Is It Possible to Receive a Corrupted Version of Windows?

jmt83 · 04 Feb 2013

I have a question about a desktop workstation I purchased from Dell. The PC in question is a Dell OptiPlex 580 which came with an OEM installation of Windows 7 Pro x64. Please bear with the length of my post, and forgive me if I am not posting this in the correct forum. I’m not sure if there is a correct forum for this question, but here goes:

Is it possible to purchase a bad copy of Windows?

What exactly do I mean by “bad copy”? I’m not talking about a pirated copy with a fake license. I mean, is it possible the copy of Windows that came installed on my system is damaged, corrupt, or incomplete? All the data on the OEM disc was transferred from somewhere, from something. When the manufacturer created this disc, is it possible that something went wrong? Why do I want to know? Well, here is my story:

About two years ago I purchased a brand new PC from Dell. I noticed within the first week or so, practically right out of the box, the PC crashed and displayed a BSOD. The PC crashed again about a week later. I was a little concerned when I saw the first crash, but the second got my attention for sure. However, every time I tried investigating an error code, the probable cause was always vague. I couldn’t find anything that pointed to that one “silver bullet” fix.

I looked for answers everywhere, often on boards such as this one. The fixes suggested to me were numerous, well thought out, but all too often varied. “It’s the hardware! It’s the software! It’s the hard drive! It’s a third party driver! It’s Windows!” Whatever the suggestion, I tried it, but nothing worked.

I am not a computer expert, guru, or whiz of any kind. I’m just a guy that has been able to troubleshoot or fix numerous issues over the years with the assistance of great people who contribute to forums like this one. But in regards to this particular issue, no matter what I have looked for, no matter what test I have used, I have never been able to identify the cause of these BSOD, nor have I been able to prevent them from continuing.

Here are a few things I can tell you about this PC. I don’t have any weird/uncommon software installed (just your basic things like Office, Acrobat, etc.). I’m not overclocking anything. I’ve checked the power supply and it is fully functional. I have run more memory tests then I care to remember. I’ve scanned for malware over and over again. I have run diagnostics to check for damage on the hard drive. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled drivers. I’ve run stress tests on the drivers trying to force a crash. I physically removed a graphics card that I thought might be the issue, never plugging it back in. I’ve opened up the PC and reseated everything. I’ve kept the insides clean. I’ve checked the temperature inside the machine. But in two years of working on this computer, I have never found a single hardware defect with this system. And not one single tweak I have made to it has kept it from crashing.

Even when I reformatted the hard drive and did a full reinstallation of Windows, which was the recommendation of Dell’s paid software support team, the PC quickly went back to more BSOD. If someone told me they reinstalled Windows on their system but it kept crashing, I would probably assume there was a hardware issue too. But again, I have searched and searched for evidence that the hardware is broken, but cannot find anything.

All of this makes me wonder; maybe the PC arrived with the problem. Perhaps the OS was initially installed with a bad copy of Windows? Maybe when used that same disc to reinstall the OS, I just put the same problem back into the computer.

It has been suggested to me that I conduct a Repair Install of Windows to fix some issues I discovered. Recently I ran the “sfc/ scannow” command and received a message stating that there were corrupt sectors that could not be repaired. But I am afraid to try to fix it with the OEM CD. This is the same CD that failed to fix the issue when I did a full install. Is it possible that if I use this same disc again that I could be replacing the same corrupt system files all over again?

I am curious to hear feedback from others. Have any of you had an experience like this one? Is it possible that the OEM CD I received is damaged? Does this ever happen? Sorry about the length of the post, but at this point, I am grasping at straws. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JMT83

fireberd · 04 Feb 2013

I don't know about the OEM DVD, however I used to do a lot of support on the Dell forums and we saw an occasional new PC with a bad disc image (load) and various problems. Reinstalling from the Dell recovery partition on the hard drive fixes this problem. These were "consumer" model PC's, not the commercial line such as an Optiplex.

However, in you case I would more suspect hardware than the software. I've never seen a corrupted Windows disc, or at least one that would cause BSOD.

BSOD's, depending on what happened can cause corrupt disc sectors, so I don't think its an actual hard drive problem.

Along with installing the OS, you also have to install all the Dell drivers. Windows 7 will install many drivers but not all drivers. On a "consumer" desktop the correct install is (1) Install OS (2) Install Dell Desktop System Software (3) Install motherboard chipset drivers (4) Install device drivers including video, Dell sound drivers, Ethernet, etc.

The Dell Desktop hardware forum section may be something to consider, with knowledgeable users helping users.
Desktop - Dell Community

gregrocker · 04 Feb 2013

Any factory OEM preinstall is itself a corrupt installation of Win7 which is throttled by the sponsored bloatware and duplicate utilities which have much better versions built into Win7. No tech enthusiast would run such an install but instead almost all will Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything you need is in the blue link to get a perfect reinstall that will remain that way as long as you use the tools and methods in the tutorial.