Hi guys,
Taking a tip from Acrobat's stellar post, I am going to try to format my first post much the same. I should point out that some of the information herein is stuff I know directly, some is stuff I have learned through careful study online concerning crashes, and some is reported by a local tech support guy who has spent hours and hours with me trying to diagnose and repair this problem. I am NOT schooled in computer science. I know maybe a little bit more than the average customer or computer user, nothing more.
The Good
This computer is used largely for CAD as well as photo manipulation and post-processing. I also have played HalfLife 2 on it frequently with no problems since I bought it in Oct. of 2005. Like Acrobat, everything is at its stock speed. Nothing has ever been overclocked. Windows XP Professional - Service pack 2.
The Bad
Several weeks ago I began enjoying what appeared to be random BSOD's...which never occured at startup, but seemed to occur after an extended period of work time, and/or having multiple applications going at the same time. When they first started I had automatic restart enabled, so I was only briefly able to read the blue screen info, however it was enough to catch various phrases such as 'BAD_POOL_HEADER', 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL', and such suggestions as checking and/or updating BIOS. According to some professionals, these errors were occuring either because of driver conflicts or a physical failure of some part of the hardware. I ran every basic diagnostic check one can do: virus scans, windows updates, device manager conflicts, malware/spyware scans, everything.
I ran Memtest 86 for 6 passes, several times, and it found no errors. While I was researching diagnosis and repair options I suffered an overnight BSOD which resulted in an inability to boot up Windows at all; I would get through the DOS startup screens, the black Windows startup would launch with the progress bar, it would get through about two iterations and everything would shut down, even the signal to the monitor would cut off. Yikes.
Called in my tech friend, we were able to secure my critical information via booting up with Linux (Knoppix 5.1 on a CD) and then moving stuff over to an external hard drive. With my drawings and other files safe, we first:
Checked all connections
Everything was tight and fine. At this point it became known that the hard drives were plugged in for RAID array rather than SATA. I didn't specify a RAID'd sytem at purchase but I guess it was an oversight-- not sure if this has anything to do with the crashes ultimately occuring, just stating what was found. The system worked great for over a year in this configuration. They were plugged into the black connections from the red and we moved on.
Ran CHKDSK
Multiple errors were found and repaired on both drives.
PSU was observed to be rock solid and putting out voltages well within acceptable parameters.
He tried various options at repairing Windows XP via the restoration DVD which came with the system when it shipped, none of which worked.
So, a total reinstall was started. CHKDSK ran for a LONG time, over several hours, before re-installation occurred. During installation from the DVD a pop up requested:
'Please insert Floppy Disk 'Nvidia Network Bus Installation Disk #1'
which of course I didn't have. My computer manufacturer's Tech Support said that after installation I should go to the motherboard's website and download the latest drivers. He gave me the motherboard's model (A8N-SLI DELUXE, socket 939). I downloaded and installed with no problems (if you can call successfully navigating Asus's Byzantine download section of their website 'no problem').
System seemed to be stable, I rebooted a dozen times or so with no problems, so we updated every Windows update that was suggested, reinstalled my drafting program, and I pressed on.
The Ugly
While the system is certainly 'more stable', I am still getting the odd BSOD, with messages like, but not limited to:
****STOP: 0X0000008E (0X0000005, 0X8F824861, 0XF09C9B7C, 0X00000000)
***WIN32K.SYS- ADDRESS BF824861 BASE AT BF800000 DATESTAMP 43446A58
I have yet to install any of my other software, such as Photoshop and Sketchup, for fear of causing another horrendous crash. I also set CHKDSK to run a full scan/repair at each morning's reboot.
From what I've read, these wonky symptoms could arguably be the fault of one of my pieces of hardware going bad. Bearing in mind that Memtest did not find any errors at all, I'm wondering just what the heck to do next. I just want my old stable (and fun to use) system back. I'm not a CS major or professional, the amount of time I've spent on this is just staggering really-- I'm sincerely hoping someone can make some suggestions as to what the next steps should be to resolve my problems. Thanks a lot for everyone's time who reads and responds, it's appreciated.
Dave
Taking a tip from Acrobat's stellar post, I am going to try to format my first post much the same. I should point out that some of the information herein is stuff I know directly, some is stuff I have learned through careful study online concerning crashes, and some is reported by a local tech support guy who has spent hours and hours with me trying to diagnose and repair this problem. I am NOT schooled in computer science. I know maybe a little bit more than the average customer or computer user, nothing more.
The Good
- Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
- 2 VGA EVGA|GF 6600GT 128-P2-N368-TX
- POWER SUPPLY: ANTEC TP2-550 EPS12V
- CPU AMD 64 |4200+ ATHLON 64 939P
- CORSAR D400 512Mx2 TWINX1024-3200XL
- SANDISK 256M FLDRV SDCZ2-256-A10 R
- FD 1.44MB|MITSUMI FA404A/404M
- 2 HD: 160GB|WD 7200 WD1600JD 8MB (SATA)
- KB&MS LOGITECH|CRDLS INTERNET PRO
- MNTR SMSNG|20"LCD16msDVI 204T
- DVD-ROM SONY 16X DDU1615/B2s BK
- DVD+/-RW 16X SONY DWQ28A SW OEM
- SOUND BLASTER|AUDIGY 2 ZS PLTM RTL
- CPU FAN AMD|SILENTBOOST K8 A1838 RT (Replaced under warranty several months ago with a better one)
- LOGITECH THX Z-5300e 5.1 SPEAKERS
- CASE: THERMALTAKE|VA3000BWA RT
This computer is used largely for CAD as well as photo manipulation and post-processing. I also have played HalfLife 2 on it frequently with no problems since I bought it in Oct. of 2005. Like Acrobat, everything is at its stock speed. Nothing has ever been overclocked. Windows XP Professional - Service pack 2.
The Bad
Several weeks ago I began enjoying what appeared to be random BSOD's...which never occured at startup, but seemed to occur after an extended period of work time, and/or having multiple applications going at the same time. When they first started I had automatic restart enabled, so I was only briefly able to read the blue screen info, however it was enough to catch various phrases such as 'BAD_POOL_HEADER', 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL', and such suggestions as checking and/or updating BIOS. According to some professionals, these errors were occuring either because of driver conflicts or a physical failure of some part of the hardware. I ran every basic diagnostic check one can do: virus scans, windows updates, device manager conflicts, malware/spyware scans, everything.
I ran Memtest 86 for 6 passes, several times, and it found no errors. While I was researching diagnosis and repair options I suffered an overnight BSOD which resulted in an inability to boot up Windows at all; I would get through the DOS startup screens, the black Windows startup would launch with the progress bar, it would get through about two iterations and everything would shut down, even the signal to the monitor would cut off. Yikes.
Called in my tech friend, we were able to secure my critical information via booting up with Linux (Knoppix 5.1 on a CD) and then moving stuff over to an external hard drive. With my drawings and other files safe, we first:
Checked all connections
Everything was tight and fine. At this point it became known that the hard drives were plugged in for RAID array rather than SATA. I didn't specify a RAID'd sytem at purchase but I guess it was an oversight-- not sure if this has anything to do with the crashes ultimately occuring, just stating what was found. The system worked great for over a year in this configuration. They were plugged into the black connections from the red and we moved on.
Ran CHKDSK
Multiple errors were found and repaired on both drives.
PSU was observed to be rock solid and putting out voltages well within acceptable parameters.
He tried various options at repairing Windows XP via the restoration DVD which came with the system when it shipped, none of which worked.
So, a total reinstall was started. CHKDSK ran for a LONG time, over several hours, before re-installation occurred. During installation from the DVD a pop up requested:
'Please insert Floppy Disk 'Nvidia Network Bus Installation Disk #1'
which of course I didn't have. My computer manufacturer's Tech Support said that after installation I should go to the motherboard's website and download the latest drivers. He gave me the motherboard's model (A8N-SLI DELUXE, socket 939). I downloaded and installed with no problems (if you can call successfully navigating Asus's Byzantine download section of their website 'no problem').
System seemed to be stable, I rebooted a dozen times or so with no problems, so we updated every Windows update that was suggested, reinstalled my drafting program, and I pressed on.
The Ugly
While the system is certainly 'more stable', I am still getting the odd BSOD, with messages like, but not limited to:
****STOP: 0X0000008E (0X0000005, 0X8F824861, 0XF09C9B7C, 0X00000000)
***WIN32K.SYS- ADDRESS BF824861 BASE AT BF800000 DATESTAMP 43446A58
I have yet to install any of my other software, such as Photoshop and Sketchup, for fear of causing another horrendous crash. I also set CHKDSK to run a full scan/repair at each morning's reboot.
From what I've read, these wonky symptoms could arguably be the fault of one of my pieces of hardware going bad. Bearing in mind that Memtest did not find any errors at all, I'm wondering just what the heck to do next. I just want my old stable (and fun to use) system back. I'm not a CS major or professional, the amount of time I've spent on this is just staggering really-- I'm sincerely hoping someone can make some suggestions as to what the next steps should be to resolve my problems. Thanks a lot for everyone's time who reads and responds, it's appreciated.
Dave
