Can a screwy acting operating system destory hardware?

[stabber]

ie: Windows XP? I work for the state government and my division has unlimited licenses for XP. A co-worker burned me a copy. It's acted a litte screwy on some of my other machines in the past. On my new machine it seems ok. Just to be sure though:

1. Is it possible a direct copy of XP would cause problems?
2. Say it is corrupt, is it possible it could address hardware incorrectly and lead to failure?

Thanks for entertaining this weird question

[Avatar28]

You're bordering on bad talk here. Assuming that you're talking about your work PC.

But to answer your question it should (generally) NOT be possible for software to destroy your hardware.

[Agent_Mull]

Originally posted by Avatar28
You're bordering on bad talk here.
How is this bad talk? He said his division has unlimited lisences for XP, so he could justify burning it by saying he uses it for work.

[macklin01]

Originally posted by Agent_Mull

How is this bad talk? He said his division has unlimited lisences for XP, so he could justify burning it by saying he uses it for work.

It's a site license for government-owned computers. Any other use (e.g., use on a private computer located off-site, even if used for work) is in all likelihood a violation of the site license and thereby software piracy. -- Paul

[DaveSauce]

it has nothing to do with the fact that it was burned.....as far as I know, windows Cds don't have, and never have, had any sort of protection on them preventing them from being burned. They do have copy protection, though. For 98, you had to have the CD to install hardware. For XP, you need to register the key.

Anyhow, the problem does not lie in windows itself. If any of the files got corrupted in the burning process, there's a 1 in 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000 chance that they will cause hardware failure and/or damage.

Now, a screwy acting SYSTEM (as opposed to operating system) is different. We all have (basically) the same version of windows. Yours is no different from mine. What causes it to be screwy is either the hardware you install or the software you install.

A further definition of "screwy" would be in order, if we were to help you diagnose the problem.

[Tebore]

I find that using any program other than CloneCD to make windows CDs doesn't make the CD exactly the same as the original. (I make extra copies to bring to LANs In case I need to do recoveries.)