Is this a hardware or Windows problem?

Ok I've got a Toshiba P300-150, which has just come back from its second repair from Toshiba.

It's been playing up ever since I got it back. Freezing on windows, sometimes nothing appears on screen when you turn it on.

Most recently I've been getting the blue screen of death. Various errors have appeared I wrote one down "STOP: 0X0000008E" - check to see new hardware is properly installed.

So I'v subsequently done a HDD recovery to get it back to its factory state, and now everytime I turn on it goes to install Windows but comes up with an error saying "the computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows, click "OK" to restart the computer then restart the installation"

So I click ok, it restarts itself and then goes back to the same error message ??

So as this computer is under warranty I want to be sure I don't be fobbed off by Toshiba by them telling me its a problem with the software as last time I rang them they told me to reformat to check that.

So does this look like a software problem or hardware.

Thanks guys.

 

If you're restoring from optical media, then that might be a bad disk or burn. I've had that issue many times in the past with restores, and it's always a installation medium problem. I had to start using a USB drive to install Windows 7 because I guess my ODD cannot competently burn a disk anymore.

 

Na its a HDD recovery.

 

The best way to know if it's a software problem is to use a different install media.

If it's a hardware problem as is likely, then it is likely related to the memory or hard disk, so it can't hurt to run some tests. Without a functional OS, you may want to try a different install media (such as a copy of XP) in order to run a manufacturer-specific hard disk diagnostic utility. If that comes up clean, try running something like memtest86+ or Vista/7's built-in memory diagnostic.