Computer Crash

[OLD]

A few minutes in from start up it will lock solid ,no particular application a hard reset fixes it for the day. i have used system restore and the above is the best at the moment .I have stopped any updating and no new software or hardware recently installed .
Is there a way to log when it crashes and is there anyone that can understand this log any help would be appreciated .

 

[gidon]

OLD - I've used Dr Watson before (integrated into the OS):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... -US;308538
May just give you a clue as to what's causing your crash?
Have you tried booting with a selective startup (Start|Run|msconfig) and selecting a bare boot to see if that helps? If it does you could then slowly add stuff back in?
Cheers
Gidon

 

[BrianD]

What are we talking about here? You unfortunately have not stated what operating system you are referring to. Is it WinMe, Win98, Winnt, WinXP, Mac or Linux?

Then perhaps I can help you with a strategy of solving your problem.

Perhaps you can give info?

 

[OLD]

gidion i cannot get any info from dr. watson it asks for program to open file. I need more info to try selective start up (32 processes running). have taken side panel of computer to aid cooling.
Cpu 47c mb 33c hd 33c .

 

[OLD]

Brian d Its xp2 home 5.1.2600 with sp2.

 

[ike]

Is it an Athlon processor?

 

[gidon]

OLD - any text editor should open the files. Or you can view them in Dr, Watson IIRC. With the selective startup - I would just untick "load System services" and "load startup items". If you have no problems after doing this then at least you know it's a service or program causing the crash - it'll be a start ...
Cheers
Gidon

 

[OLD]

Ike its athlon xp 1673mhz 2000+ thoroughbred-a

 

[ike]

Ike its athlon xp 1673mhz 2000+ thoroughbred-a

... IMO you can't rule out a motherboard fault. I had a similar problem when I upgraded from 98 to XP a few months back. Trawling the interweb geek forums dredged up several common threads,

(i) Inadequate power supply for a Voyager USB modem - tried a powered hub - didn't work.

(ii) Faulty PSU - replaced with no difference.

(iii) Overheating CPU - checked fan/reinstalled heatsink with fresh paste - no difference.

(iv) incompatibility issue with Athlon processors (or perhaps the associated chipset).

Either way after trying a lot of things including reinstalling OS, re-mounting CPU heatsink, checking memory sockets etc and replacing the PSU, I was very fortunate to find a replacement secondhand motherboard which cured the problem.

According to several forum threads I found, others have solved the problem by replacing the MB / switching to Intel.

cheers,

Ike

 

[OLD]

Its still locking . looked at system tools event viewer. system:-
error 9.33.09 dhcp (event 1002)
Also in application:-
error 9.33.25 truevector service (event 5007) this occured twice more at 9.33.27 & 9.33.28
these errors seem to occure on lock up
the computer is on home network if i click repair connection it cannot complete clearing dns cashe
Can any computer expert help please .

 

[Sailor]

Evening,

From the above message, 'TrueVector' is a component of Zone Alarm from what I recall. I'll try to find out more, but if you have Zone Alarm installed, it might be worthwhile trying it with Zone Alarm disabled and if necessary removed. (I seem to remember that even when disabled, Zone Alarm still launched the True Vector service.

Colin

 

[Sailor]

Me again,

Getting somewhere -

It seems your firewall is stopping your computer getting an IP address.

Event ID 1002 relates to:

The IP address lease <ip> for the Network Card with network address <MAC> has been denied by the DHCP server <server> (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

Event ID 5007 relates to:

A file in the TrueVector Service is corrupt.

Now, True Vector also applies to CA EzFirewall, so it seems you have one or the other?

Back to un-installing whichever one it is.
I know removing ZA is a hassle, the auto-removal doesn't always do it's job, but we'll cross that when we come to it.

Regards,

Colin

 

[OLD]

ZA removed ok enabled MS f/wall will monitor.

 

[RogerS]

You can easily re-install/repair ZA if it proves to be the culprit

 

[BrianD]

Hi there,

I think that you have a network problem - however - I suspect that this is disguising a video card / memory problem.

I say this because it locks up. if it was just the network you would have a network failure but the system wouldbe accessible and work; just that you cannot connect to the 'Net.

Whe you reboot, hard reset, it works. So the network actually works after all and for the whole day as you point out.

Now the fact the truvector error should be sorted out and by uninstall first, reboot, then reinstall is the better routine.

The is a utility to test your memory, Works quite well and performs a stress test. If it fails then (do this test first thing in the morning) you know the memory is at fault. I will post the utility name (it is free).

If you have a "warmed up PC" the residual charge on the memory will not allow the detection to be reliable. I know it is quirky but it is best to cold start, login and test.

Will post ASAP

Cheers

 

[BrianD]

The utility is found at:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/rmm ... ral-3.html

The application is RightMark Memory Analyzer version 3.65

Use the stress test component and that should trigger of the problem. If so then you need to replace the memory.

Of course it is not outside the relms of possibilities that the applications on the PC have become corrupt. I would not worry in updating the PC in any event. Always start with the IE Windows update utility and finish with this as well.

Cheers.

 

[OLD]

Just had it fail so removed one stick of ram and it started so once again am monitoring .

 

[OLD]

Thats fixed it 512mhz of 'crucial' ram faulty .
Many thanks to all who helped me to get a result to a difficult intermittent problem i am well happy.

 

[BrianD]

Well done! Glad you are sorted out, except for the cost of replatment RAM.

Using Crucial is gonna cost you hopefully not too much.

Cheers,

BrianD

 

[RogerS]

Brian

I ran 'alltests' on my laptop and Test 8 failed. Are these tests exhaustive (realistic, I guess)...or do some of the tests stretch things a bit? In other words, yes..'that test will fail always on that computer regardless of memory etc'.

Thanks. Reason for asking is that csrss.exe is consuming 100% CPU time and it's only a tiddly 6k program. The laptop has been exhaustively checked for viruses/trojans/rootkits etc and so I guess I may be answering my own question.

Roger