Never mind, it seems that site actually downloads from download.microsoft.com so I'll try it : )

Before you do that, when was the last time you updated windows?

Sorry, I didn't see your answer in time. I installed BartPE, made a CD, and used it to boot. Do I need to do anything with it, or just leave it sit? (btw, I'm typing this on the laptop)

As for my copy of Windows, it should be pretty much up to date - I did a lot of updates ages ago, SP2 and all that, and now have automatic updates set up. The problem I had earlier was that my Win XP cd is old, so I had to follow instructions at http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/faq/#19 i.e. copying everything off the XP cd onto the hard drive and slipstreaming this copy to SP1. After that it was plain sailing. : )

OK, that's fine. Let it set, or go ahead and use it, but run it off the CD for 24 hours or at least long enough to see that it isn't going to lockup.

Ok it's been running for over 24 hours now without freezing. I haven't done anything with it, except have Task Manager running on Performance view so I can see it's still working without having to keep moving the mouse.

What do I do now?

What all do you have installed other than the OS and drivers?

If you mean what do I have installed under Windows, there are dozens, I guess I'd have to reboot back into Windows to make a list. Off the top of my head, Paint Shop Pro, Winamp, VLC, utorrent, dc++, Winrar, CDisplay, Nero, Norton, Beyond Compare, Treesize, ZoneAlarm, Office....

If you mean what do I have installed under this BartPE, nothing. I'm not sure how to use it. It seems I would need a plugin for each program I want to install. I suppose this would mean downloading plugins on the laptop, burning them to cd, and copying them across using A43.

Sorry if I'm being obtuse.

No you are not. I am trying to figure out how hard it would be to do a reinstall of windows. DO you have the installation program for everything that you have installed under windows?

I had to reinstall Windows and everything else just before xmas when I bought a new hard drive, so yes I could do it again.

Reading between the lines, the fact that the system hasn't crashed under BartPE (and it still hasn't, btw) suggests that there's nothing wrong with the hardware, and that's why you're talking about reinstalling Windows?

Is there something I can get BartPE to do which will occupy system resources? Because my only doubt at the moment is that maybe it hasn't crashed because it hasn't been doing anything.

You can get a burn in program (here is one I have used in the past http://www.passmark.com/download/) and burn it onto a CD with another computer, and then run it in the one using BartPE. And you are getting my point. Make sure that you have all of the memory installed that you want to when doing the burn in. That software can be set to run tests constantly for as long as you want.

I already had BurnInTest installed under Windows but the 30 day trial is now up. I read about installing it as a BartPE plugin but it sounds a bit complicated. Besides, I don't suppose it would find anything now that it didn't before (just over a month ago, page 4 of this thread).

I've gone back to Windows. After a few days finishing off a few things and making backups, I'll probably reinstall Windows. Unless you have any other suggestions to try first.

Nope, that is pretty much it. Although when you do reinstall Windows, I would do an FDISK and delete all the partitions, repartition, then format, and install. This will get ride of almost all problems. Once you install windows, install a firewall, then do the windows update, create a restore point. Then start reinstalling the software, and after each install, reboot, and then create a restore point. This will give you a place to go back to if you create a problem. I would also download any updates or newer version of the software you have, if its available, and you are eligible to receive it.

As for the burn in, you might be able to get it on the CD, and run it, even if it expired on the windows install.

Ok, I'm back! I've spent the last few weeks finishing off projects and transferring files back and fo, and I'm ready to proceed. The smaller of my hard drives is now virtually empty and ready to be repartitioned. Windows and everything else is still working on the larger hd. There's also quite a bit of data on it which I'm hoping to keep where it is.

I've been planning to simply remove the bigger hd temporarily before following the steps suggested by Hoov above on the smaller hd. I thought I was being clever by moving everything I want to keep onto one drive. But now I've started worrying about what will happen later.

Assuming that all goes well and I get Windows and everything else running nicely on the smaller hd and the crashing problem is solved: what happens when I re-introduce the other hd? Both drives will have instances of Windows XP. I don't want a dual boot system, I want to use the new working copy of Windows on the smaller drive, and use the bigger drive for storage. I want to remove the old copy of Windows and all programs without losing the data on the drive. Is this possible? If so, how difficult is it? Is it even advisable?

P.S. There should be plenty of room on the smaller drive to store everything from the larger drive as well as the new Windows installation if necessary.

I've been reading around the subject and decided I was making things hard for myself. It seems I should be able to just reboot with the xp cd in and install xp to the (virtually) empty hd. This should give me a dual boot system with a menu so I can choose which xp to load. Then in Windows (after updating and testing) I can copy the files I want to keep across from the big drive to the smaller one.

I just tried rebooting using the xp cd to see what options are available, and chose the Install Windows option. This showed the following:

131070 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
C: Partition1 (Old Drive) [NTFS] 188436 MB (182911 MB free)
131070 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
D: Partition1 [Unknown] 131072 MB (131071 MB free)

The first of these matches the virtually empty hd which I named "Old Drive", 184GB, currently drive C. So far so good.

But drive D: is a cd-rom drive. My other larger hard drive has two partitions, F: (127 GB) (I guess this matches D: Partition1 above) and I: (151 GB). Windows XP is installed on F: Why doesn't this drive show up properly? Will this affect the installation of XP on C If this is not a problem, if I choose 'D' to delete the partition on C:, will this do the same as the FDISK which Hoov suggested? It seems XP doesn't have FDISK as such.

to be totally honest about it, i have done this kind of thing several times. The easiest way is to take out the old harddrive, and put in the new one (the one you are going to use for the new windows install), and then restart your computer, go into BIOS, and make sure you can boot from the CD, stick in the Windows installation CD, and boot to it. When it starts up, one of the thing it will do is ask about partitions. Repartition the HD however you want. Then install Windows. Go thru the other steps I listed above. Then shutdown the computer and install the old harddrive (make sure to reset the jumper so it is a slave) and start the computer up, and move all the files.

Some words about partitions. After the first time I had to recover from a problem that required a reinstall of windows, I started partitioning my drive into at least 2 partitions. The first one is for windows and all the software installations. The second is for data only (and recently I also install Folding@Home on the second partition so any data will be saved). As I install software I make sure that each piece of software (including windows) is pointed towards the second partition when looking for its data. I have found very few programs cannot be done this way. After it is done this way, if I have to reinstall windows, all my data is safe. It also makes it easy to move, and to backup.

Hope this helps.