Odd Windows 2000 instability problems!

#1 Nebuchadnezzar

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 11
Joined: 14-March 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 06:15 AM

OK this is *really* strange. My computer with it's current hardware is about a year and a half old now. I have an Athlon 1.2ghz with 512MB RAM, TNT2 vid. card running latest nVidia drivers, running Windows 2000 with SP2 & all other updates applied. Never had any problem with it before now. In the last week or so I have the following very distinct and localized problems:

- Decoding of MP3's in Winamp gives me blips and bleeps with static
- Importing an EPS file into Photoshop 7 results in a multitude of errors
- Text formatting in Photoshop 7 also sometimes fouls up
- Acrobat Reader cannot render PDF's properly, in IE or the Reader client
- MS Money 2002 crashes *a lot*

With all that, everything else works fine. The computer doesn't crash or bluescreen, all other programs open, run and close fine.

I figured at first it was just my system showing time for a reload of everything. So I did, and the exact same problems resurfaced.

I don't think it's heat - I've never had a problem before and just to make sure I verified all my fans are working and gave the system a nice de-dustiing of all the internal components. Motherboard Monitor says the chip is holding at 50 degrees C.

Anyone got any ideas?

#2 Brian Frank

Carpal Tunnel

Group: Members
Posts: 3088
Joined: 21-January 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 12:28 PM

You got all the latest patches for those programs? Have you tried a different set of Via chipset drivers?

#3 JP-

old hand

Group: Members
Posts: 1015
Joined: 29-June 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 03:05 PM

OK stupid question ---> Is anything in the system overclocked at all?

#4 Nebuchadnezzar

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 11
Joined: 14-March 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 04:07 PM

OK I should have mentioned about overclocking: nothing is. Also, yes, everything is updated to the latest and greatest except maybe the VIA drivers - I know I have installed whatever comes in the driver pack of the Windows 2000 install, where do I try updated ones?

The thing that is weird is that everything has always worked OK before - is it maybe a newer Windows Update that has suddenly become incompatible with what I have installed on there now?

#5 JP-

old hand

Group: Members
Posts: 1015
Joined: 29-June 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 04:15 PM

You can find updated VIA drivers at www.viahardware.com

#6 Nebuchadnezzar

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 11
Joined: 14-March 01

Posted 04 August 2002 - 11:21 PM

New VIA drivers didn't have any affect.

#7 twilight

stranger

Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: 05-August 02

Posted 05 August 2002 - 06:11 PM

First of all, how many fonts do you have installed in your system? I'm not aware of any problems even when you have an insane number of fonts installed with win2k, but more likely I'm thinking is a corrupt font. I could be way off here, but I know that corrupt fonts can have strange effects on the rest of the system depending on how you're hit.

tcr