Fresh installation of Windows 7 on an Acer laptop

[csziggy]

13. Windows Memory test says the RAM is OK; I suspect the HDD

The DVD is Windows 7 Home with SP 1 (64 bit).

You're right, Windows 7 Home can't handle a lot of RAM - originally I had ordered it for my computer, but with 32 GB RAM Windows 7 Home just wouldn't work. So I have Pro on my computer, otherwise I could have just used the same disk for this one and just entered the key for it. But this laptop ran for years on Windows 7 Home (factory installed) with no problem.

This laptop has 8 GB RAM - 4 GB is factory default but when I bought the laptop from NewEgg they had a deal for an additional 4 GB. Since my husband kept describing the BSODs as "memory dumps" I ran the memory test first thing. It checks out fine.

I think the HDD is damaged - the files to restore the system to factory defaults was damaged. But I think an additional problem is that partition also included stuff that Acer put in that is needed for the computer to operate - and that is now gone, and was probably corrupt before I wiped it out.

That hidden laptop stuff has always been an arcane mystery to me so I didn't think about it before I wiped it. Since I think it was corrupted and part of the problem, it's no big loss - but it doesn't fix the computer.