My Dell Dimension 2400 has been giving me the BSOD lately. I'm waiting for Norton to talk to me because there seemed to be a slight chance that they were the cause.

It was failing on symefa.sys (page fault) -- that's a Norton file. However, today it failed on something like win32.sys

My next guess would be the HD or possibly the HD controller. That leaves me with a few ?s

1. Any other suggestions as to what it might be?

2. If is the HD, can someone point me to a list of instructions for replacing it?
I worked in sofware QA for quite a while, and I can follow instructions. I just haven't kept up.

3. If I decide that the system is trash, what do I need to do an XP ' downgrade'? I have XP disks for the Dimension and my laptop, but I'm sure that I'd also have to do drivers and probably other stuff that I don't want to think about.

I'm also dreading redoing my network. It's pretty simple DSL/access point and wireless for the laptop, but the access point was setup from the desktop ( of course). If I get to that point, I'll be back grovelling for more help


Thanks,

 

This is from a site and it fixed his problem..

http://community.norton.com/norton/b...cending&page=1


Doesn't sound like a HD or controller issue..

No instructions that I know of, but there may be...

If you are replacing the drive then the new drive manufacturer has software that can clone the boot drive easily enough..


I assume you mean you would buy a new system with Vista and want to downgrade to XP..

If you do that you need to make sure XP drivers are available for your hardware.. New PC's with Vista have hardware drivers for Vista and they may not supply any for XP..

If you want a brand new PC with XP Dell still sells them and pretty reasonable.. THey have a Vostro 420 for $629 and it comes with 3GB of memory, 250Gb HD, and a 20" flat panel monitor....



You should not have to redo any network routers/access points just for replacing a PC.. Should be just plug and play unless you have something special going on..


One finally thing you should check on for this problem is open the side and see if the heat sink is seated on the CPU properly.. The Dimension 2400's are notoriuos for having the CPU clips let go causing the CPU to overheat.. The replacement bracket is cheap if you need one..


I think I covered it all... Any other questions just ask..

 

Thanks for the great response.

As for the access point, when I set it up I had to run some network gimmick that made a file for the laptop. I also had to configure the security phrase from the desktop.

Since only the wireless needs security, I think that you're telling me that I'll be able to see each computer from the other without changing anything if I use a new wired connection.

Good.

Thanks again

 

It seems to have been Norton 09.

They recommended that I try their Intelligent Updater first.

That let me run a scan in Safe Mode, but it blew up in Normal

So, I did the removal tool and reinstall. Surprisingly, it seems to have worked.

I can't really trash Norton as it often catches stuff while I'm online, but it seems to have more trouble with files getting corrupted in the 09 version.

 

Norton is junk, I use Avast and Spybot to keep my computer safe. There are both free and have caught viruses.

 

That's good you got it squared away..

The best thing to do when installing a new version of anti virus is to completely remove the old one.. I never have any problems when doing that.. The problems come when you try upgrading and there is crap left over..

 

As far as the free ones, they work well, but are not a complete protection..

Don't think they work as well as paid versions..

I have worked on plenty of PC's that got viruses running free anti virus programs..

YOu get what you pay for.