XP freezing and crashing

[a_lopes23]

My system just started randomly freezing or rebooting whenever i'm multi-tasking. I've had a couple of different blue screens, the first one said IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and the other said PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Whenever i'm playing a video it will freeze after a few minutes of playback, and also if i am downloading and i try to open another window, it will freeze. I've tried formatting and re-installing windows xp, but it is still acting up. I've also tried updating all of my drivers, but it hasn't helped any. Can somebody please help me out???

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

What are your system specs, including your psu?

Take a look at the fist link in my signature, for info on how to find your system specs.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[a_lopes23]

specs

Here are my system specs

AMD Athlon XP 1900+
epox 8k3a+ motherboard
726 mb sdram
nvidia geforce 4 ti 4200 video card
maxtor 6 120gb hard drive
via ac'97 soundcard
windows xp pro

 

[howard_hopkinso]

What psu do you have?

I`d recommend that you test your ram.

Download the memtest86+ programme from www.memtest.org.

If you don`t have a floppy drive, there is a pre-built iso version available, that you can burn to cd, and then boot from that.

Let the programme run for at least seven passes.

Regards Howard

 

[a_lopes23]

psu???

I tested my ram and there were no errors, i'm not sure what else to look for

 

[Liquidlen]

My system just started randomly freezing or rebooting whenever i'm multi-tasking. I've had a couple of different blue screens, the first one said IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and the other said PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Whenever i'm playing a video it will freeze after a few minutes of playback, and also if i am downloading and i try to open another window, it will freeze. I've tried formatting and re-installing windows xp, but it is still acting up. I've also tried updating all of my drivers, but it hasn't helped any. Can somebody please help me out???

I always think first about the simplest solution ,when a working machine starts getting errors ,I am surprised by the the number of people that immediately re-install to solve an issue.Software/drivers cause by far the largest number of computer problems, and if you re-install and load all of the same Software/drivers you can often end up in the same predicament.

With all due respect to Howard (who is very knowledgable) and gave you good advice .I am simply saying,check all of the easy troubleshooting spots for software/drivers before tearing into hardware .
-BSOD's usually have a file name mentioned, go there first. especially in relation to what you were doing when the error occurs.
-The Event log and Dr watson logs are excellent for digging out particular software/driver conflicts.
You mention running a video and multi-tasking when your errors began. I would suspect Vid drivers (remember the latest is not always the one that will work the best on your machine.)
When BSOD's hit on high use periods(Multitasking) ,can often mean conflicts between software/drivers that are trying to access the same memory areas.
Dig out some error messages and the associated files mentioned ,then post them back.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Psu=power supply unit.

I agree with what Liquid says.

Originally posted by CPC2004.

When Windows crashes with blue screen, it writes a system event 1001 and a minidump to the folder \windows\minidump. Check system event 1001 and it has the content of the blue screen

Event ID: 1001
Source: Save Dump
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.The bugcheck was : 0xc000000a (0xe1270188, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0x804032100).
Microsoft Windows..... A dump was saved in: .......

Control Panel -> Adminstrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> System -> Event 1001. Copy the content and paste it back here

Zip 5 to 6 minidumps and attach the zip files here.

Regards Howard :grinthumb

 

[gizmofish]

hi, i had exactly the same problem. amd's are thirsty for power. i would recommend that you run at least a 400watt power supply ( big rectangular box inside your case that kettle type lead connects to). also perform a "scandisc" on your hard drive/s if you keep getting errors on your main drive "c" this will also cause this fault. hope that helps...

 

[a_lopes23]

psu= sparkle 350w

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x10000050 (0x8000ffb4, 0x00000001, 0xbf802522, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092805-01.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000000c (0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092505-01.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x100000d1 (0x08be409c, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xba0d1cdb). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092305-01.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x10000050 (0xf0f73601, 0x00000000, 0xf735d848, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092205-01.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x1000000a (0x000003bf, 0x000000ff, 0x00000000, 0x804e3b58). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092005-03.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x1000008e (0xc0000005, 0x8054b060, 0xb4072bfc, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092005-02.dmp.

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x1000000a (0xd0558984, 0x000000ff, 0x00000000, 0x806ed10d). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092005-01.dmp.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

One of your minidump files crashes at ntoskrnl.exe. Could be caused by the Alcohol 120% issue.

One crashes at SYMEVENT.SYS This is part of norton/symantec event library.

One crashes with memory corruption, Check you ram.

Two crash at a347bus.sys, this is a virtual driver associated with Alcohol 120% programme, and can cause crashes with other system files, when it loads at boot up. This is a known issue, particulaly with XP. Uninstall the Alcohol 120% programme, and stop the a347bus.sys from loading at start up, and see if your problem goes away.

P.S I am not an expert at reading minidumps. CPC2004 is the forum guru around here. Maybe he can confirm, or otherwise what I`ve said.

Regards Howard

 

[a_lopes23]

I ran memtest again and came up with no errors
i also uninstalled alcohol 120, but could not find where a347bus.sys could be stopped from starting up.
i also couldn't find symevent.sys
windows froze again while i was playing a video, but i didn't get a bsod.
on one of the bsod's one of the files referrered to was win32k.sys, i don't know if that might be the problem or not.

 

[cpc2004]

Hi,

Howard's finding is correct and it is faulty ram. You can run memtest to stress the ram. If memtest reports the ram is faulty, ram is bad. However Memtest is not a perfect tool to test the memory as some faulty can pass memtest.

Suggestion
1. Reseat the memory stick to another memory slot
2. Downclock the ram
3. Clean the inside the computer case
4. Make sure that the ram is compatible to the motherboard
If it still crashes, diagnostic which memory stick is faulty
1. Take out one memory stick. If windows does not crash, the removed memory stick is faulty.
2. If you have only one memory stick, replace the ram

 

[a_lopes23]

i just had another bsod, here what it said

MAXIMUM_WAIT_OBJECTS_EXCEEDED
STOP:0x0000000c, (0x00000000,0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

i will try cpc2004's suggestions and post again tomorrow, thanks.

 

[a_lopes23]

hey guys
i have a big problem now.
i took my ram out and put it in a different slot, when i started up i got a bsod on the win xp loading screen.
so i shut it off and tried putting the stick in the original slot, and i'm still getting the bsod, i can't even load up in safe mode.
here is what the bsod said.

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
0x0000009c (0x00000000, 0x8054d370, 0xc46cc000, 0x00000136)

PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[cpc2004]

Bugcheck 9C is hardware problem at CPU. CPU has L2 cahce memory and probably the cache memory is faulty.

 

[a_lopes23]

i don't quite understand, what do you suggest i do?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

This is a hardware issue: an unrecoverable hardware error has occurred. The parameters have different meanings depending on what type of CPU you have but, while diagnostic, rarely lead to a clear solution. Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU).

What cpc2004 is suggesting, is that it may be the L2 cache ram that is bad.

If this is the case, then your cpu is faulty.

Things you can try are.

Unplug your computer from the mains, and open your case. Clear the cmos by either using the jumper on the mobo, or by taking out the cmos battery for a couple of minutes.

Cleanout any dust, making sure that there isn`t any in the ram slots.

Clean the contacts of your ram stick with an eraser, and blow away the remnants. Put the ram back into it`s original slot.

Take off the heatsink, and clean off all the old thermal paste/pad from both the heatsink, and cpu. Apply some new thermal paste, and reattach the heatsink.

Now disconnect anything not required to boot your system. Just leave the cpu/harddrive/ram/videocard, and try to boot your computer.

Does your computer attempt to boot? Do you hear any beeps?

Regards Howard