[Curley_Boy]

Ok I've been posting quite alot on these boards recently and most of the replies I've recived have been most helpful so heres hoping someone can help me with this mess:-

I've recently reinstalled Windows 2000 Professional on my PC after X-Setup destroyed my old one.

However over the past week i've noticed strange things going on with my 'new' set up. Every few hours or so it will freeze up solid.. no BSOD, no error msgs... or anything in the event logs or DrWatson.. it just stops responding. I usually have alot of stuff open at once (10-20 apps) but 2000 on the old set up never had any problems, its only since i've reinstalled the new copy that i've had to use my reset button at all! and its driving me nuts...

I've also had to disable the floppy disk controller in device manager because it kept constantly trying to access the drive when Disk Defragmenter was launched?! I've scanned for viruses and trojens but nothing has come up..

Does anyone have any ideas where i could start looking, or what steps i could try?

If you need any technical specs (hardware or software just ask)

[Sampson]

Check to see that you don't have something scheduled, like backup. But, to be honest with you it sounds like you either have a Controller card going out or some bad memory modules. This might be coupled with the build up of heat and if so perhaps you have some fans that are not cutting in or a power supply beginning to short itself out.

[Dirty Harry]

Not much comes to mind on the fairly general description, but I'd agree with Sampson that there is a foul smell of hardware failure in the air. Does your freezes always happen after a few hours - like never shortly after a reboot? If so that would sort of, maybe, perhaps rule out temp and voltage trouble. Have you added any hardware at all in the past month? Updated Bios? Any LAN cards ?. Are you really sure you have installed /updated all the drivers like it was before the reinstall? Your disk drive trouble again points in the direction of an install gone sour.

The most basic of diagnostic tips is to run the sys case open with as little hardware connected as possible - one stick of memory, no USB devices, no printers, joysticks etc. If you do that, and care to do a reinstall you'd at least narrow down the potential troublemakers, but you've propably considered this already.

H.

[Curley_Boy]

Well i could try the minimal hardware approach, but i haven't changed any hardware or drivers since i re-installed the OS last week.

Im going to try removing the case lid, and cleaning out the dust, see if that helps, VIA hardware monitor does show that the CPU/Internal temp can get quite hot after long periods of running.. and the voltages can look a bit to high/low on occaision.. I'll keep you updated

[kgeissler]

What kind of CPU and cooling do you have? Are you overheating?

[Curley_Boy]

I have an AMD Socket A Thunderbird 1100MHz Processor, with the standard heatsink/fan cooling combo (im not sure what manufacturer without opening my PC case... will check later.

VIA Hardware monitor says my CPU is running at an average temp of 50c (slightly higher if running alot of intensive apps) I do not overclock my CPU btw.

[Dirty Harry]

To see if its a temp problem run the system case open.

I'm still curious about the every few hours thing. After such a freeze, does the system run another few hours before crashing again? Does the system freeze if you just let it sit there? Try first to run a screensaver overnight and then (for example) have 3Dmark looping 4hrs.

You cannot be sure that you haven't changed any drivers, Windows doesn't necessarily install exactly the same way every time, and sometimes it identifes hardware slightly wrong. Also, if you run the Service Packs they might update differently depending on whats on the machine already.

How many memory sticks do you have?

[Curley_Boy]

I have 2 memory sticks: (in DIMM0 and DIMM1)

128Mb Hyundai 133MHz SD-RAM 3 CAS latency (at 100Mhz)
128Mb NoName 100Mhz SD-RAM 2/3 CAS latency

The freezes generally occured whilst i was playing CDs (especailly in Winamp) or ocassionally whilst running 3D games (Q3, SOF II). However most freezes occured if the machine was left doing nothing, perhaps with a screen saver running...

the odd thing is that the machine only started acting oddly after my reinstall of 2k.. before the X-Setup rubbish it was fine

I have since then done a complete repartition and reformat of my HD and started again... I have had only one freeze since then.

Im going to try cleaning the dust out of the system and running with the case open for a bit and see what happens. Could it just be a coincidence that my hardware got too dusty or overheated at the same time as a installed a dodgy app that crashed my previous OS?

[Dirty Harry]

Are running your mem @ cas3 and 100Mhz then? If not, try that, if yes try to take out the 100Mhz stick just to see if that canges anything. Any service packs installed ?

My guess would be that you have some hardware problem, especially as it seems the problem contimues (?) after a reinstall. One freeze is one too many, but they happen everywhere.

H.

[Curley_Boy]

Im running both sticks at 100Mhz CAS 3 latency.

I will try going down to one ram stick if the problem persists. However the machine has been stable with this configuration for a long time, so unless the RAM has suddenly gone bad, then this is unlikley to be the cause of the problem... as i've had faulty RAM in before and that produced stop 0xE1, 0x50, etc errors.

Windows 2000 Professional SP2, SRP1, all critical updates as of 21/5/02. plus the COM+ 18.1, app compatibilty update, and root certificates thingy.

[Dirty Harry]

It's pure guesswork, but I'd think that it was a coincidence that you got the problems at the same time you did a reinstall. This is because you seem so confident that your reinstall is the same it was before (drivers, updates etc) and because you've have this problem even after an additional reinstall.

Admitted, its ony about a 51% propability its hardware problems and a 49% propability that your reinstall isn't exactly as your old one was. For instance, maybe your BIOS settings were different when you did the first install than they are now? Or you've added some hardware ?

H.

[Curley_Boy]

Nope BIOS and hardware remain unchanged... mystery this is. Still i'll keep you posted of my progress.

[NIGHTCD]

Did You format the harddrive before installing the new operation system??? (then i meen full format not quick format) If You did not do the full format then i think thats your problem.

[sapiens74]

****ing VIA.

Buy a p4 bro.

Save yourself the trouble

[yakkob]

[Curley_Boy]

I repartitioned the HD and did a full re-format (NTFS) using the win2k setup program.

I will try the VIA latency patch, i did have it on b4, but I will try it again if problems persist, thx.

[Curley_Boy]

*sigh* Well so much for that.. there i was browsing away and BOOM stop 0xA error pops up!

Geeze i thought i'd seen the last of those...

'The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000000a (0x00000004, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x80430f60). Microsoft Windows 2000 [v15.2195]. A dump was saved in: C:\WINNT\Minidump\Mini052302-01.dmp'

I've already read everything MS has to say on this type of error.. it seems unless your a Programmer or technical support expert.. your stuck.. all double dutch to me.

I've now gone down to one stick of 128Mb ram.. and put the VIA latency patch back on.

[sapiens74]

COuld be the ram. Buy only namebrand high quality ram if y ou have a VIa based motherboard.


Things you cannot go cheap on:

1. First Dates
2. Anniversaries
3. RAM

[Sampson]

Due you have any anti-virus software running in the background?
Did you disable all hardware anti-virus protection in the BIOS?

[Curley_Boy]

I have disabled anti-virus protection in the BIOS, and have AVG 6.0 anti-virus running as a system service (It's Windows 2000 compatible i've checked).

However as stated i have had no problems with any of the firewall/virus software i have had installed before.

One possibility is that the processor is overheating and gradually breaking down OR 1 of my drivers is dodgy.

Two that spring to mind are either the Ge-force 3 driver or the SupraExpress 56i V PRO one (both are unsigned and i can't get signed ones). I doubt its the GF3 because if it was there would be many more people having similar problems...

I have a Diamond SupraExpress 56i V PRO. Windows 2000 detects it as a HCF 56K PCI Modem, (which doesn't work natch). I have found that by installing it as a SupraExpress 56i PRO (the nearest match drivers in the win2k driver database) it works fine. The 'offical' drivers from the www.diamondmm.com page ALWAYS produce a stop 0xA IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

Is there any way to decypher from the stop error mentioned in my previous post which driver or program caused the error? (I was connected to the internet at the time of the crash).