I noticed this is still going...I had a strange example of this problem earlier in the week...a machine that would just shut down and reboot without any error.. I couldn't trace the problem apart from it seemed worse when trying to send or recieve large amounts of data across the network... re-installing the FTP app didn't help, also using another.. In the end totally wiping the partition and reinstalling xp clean seems to have done the trick.. Looks like some hidden DoS attack trojan had welded itself into windows somewhere..be careful what you back up..only essential stuff that you can't replace. This thing if it is a trojan/virus is probably something that either you have installed or an active script attack from some dodgy website... You don't have limewire installed do you? We seem to have cured the problem but it's still a bit fingers crossed.. I also found these kind of ram errors but they have gone now...maybe where the trojan is living, loading itself from the much maligned win.ini file every reboot???
@janrocks Was the system you were working on getting the Blue Screen with Stop Errors? My understanding of win.ini is that it's only called upon for 16bit apps. I'm not questioning your knowledge, please don't get me wrong. Like everyone else, I'm only trying to learn. The log he posted was from a memory.dmp file. Do you encounter many of them? I'm just learning the ins and outs of them. From what I've read, if it was a virus/trojan there would (most likely) be a looping of addresses or a "filling" of many. I didn't notice that within the log. I welcome your opinions.
If it is a problem with my memory, should I be replacing RAM or adding RAM? Is my current RAM faulty, and in need of replacement? Or do I just need more of it?
use a pencil eraser on the gold contacts of the memory stick to remove oxidation than reseat the stick to see if still a problem or not. do you have a spare hd to load windows on to see if it is a software corruption or not?
Do as ddp has suggested twice now. Clean the RAM contacts. If that shows no improvement, replace the RAM.
Unfortunately, I do not have an extra hard drive to load windows. I used an eraser on the gold contacts of the RAM and reseated it. Was that supposed to have solved the problem? Should I go test if it worked by opening DVD Shrink again?
Well it happened again, the computer crashed midway when encoding, same as before. I did the Windows Memory Diagnostic again and it says the RAM is all good.
Info for dolphin2.. The machine just powered off...no errors, nothing. Just a hard reboot and then back on as if nothing had happened. No dump files kept and when I ran a remote debug on a linked machine nothing strange logged.. It just shutdown like the plug had been pulled, then back on again.. weird.. Reinstalled xp after totally blanking the partition (twice) with some drive erasing app..sorry can't remember which.. and it's been fine ever since (believe!!..it's been tested to the limit since on 20% overclock) It's really weird how it didn't flag any errors whatsoever..and the hijack this scans didn't show anything out of the ordinary..It was like an internal denial of service attack with respect to the ethernet connection only..the cable modem on this machine for some reason is on usb?? or that would have been the thing affected.. i.e..no internet.. The only thing I came up with was that the owner had installed some warez app without disconnecting his cable modem, something happened during the install and apparently it didn't ask for a code or key when it should have... The only ideas i can come up with maybe it's a dodgy registry key from some warez....is this a legit copy of windows, and everything else legally installed too because theres a lot of things going on with respect to unregistered software at the moment.. As to the other questions..I don't believe this is a hardware error as such, unless it's something to do with the ide controller chip which is very unlikely. I have seen a pc lose drives one after another over a period of a few weeks...but it didn't do the reboot to error, just lost the drives on reboot. That was the ide controller chip... The reference to win.ini was just because I have found the odd little thing that edits the file, and then at a random point after startup makes a 16 bit system call which runs the file and executes a hard reboot...the thing to look for on the end of it is Code: <space> /w The old dos batch file reboot command..also check win.nt for it maybe?? but that should stop the machine booting in the first palce. Memory dumps...it only takes a few bytes of code to make a system call and it's not obvious what is going on..especially with windows virtual paging. The only advice I have is to completely clean the drive...including the partitions and then I would put a different os on it just to wipe the MBR..then partition again..format and re-install windows.Then add any apps one at a time and test until the problem comes back..to be honest I would dump any downloaded apps and get them again, if they have been paid for then the key provided will still work...This maybe a lot of work, but better to be safe, or we're all just going to be going round and round in circles forever... It does seem like something has found it's way into the extra free space left with xp partitioning or the MBR..most likely the free space. I see a lot of weird messups, I work weekends for a local pc repair business, and while this seems a bit unique, I do see a lot of this sort of thing.. hope that helps some if any
My Windows is not a legit copy. There are no programs illegally installed, it's either freeware or trials. I do have limewire though, I use it to download music and movies. Is this a RAM problem, or a virus problem?
Just to help the other people working on this... Service pack3 !! (AKA..you WILL pay for our flawed product!!) Have you had the bells and whistles from MS yet? They don't always announce it, do you lose function from your keyboard and mouse seemingly at random too?? If so then you have been auto-updated.. I have seen over 20 with various faults over the weekend all related to an auto update on cloned software..
Service Pack 3 ?!?! Is there such a thing? And unfortunately, I couldn't understand any other point from the previous message there...with the "bells and whistles" notion an all... Please rephrase?
I've got a feeling it's Micro$oft's way of saying "Pay me now or pay me later...either way your going to pay!) In other words they are purposely buggering up illegit copies of windows. Just buy it or use Linux.
@janrocks That is a strange one. Is/was it a legal copy of Windows? Funny you should mention this. I have just seen illegal copys have some really strange problems showing up. Quite a few have been with the http.sys file. It causes Stop Error screens (blue screens of death). Seen any of this? Keep it in mind if needed. @TheFear It wouldn't hurt to run an on-line scan such as HouseCall. Try it, it can't hurt. I still think it's a RAM problem. ------------- Does anyone think that it's possible that Microsoft has come up with a way to cause these Stop Errors on illegal copies of Windows?
@dolphin2, I think this info alone would be most if not all of TheFears problem. Kinda makes you wonder if M$ is doing something!
Sounds like dodgy RAM to me. Failing that my next guess would be the mobo. Try re-install first but if it doesnt fix then i would say your RAM
The ongoing saga with the AMD..another service call today. Guess what.it's booting to XP though the boot drive is Ubuntu and usually you have to select which os to run.. Stranger and stranger..the Primary master drive isn't detected in the bios.. Unplug IDE3 (sata with the xp drive on it) and the drive detects and boots linux as normal..plug the sata back in and the drive again isn't detected.. Now I call this a virus. deleberate malware installed against the owners wishes.. I reinstaled a different linux (suse) as it's only a 10 gig drive to be greeted with instead of grub, the bootloader I installed, the XP flash screen again. I did a little probing and again the bios has been reset to boot from IDE3!! Turns out the owner had booted xp by mistake with the cable modem connected, there were no drivers installed for the modem and the internet wasn't supposed to be accessible..yet there was an apache server running and ports 80 and 21 were wide open both ways.. It's not my machine and I don't get paid to troubleshoot illegal software so I have now washed my hands of the whole affair, but it seems that M$ are in all out attack mode.. another 10 today with the pirate software warnings Maybe SP2 shipped with a date activated piece of code..this comp was also losing function from the mouse and keyboard, as was another xp machine installed from the same disk that has never been connected to anything.. Time to buy or use something else... I changed over to Debian completely about 4 weeks ago.. I saw this coming, and I'm not playing that game with M$.. lol
janrocks, you are talking in riddles again What I could grab from that last message, is that you helped someone fix their computer, and the problems were viruses and non-legit windows. Many of you are suggesting the possibility that MS is deliberately bugging non-legit Windows, which could be a whole new interesting topic altogether. This suggests to me that I should get myself a real Windows CD. But the problem is some of you think it's a RAM issue, and some think it's a Windows issue. Has it come down to me to decide? I am really not sure. Could you all back up your opinions with reasons, so that myself and others would understand where you're coming from, and what evidence proves it. So just explain your opinion so that the people who think differently from you can understand why and how it may be true, creating a little debate that will ultimately pinpoint my problem. Pleassse Thanks!
@janrocks I'm a little confused about what you wrote. Shouldn't the SATA drive boot before the IDE? If the IDE has the grub, it wouldn't boot to it. The cable modem itself shouldn't need drivers, only the PCI (eathernet) card. The apache server was running under Windows? Was the owner running a web site and ftp servers? Why else would apache be installed? Wow! There sure seems to be a lot of pirated Windows in your area. The fact that one had the problems without being connected to the internet rules out my theory about an update causing these problems. I'm currently trying Knoppix and the live version of Unbuntu. I've had troubles trying to install Debian. How well have you learned Linux? I've got a small sound problem. ---------- @TheFear I suggest you get a legal copy of Windows. I just got an OEM version for a friend for $99. I can give you the link, if interested. I still stand on my opinion that it's the RAM. I base this on the memory.dmp log you posted.
OK..as an IT pro (of sorts) here's how I would go about resolving the random crashing issue... Dump windows conpletely and try running something like Ubuntu Linux or suse or whatever...just not Windows for a day or so and see if the crashing continues.. If it does then there is a hardware problem, if not it's software related. The memory dumps indicate corrupted software rather than faulty ram..but I would need to see at least 20 snapshots into what is and isn't loaded, with a full list of running processes to get a real idea. There are similarities between your faults and the machine I have been working on, particularly the "missing" drive.. Without Windows everything works perfectly. Usually with a ram error xp throws up page-fault or non-paged area errors on install. @ dolphin2.. Just to clarify my earlier post.. The machine was set up dual boot..with Linux on the primary master IDE 1..with the illegal xp on IDE3 sata...It doesn't matter which drive which OS is on...the IDE3 master (maxtor) wasn't even listed in the boot devices in the bios, so in theory there is no way on earth that should boot first. With it plugged in the ide 1 primary drive didn't exist, even if set up manually it was not being detected and didn't exist.. so something with xp is interfering with the bios settings. The cable modem (motorolla surfboard 5100) needs drivers installing as xp doesn't come with them and it can't connect without them..Tested..no modem found...unknown device in device manager, no internet connection in system settings.. Apache..apparently windows needs some features of this running but why I have no idea..seems stupid to me, and insecure as hell. As to MS deliberately fuxxoring pirate xp installs..they are!!.. A warning screen comes up informing the owner that they may be the victim of piracy...then the machine seems to go mad..random crashes..no mouse or keyboard or sound drivers..It all just goes crazy. Reading back, error reports were sent to MS from TheFear's machine...so they logged your os serial/version and your IP, and will be well aware that your software isn't legal, regardless of whatever fine words are in the privacy statement they have the right to protect themselves from piracy by making illegal use of software as difficult as possible..food for thought In closing...it's funny all these sort of problems I see come from dodgy windows, there are a lot of illegal installs in this part of the UK.. A large independent trader a year or so back was selling new and second user systems with illegal installs and backup disks.. I have only seen one legit windows machine with problems since christmas. The graphics card was failing! I only threw this in here to help avoid a possibility of spending a large amount of money on ram only to find the fault is still there.. Test properly, try a different os for a day or so. Find somebody with a compatable machine and test your ram in it. Try plain xp (not sp1 or 2) with autoupdates off if you have to, or even "god forbid" 2000.. Good luck.. I think the days of "free" MS software are over..
