Computer freezes regularly. BIOS often reports conflicts

[rpochoda]

Model: HP dv5000 laptop
CPU: AMD Turion 64 ML-34
Motherboard: HP 30A4
Ram: 1024 MB total on 2 sticks, 159.5 MHz
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress 200 Series
PSU: HP AC Adaptor PPP009H (hope this is what you want)
OS: Win XP SP3

The computer freezes regularly. I haven’t noticed any pattern. Also, on booting, the BIOS often, but not always, reports these resource conflicts:
PCI Serial Bus Controller: slot 03, B:06, D:04, F:02
Mass Storage Controller: slot 03, B:06, D:04, F:03
PCI Mass Storage Controller: slot 03, B:06, D:04, F:04
PCI Network Controller: slot 04, B:06, D:04, F:00
It also reports that the CPU is on B:06, D:04, F:00. (I don’t understand these conflict reports.)

Until recently, when these conflicts showed up, the device manager said that the WLAN and Ethernet adapters, and IEEE 1394 Bus controller failed to start. Now however, I just get the BIOS message, while the device manager reports everything’s OK. My WLAN connection is intermittant, even though the signal is strong and is in the same room as the router.

All installed hardware is original except for the hard disk. I had to replace the disk last year. After installing the OS from the original install disks but before I could update from SP2 to SP3, I got a virus in netbt.sys. My anti-malware software could not isolate the problem, so I overwrote the file from the OS install disk. When I upgraded to SP3, I (mistakenly?) let MS update my drivers. All sorts of problems ensued. I rolled them back and tried to update them individually, but I had trouble finding them on the manufacturers’ websites. I tried using the update driver functions in the device manager, but most said I had the latest driver available. Until a couple of weeks ago, I was seeing a lot of errors in the event viewer like:

"Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0014A5A4DA23. The following error occurred: The operation was canceled by the user. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server."

and

"Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0014A5A4DA23. The following error occurred: The operation was canceled by the user. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server."

But the event viewer has not reported any problems in the last two weeks.

After reading the troubleshooting guide here, I tried to update the graphics driver, even though this is one of the drivers that the device manager reports is up to date. I downloaded it from CNET. When I tried to run the install, I was told the file is corrupted. Downloaded again – got the same message. There are a bunch of other sites that say they have it, but I don’t which to trust. The ATI (AMD) site doesn’t seem to support this device any more. (Or maybe I just can’t figure out where to look.)

Also, two weeks ago I had to take the unit apart to repair the internal power cord. (The one good thing I can say about HP support is that they publish good step-by-step procedures for getting into the internals.) While there, I cleaned out what little schmutz had accumulated, but it was all pretty clean. The freezes and conflicts started well before the power cord problem.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Tmagic650]

Okay, a lot of info here... Laptops are a lot different than desktops when it comes to freezing and BSOD's. You are sill using XP, so the laptop is a bit old now, right? Did you revert to XP from Vista or Windows 7? This would explain the driver difficulties... Are there any yellow exclamation points in the Device Manager? If so, a clean install of XP might be warranted

 

[rpochoda]

I've had the computer for 6 years now. XP SP2 was the original OS. I belatedly upgraded to SP3 after I got the virus last year. (When SP3 was first released, there were all these horror stories around about things going haywire. I should have reconsidered after things settled down, but....)

The device manager is all clear and has been for the last two weeks. But before that, when I would get the conflict message from the BIOS, I would see lots of yellow. I'm trying to remember what may have changed, but this "maintenance mode" has been going on for so many months now that the timeline is not sharp in my mind. I think that I pulled down a new driver for the Broadcom WLAN card using the Device Mgr Update Driver. It did not, however, correct the intermittent WLAN connection.

 

[Tmagic650]

After 6 years, a computer gets bogged down with a lot of unused stuff and things like browsing history, restore points and temp files, not to mention malware and malware damage... XP's Service Pack 3 was a "piece of cake" compared to SP1 and 2. Problems with Service Packs happen when other Windows Updates have been ignored or there are hardware and /or software issues on the computer when the Service Pack is installed. I have created and use a XP install CD that includes Service Pack 3. It is called a "slipstreamed" install disc:
http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream-service-pack-3-into-your-windows-xp-installation-cd

It really makes our dealings with XP much easier

 

[rpochoda]

I've only had the current hard drive for half a year, so there's not six years of accumulated stuff. Nevertheless it's too bad I didn't have a slipstreamed disk when I had to load the OS then. And while I would love to make one now, there's yet one more wrinkle in my maintenance world -- I can't find my install disk. Like I said, I had it six months ago, so it's here somewhere. But I've search everywhere I can think of. I have the Apps and Drivers disk (now pretty much out-of-date) and would have thought the XP OS disk would be nearby, but it's not. So it goes....