Windows XP SP3 freezes at start up

I'm back. My computer got a clean bill of health from Broni. Sad to say my system is still unstable though. It's been pretty much unusable for the past week.

kryan, are you able to attach the five most recent minidumps?

Sure, here you go.

Okay, four errors are 0xA and these are are usually caused by either hardware or faulty drivers that attempt to address a higher IRQ Level than they are designed for resulting in system crashes.

The first three cited the nForce 4 SATA harddrive controller driver SiWinAcc.sys as the cause of your issues. So I was thinking you either needed to update the chipset drivers or uninstall and reinstall the current chipset drivers.

But then the fourth 0xA minidump file specifically cited memory corruption as your issue. Memory corruption takes precedence over all other cited causes.

This was reinforced by your fifth and final minidump file that was error 0x4E: PFN_LIST_CORRUPT and this code is probably the single strongest indicator of corrupted memory. And that is exactly what it cited.

Now I went back through your posts and noted that you did run memtest before without errors but you don't tell us how many Passes you ran it for. The minimum is 7 Passes and the more the better. As Bookwyrm rightly reminded me we've seen errors occur after 9 Passes and beyond. If you had not run Memtest for at least 7 Passes then do so; and we recommend 10 or more Passes at this juncture. If memtest still doesn't find errors then find the voltage specs of your RAM and compare it to the voltage setting in your BIOS. Do they match?

Hi Kryan,

I had a similar problem with a machine once, and i took it to a repair shop, and my problem was overheating processor apparentley, he said tthere wasnt enough of that gel between the processor and the fan, after putting the gel inbetween i booted ok, and he suggested maybe a bigger fan because it was getting quite hot, but the machiine worked well eversince...so its just a suggestion for you to think on.

regards
zoot

@Kryan... I would follow Route44's advice on Memtest.
He helps people with memory issues all the time, and often spots them before I have been convinced that is their issue.

Additionally, another thought has crossed my mind...
Sometimes faulty software can present similar kinds of problems.
One way this can happen is with what is sometimes referred to as cracks or warez.
Sometimes software is marketed as legit with what is known as a "keygen", and sometimes such are available from download sites.
Can you confirm that you have no cracks, warez or keygen programs?

Related to this: Do your problems occur most often with your torrent sites?

@Route44
I let memtest run for 11 passes the first time. I ran it again after you suggestion but it seems to freeze every time. The timer under wall time and the progress bars stop moving after a minute or two. One of these recent scans did show errors.

@B00KWyrm
Guilty. That type of business is rampant in my country. Will remove them ASAP. Also, these problems occur within a couple of minutes of starting my computer regardless of my activity. Even when I leave it idle it still freezes.

I take it this recent scan was for Memtest? If so, any errors with memtest means you have corrupted memory that has to be replaced unless a) the RAM simply needs to be reseated or b) the motherboard set the RAM voltage incorrectly and thus differs from the manufacture's designed specs.

But since this system has been running fine previously I would say b isn't the issue.

* Also, Bookwyrm's advice is excellent.

Okay Kryan...
1zoot1 has made a good point. If your processor is overheating, you could have additional troubles...
If you have not already done so would recommend Everest to check your system temps.
Some here recommend speedfan, but I do not find it to be consistently reliable.

Two OTHER things for you, based on your last post...
Your memtest results prove that you do have a memory problem. This can occur for at least three different reasons...
1. Overclocking or Over/under voltage: Are your memory settings in BIOS set to mfg. specs? OR
2. Bad Memory Stick/Sticks: Have you tested one at a time? OR
3. Bad capacitors on your main board.

Your Cracks/Warez software is likely a further cause of additional problems.
Such problems may not be limited to instability.
Cracks/Warez are sometimes written with trojan/malware in them compromising your system security.
Usually there are legal freeware alternatives to running cracks.
For example:
1. Use Linux instead of a cracked Windows.
2. Use Open Office instead of a cracked MSOffice.
3. Etc
If you need suggestions for a different program, let us know, and we will try to help. Otherwise...

Not trying to be mean here, but since we do not support the use of illegal software,
as far as I am concerned, you will need to start a new thread after you have resolved the software issues.

Thanks for understanding.

Programs have been removed.

So have you gained stability?

No improvement. It still freezes occasionally.

Your memtest results prove that you do have a memory problem. This can occur for at least three different reasons...
1. Overclocking or Over/under voltage: Are your memory settings in BIOS set to mfg. specs? OR
2. Bad Memory Stick/Sticks: Have you tested one at a time? OR
3. Bad capacitors on your main board. Are you able to do a visual inspection of the board? May require magnification.

The two scans I am having you run next are to look for faulty software that may cause what appears to be a hardware problem.

Please download WVCheck .

• Double click WVCheck.exe. (If you downloaded the zipped version you will need to extract it.)
• As indicated by the prompt, This program can take a while depending on your hard drive space.
• Once the program is done, copy the contents of the notepad file as a reply.

And Download CKScanner and save to your desktop.

• Doubleclick CKScanner.exe and click Search For Files.
• When the cursor hourglass disappears, click [b/]Save List To File.[/b]
• A message box will verify that the file is saved.
• Double-click the CKFiles.txt icon on your desktop and copy/paste the contents in your next reply.

Windows Validation Check
Version: 1.9.10.4
Log Created On: 1652_26-10-2010
-----------------------

Windows Information
-----------------------
Windows Version: Windows XP Service Pack 3
Windows Mode: Normal
Systemroot Path: C:\WINDOWS

WVCheck's Auto Update Check
-----------------------
Auto-Update Option: Download updates automatically, but ask me when I want to install them.
-----------------------
Last Success Time for Update Detection: 2010-10-26 20:50:55
Last Success Time for Update Download: 2010-10-17 18:05:33
Last Success Time for Update Installation: 2010-10-17 18:56:42


WVCheck's Registry Check Check
-----------------------
Antiwpa: Not Found
-----------------------
Chew7Hale: Not Found
-----------------------


WVCheck's File Dump
-----------------------
WVCheck found no known bad files.


WVCheck's Dir Dump
-----------------------
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Windows Genuine Advantage
Size: 0 bytes
Matched: *Genuine?Advantage*
-----------------------


WVCheck's Missing File Check
-----------------------
WVCheck found no missing Windows files.


WVCheck's MBAM Quarantine Check
-----------------------
There were no bad files quarantined by MBAM.


WVCheck's HOSTS File Check
-----------------------
WVCheck found no bad lines in the hosts file.


WVCheck's MD5 Check
EXPERIMENTAL!!
-----------------------
user32.dll - b26b135ff1b9f60c9388b4a7d16f600b


-------- End of File, program close at 1656_26-10-2010 --------





CKScanner - Additional Security Risks - These are not necessarily bad
scanner sequence 3.MN.11
----- EOF -----

Okay Kryan, those scans did not find any potential problems.
Now I would like you to re-rerun VEW, per previous instructions.
I want to see what problems have been recorded since you last ran it.
Post the results. I have some ideas, (see below), and want to see if your report bears it out.

After you post the results, then I want you to disable or uninstall Spybot, especially if you have Teatimer active.
Spybot is good, but sometimes Teatimer can be problematic.
While I am reviewing your VEW log, you can then check your operating conditions... to see if they have improved at all.

I am beginning to suspect your SCSI driver and/or bios setup of your drive.
I'll see if anything in VEW helps to confirm that suspicion and, if so, point you to some possible solutions.

Vino's Event Viewer v01c run on Windows XP in English
Report run at 27/10/2010 5:09:13 PM

Note: All dates below are in the format dd/mm/yyyy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Application' Log - error Type
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 09/10/2010 5:18:17 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 1000 Source: Application Error
Faulting application rxkhqfw5.exe, version 1.0.15.15281, faulting module usp10.dll, version 1.420.2600.5969, fault address 0x00014240.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 09/10/2010 4:42:05 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 20 Source: Google Update
The event description cannot be found.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 09/10/2010 4:28:16 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 20 Source: Google Update
The event description cannot be found.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 09/10/2010 3:02:09 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 1000 Source: Application Error
Faulting application chrome.exe, version 0.0.0.0, faulting module gcswf32.dll, version 10.1.85.3, fault address 0x0039f771.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:22:32 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3364) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:22:32 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3364) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:22:22 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3364) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:22:22 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3364) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:19:57 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3136) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:19:57 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3136) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:19:47 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3136) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:19:47 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3136) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:17:26 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (2652) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:17:26 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (2652) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:17:16 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (2652) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:17:16 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (2652) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:14:14 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3068) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:14:14 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3068) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:14:04 PM
Type: error Category: 3
Event: 455 Source: ESENT
wuaueng.dll (3068) SUS20ClientDataStore: Error -1032 (0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log.

Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 05/10/2010 3:14:04 PM
Type: error Category: 1
Event: 489 Source: ESENT
wuauclt (3068) An attempt to open the file "C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore\Logs\edb.log" for read only access failed with system error 32 (0x00000020): "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. ". The open file operation will fail with error -1032 (0xfffffbf8).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'System' Log - error Type
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Log: 'System' Date/Time: 27/10/2010 4:56:48 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 27/10/2010 4:56:48 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 5:02:27 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 5:02:27 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 4:49:43 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 4:49:43 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 5:28:31 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 26/10/2010 5:28:31 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 25/10/2010 6:05:24 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 25/10/2010 6:05:24 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 25/10/2010 6:02:40 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 25/10/2010 6:02:40 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 24/10/2010 6:18:30 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 24/10/2010 6:18:30 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 24/10/2010 6:14:15 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7000 Source: Service Control Manager
The StarWind AE Service service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 24/10/2010 6:14:15 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 23/10/2010 6:14:16 AM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 21/10/2010 3:00:08 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 21/10/2010 2:57:10 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

Log: 'System' Date/Time: 21/10/2010 2:50:27 PM
Type: error Category: 0
Event: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager
The HID Input Service service terminated with the following error: The specified module could not be found.

SOrry to be so delayed getting back to you Kryan.

Your application logs:
Your last - Log: 'Application' Date/Time: 09/10/2010 5:18:17 PM - is some time ago
And it should have been resolved by your Anti-malware work with Broni.

Your System logs:
StarWind AE - Can you identify this for me?
Is it a Networking application? OR perhaps instead an "Alcohol" application?
This one does seem to be providing most of your recent "Events" and may require attention to resolve your issues.

StarWind is a service related to Alcohol 120%. I uninstalled the application a while ago. I had to do it manually beacuse the uninstaller kept giving an error. I followed the instructions on their support site to remove it. The process involved deleting registry keys, however a few of the keys listed could not be found. This may be a remnant of that procedure.

About my voltage settings, my BIOS has it set to Auto. Is that bad? I can't find my invoice so I can't say exactly what model is installed. All I know is that it's Kingston DDR2.

Spybot's Teatimer is disabled on my system.

Regarding my system's performance lately, freezing does still occur, though not as often as it used to. A new problem is occurring now. Every so often, I will get weird artifacts on the screen that distort the whole display and make it unusable. These sometimes occur during the BIOS POST sequence.

I think I've removed the StarWind service that was associated with Alcohol. Still having issues though.