Back in trouble

Hello again,here I am once again bending your ears,YES you've guessed it,I have a problem.
Whilst on my PC yesterday the Screen turned BLUE with the the Windows (Microsoft) logo on and started of its own violation to do some kind of a disc check,and removed a lot of "Corrupted Files".Now I've discovered that I cannot load ANY of my Store Bought Sims including the ones from UKTS,though I can install ones copied from there (UKTS),having no trouble at all in installing the Woodhead and CVR.Any ideas would be gratefully received.Its very probably something to do with something I have tried to install,as once again I have failed miserably trying to download Stock items.
Obviously this is a pain,but not the end of the World as I've been promised (sort of ) a new PC from Santa. Kindest Regards

Hi Roger,
Can you tell us what operating system you are using,I.E XP,Vista or windows 7

and where your MSTS is located if you are using windows vista 0r 7 make sure MSTS is not installed in Program Files,or Program Files(x64) if it is then follow the steam4me instructions on how to load MSTS,it could be a permisions problem.
Mike

Hi Roger,
Further to Mike's post,
If the screen goes blue it is usually Windows which is doing it because it has come across something it doesn't understand! It's not often anything to do with MSTS.

What were you doing, or attempting to do, at the time?

Without any other information, I would suspect a hard drive problem. By this, I mean there could be some area on your hard drive which has become corrupted; this can either be through normal wear and tear (everything has a finite life!) or could be because you have turned the power off, or had a power cut, while Windows was writing to the drive. If this corrupted area contains any of Windows system files, it will throw a strop!

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Ged Hello Mike,I am one of the few still using XP,my MSTS is on my J Drive.As for what I was doing,well I was trying to turn off a game  that one of my grandchildren had been playing,it had frozen and the curser had disappeared so I tried Ctrl/Alt & Delete which usually allows you to stop whatever is running.But in this instance that did not happen,but a complete row of green boxes appeared across the bottom of the screen,which then turned the whole screen Blue.My PC is at least 10 years old,so I suspect it will be a hard drive fault,I have been putting off getting a new PC for quite a while after borrowing my sons (Windows 7) for a week and finding it not really to my liking.Still needs must that I get a new one but have not heard anything good about Win 8,so it will have to be a Win 7 which are luckily (I suppose) still available.
Thanks to you both for your speedy replies,which have confirmed what I expected.

Hi Roger,
It's quite some time since I ran XP, so I hope the following makes sense!

If you open a DOS box and type chkdsk, then press <ENTER>, I believe the hard drive will be checked for errors. This may take some time, but it will report if there are any problems with the system drive - it won't change anything (it needs a parameter to enable corrections to be made). If you could let us know what the results are, it may be helpful.

If any XP users are reading this, maybe they could verify, or correct the above.

Cheers,
Ged

Hi Roger,
As an addition to Ged and Mikes post. Do you have the spec of the machine please? Also what have you installed recently? If you go to Control Panel and the applications menu and then sort it by date and check for anything installed recently that you don't recognise?.... Possibly a screenshot might help.
Also what Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware app do you have installed? Have you ran it recently?
Also you might want to try for Ccleaner to clean up your PC.
Hope this helps?
Cheers

Hi Roger,
As an addition to Ged's post regarding chkdsk in Windows XP. You will need to do the following to repair;

1.Click Start, and then click Run.
2.In the Open box, type cmd, and then press Enter.
3.Use one of the following procedures: ◦To run Chkdsk in read-only mode, at the command prompt, type chkdsk, and then press Enter.
4.To repair errors without scanning the volume for bad sectors, at the command prompt, type chkdsk volume:/f, and then press Enter.

If one or more of the files on the hard disk are open, you will receive the following message:

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)
Type Y, and then press Enter to schedule the disk check. Then, restart your computer to start the disk check.
◦To repair errors, locate bad sectors, and recover readable information, at the command prompt, type chkdsk volume:/r, and then press Enter.

Hope this is of some help? If you can supply any more information. It would most certainly help after you have performed these steps.
Also when was the last time the O/S (Operating System reinstalled)?
Thanks

Hello everybody ! as far as I can ascertain I am running Windows XP Home Edition (5.1 build 2600) service pack 3. My Processor is an Intel  Celeron  D....CPU 3.06 GHz with an AMD RADEON HD 6450 Graphics Card !
I'm sorry Ged but I haven't got a clue what a DOS Box is,but I assume that its what I use to get CHDSK,but I do that by Start-My Computer-(right click on ) C drive- Properties- tick the 2 boxes(Scan and attempt recovery of bad sectors & auto fix)-Restart PC and it does the test.    TWICE after I have done this  my PC has failed to proceed past the Welcome Screen forcing me to Manually Stop the PC,restart while pressing F8 and select "Restart the Computer as at the last time it worked correctly" (not sure if that's the exact wording).
35005CP Andy I am using "Avast" anti virus and "Advance System Care Ultimate" for Malware etc,I have always used C Cleaner.As for the Operating System I did not realise it had to be reinstalled,and wouldn't know how to do so.When the fault ? occured I was not downloading anything my Grandson had been playing some online game and the PC completely Froze Out.
As a little add on I said earlier that I cannot download (install) from any of my discs,that's not quite true as I've completely uninstalled MSTS,checked in the files that it was gone and it has reinstalled perfectly,Yet my Cambrian Route bought on CD from 3DTS (quite a while ago) nor my UKTS Thames/Mersey (Cd) make any attempt at loading.
Many Thanks to you all,Kindest Regards.

Hi Roger,
You do seem to be in a bit of a mess!!  It's amazing what these on-line games can do  

"Restart the Computer as at the last time it worked correctly"

That message occurred because you had to abort the loading of XP when it was at the loading screen and doesn't show anything is wrong.  If you select that option, does your PC start correctly?

The procedure you follow for running Chkdsk seems OK - does it run in a "black box" on the screen?  If so, can you post what the results are?

The problems with reading CDs seems a little strange, but I think the PC problem should be dealt with first.

As for the Operating System I did not realise it had to be reinstalled

It can happen that, when an OS has been installed for a very long time, it gets into such a twist that the only way out is to re-install it.  To do this, you need the original installation disk together with the key.  If the PC was purchased with the OS already installed, it may not have been supplied with a disk, but could have a separate partition on the hard drive which can be used for recovery.

Please give us as much information on the above as possible, in the meantime (tomorrow!) I'll start up my multi-OS PC and have a look at XP, to refresh my memory

Cheers,
Ged

Possibly this idea may add to, rather than deduct from, the confusion! What about trying a System Restore? Should this be relevant look at this HFL part; i.e. restore the system to a date before the on-line game was used.

 Firstly let me thank you all very much for your help,but I get the feeling I am digging an even bigger hole.
Ged in answer to you "No it does not run in a Black box"the whole screen is blue with white writing,But if I follow the instructions from Andy it does.,chkdsk then runs as you said it will and says it is -"deleting index entry320070100000009.bin in index $ 130 of file18905". If I then ask it to do a repair the DOS box appears for a split second only,No message appears asking me to do a restart.
Alec your idea appealed to me so after doing the above I decided "what the Hell"and gave it a go,Sadly when it had restored there was no MSTS or Train Store present though it was definitely there  (or should have been) at the time to which it was restored.Looking now where MSTS should have been there is only one file (which is empty) named "Program Files (2) which I'm a bit worried about deleting as the name is similar to where all my Programs are filed on my C drive.
Finally I do have a Dell Re installation Disc for XP SP2,but when I put it into my loader the message came up that "this is an older version than the one in use,and cannot be installed without first rebooting and restarting from this disc.Note that most files will be lost should you proceed."
PS I tried to put an image on but without an IDIOTS guide on how to do it,I've failed.

Hi Roger,
Sorry to hear about all the problems you are having, but definitely sounds like a reinstall of the Operating System is going to be the only step. Do you know anyone whom can do this for you?
Also make sure if you do this that you copy all of your personal data onto CD or an external Hard Drive. This includes, Documents, pictures etc......
All the best
Andy

Hi Roger,
If you can rescue as many of the files as you can on to an external hard drive, you should be OK using the Dell Re-installation disk. The reason it said it is a different version is because it is version SP2 whereas you have currently got SP3 installed on your PC. You won't need SP3 to run MSTS - I don't know if it's still available - in fact, although I upgraded my XP, I soon removed SP3 as it caused more problems that it solved!

I tried to put an image on but without an IDIOTS guide on how to do it,I've failed

If you've got a recent image, it could be your salvation!
Do you know what program created it? If you don't know, what is the extension to the file name?
Is it on an external hard drive or CD/DVD? Did you do it yourself?

Cheers,
Ged

  Firstly I feel I must thank you all for your very generous assistance,especially being as I really have no way in which to repay it being completely PC illiterate.
I tried using the Dell Reinstall  Disc,but apart from getting the info screen it refuses to fire up,just like all of my TS add on's,except for the MSTS disc itself which loads normally.
I did get a screen shot of the DOS but cannot seem to get it onto here (TSSH)
Anyway I digress,after doing Chkdsk/Repair again (3 times now) my PC is starting up as it should and I'm wondering as to whether or not its some sort of firewall thing or even anything to do with ASC Ultimate (maybe its to ultimate)so I have turned down the settings especially the ones that "run in the background" and some of the things it did when you first turned on the PC which meant turning on and being able to use was running at 6/7 mins:
Having reinstalled MSTS again this morning I have put LSE back on,and it has gone on and is working even though when I put it into the drive the screen came on for me to enter the code when I asked it to load it just ran and ran,then came up with "NOT Responding"so I opened the drive-got the warning Beep Beep - re closed the drive,clicked on continue at which point another box appeared in which I again put the code,clicked to download and the box just disappeared to my screensaver.Assuming that was it I went and had a cuppa and upon my return some 10 mins later there was the loader screen waiting for me,clicked on it and away it went and loaded.
Of course I do not for a minute think its cured,but as My Missus is threatening to get me a new PC for Xmas I,ll be happy just for it to run until then.
So once again a BIG thank you to all,I'm off for a quick trip to Sevenoaks ! I don't expect to  arrive on time.

Hi Roger,
I'm glad you appear to have got your PC working, however slowly!!

As some CDs/DVDs work and some don't, it sounds more like a problem with your CD/DVD drive; they do have a finite life! In case it's just a bit of fluff, you could try to run a CD Drive Lens Cleaner.

Your difficulty with reading optical disks won't have anything to do with the firewall. I was going to ask what "ASC Ultimate" was, but found out it is Advanced Systemcare Ultimate! Although IOBit provide some very useful software, I seem to remember trying an earlier version of their Systemcare, but dumped it very quickly! I don't remember exactly why, but think the PC "didn't feel right"! Of course, their later versions will, hopefully, have sorted out any problems.

Cheers,
Ged

Glad to hear you are up and running!  
Lets hope Santa brings you a high-spec PC! Not long to wait now.....