even myself was stumped. I highly doubt a virus or viruses could actually do damage to the hardware itself so I'm thinking they got a virus that is VERY nasty and won't even let a fresh install happen. Anyways, that is what I think, anyone else have any solutions or suggestions on what to try?

Thanks...

[Panama Red]

Whenever you get a BSOD, you should record the STOP: code and error message. This will point you to the proper diagnostics. For now, I would recommend making yourself a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD and use it to run hard drive and memory diagnostics on their system.

[shadowpr]

Agreed with PR.

If the diagnostics come back clear, then try a zero fill of their hard drive. After that you can try a fresh install. If still no go, then we will need to know the parts.

[Fatality]

Alright, I'll try the Ultimate Boot CD as soon as possible. I don't remember the code of the BSoD but all I remember it saying is something about if there is viruses on the computer to remove them first. By the way, what's a "zero fill" of a hard drive?

[shadowpr]

A zero fill is when you overwrite the entire hard drives with zeros. It essentially makes the hard drive like new from the factory. It completely wipes it clean.

The program I use is dban, which should be available on the Ultimate boot cd.