Error codes - system reboots itself - pulling hair out

[paisean]

So, about a year back I upgraded most of the hardware in my computer ( New board, AMD 6 core chip, 4 gigs of RAM, SD harddrive ) I did this because I was maxing out my proccessor.

I am currently running Windows XP 32bit with the 3GMs of ram enabl.

I do a heavy amount of music production so I love my RAM

Once I get to the end of a songs production ( heavyier ram and about 20% of CPU usuage ) my computer will often just reboot itsself - it will do this sometimes within 10 minutes of the project being open, some times it will do it with the computer just idling. There are no blue screens, some times it will freeze and hang, then restart, some times its just a clean reboot; however, I do get a "your computer has recovered from a serious problem"

I suspect the following:

Using too much RAM ( since I am at the top end of what a 32bit system can use

Powersupply ( only thing I didn't replace ) voltage spikes etc etc

Videocard ( another element I didn't replace )

Latency buss issues ( I changed the buss priority primarly to my soundcard - taking away from the video card, in order to cut down on latency )

Am I crazy ?

I am also planning on moving over to XP 64 to rid my self of the ram issue, but I want to make sure I have everything else in order so I don't just transfer a problem over.

Attached is the pick of the eeor codes I get.

 

[DelJo63]

Hmm; use the Eventvwr.msc and look for ERRORS under SYSTEM - - much easier to debug

 

[gbhall]

I'm not sure it would be a good idea to upgrade to XP 64-bit. When it first appeared on XP, 64-bit working was new, and inevitably full of bugs, and with little or no driver support. To the best of my knowledge, that situation never improved much, as MS put most of it's 64-bit development effort into what became Windows 7.

Consequently, 64-bit windows is fine and indeed much faster and better in many ways than 32-bit processing, but only on Windows 7 and later. Quite apart from that, it can be a real headache trying to find an install disc for XP of any flavour.

 

[DelJo63]

Consequently, 64-bit windows is fine and indeed much faster and better in many ways than 32-bit processing, but only on Windows 7 and later. Quite apart from that, it can be a real headache trying to find an install disc for XP of any flavour.

very much agree

 

[paisean]

From what iv scene all my existing hardware has Xp 64bit support, so it seems it won't be an issue. As for Windows 7, I would love to move over to Windows 7; however, I have some older production programs that do not have support for Windows 7, and this where my problem stems from.

 

[DelJo63]

Windows 7 Pro has a compatibility mode which will run XP software in SP2 or SP3 mode - - as well as others.

 

[paisean]

:O shut the front door.......

You just made my day sir

 

[gbhall]

Be sure to take note of that Pro in there ! Compatibility mode is a professional-only feature.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html is worth looking at for research purposes. I have no personal experience of using it, but have gained an impression that it is a very competant system which can solve most problems of running older software in a very wide range of situations. But beware that programs that directly access hardware (as used to be very common) may or may not react well to the different timing features involved when simulating an old real operating system.

Now that you realise you would be dependant on that specific feature to run your preferred software, I would strongly advise you to research as well as you can (software author, user helpdesk, use groups etc) to discover if there is any existing experience to draw on when using your music production software in windows 7 XP compatibility. See http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/01/windows-xp-mode/ and this example http://www.blackbaudknowhow.com/tech-tips/windows-7-compatibility-mode.htm

Also note, there are other emulation packages that will run happily under Windows 7. E.g. Virtual PC, Virtual box etc