Windows Hangs

I have a problem with my system which is some what long winded so my
apologies in advance for the long post, I do however think that the
more info you guys have, hopefully the more chance I have of solving
this.

I was having a problem in my previously stable for 3 years system, in
that my windows registry was corrupting to such an extent that windows
would not start at all and the only solution was to re-install. Having
done this a few times I decided that it was about time I upgraded some
components anyway, hoping this would silve the problem.

I therefore bought a new hard drive, CPU and motherboard. This is
where the real fun and games started. After installing the new Mobo
and CPU I decided that I might as well start with a clean install of
XP. I therefore formatted the new hard drive from the recovery
console, and booted up set-up from the XP upgrade disk.

When I tried to write the NTFS format to the disk I kept getting the
same response, that the disk may be damaged and it could not be
formatted. I therefore returned it for a new one, same response on the
new disk though. It would however let me write as FAT32. I therefore
did this and started the set up. After XP saved all of the info to
disk ready for installing it re-boots and I would get the blue screen
of death. "Windows had to be shut down to prevent damage to your
hardware", Stop Error 0X0000007E followed by a raft of numbers.

This went on for a number of hours whilst I tweaked bios. Eventually,
after resetting the processor speeds in BIOS I got the system running
again. I was then also able to format the disk as NTFS. I now have XP
up and running but it's not stable. It freezes once or twice each
night when doing different things, i.e. once when booting, once when
inserting a CD-ROM. I have checked the system logs and there are no
errors reported.

At first I was running the system on minimal hardware, but have now
started to add bits back in as the system wasn't stable without them
so I figured what the hell. I have now been running various tests to
see if I can isolate the problem. I ran Memtest 86 from a boot disk
for 3 ½ hours, 7 passes, with no errors. I've also run a diagnostic on
the hard drive. Last night I ran Hot CPU Tester Diagnostic for 3 ½
hours, 7 runs) and again no problems were found. Both Board and CPU
Temps are acceptable (45C under load). The power supply is steady, no
spikes, and all within set parameters on asus probe.

I know that I am not running the most up to date BIOS but I have read
about problems with some of the updates. Having reviewed the changes
in the bios updates there also appears nothing of real relevance in
there. I am however running the most up to date VIA 4 in 1 Drivers.

If anyone has any ideas of what I can try next I'd be very grateful
because eventually I want the system to start running games and video
editing again and therefore it must be stable. Not to mention that
this intermitent problem is driving me insane. My system spec is as
follows:-

Asus A7V8X-X
AMD 2500+ Barton Core
Samsung 80 Gig 2 MB Cache 7200 – Primary Drive
Seagate Barracuda 80 Gig 7200 – Secondary Drive (for photo's, Video,
Etc.)
2 x Crucial P2100, 256 DDR, 266 Mhz CL2.5;
1 x Crucial P2100, 512 DDR 266 Mhz (Not currently in system though)
Enermax EG365P-VE 350W Power Supply
Crucial ATI Radeon 8500LE 128M DDR 4xAGP
Hecules Fortisimo III 7.1 Sound Card
Bios Ver 1006 – Set up as follows – CPU Speed [Manual]; Freq. Multiple
[11X]; External Frequency [133/33]; Mem Freq [Auto]
Sagem F@st 800 USB Modem for broadband
Windows XP Home SP1 Upgrade (clean install) All critical & Driver
updates installed

Also - I've never overclocked. Once again, apologies for the huge post
and thanks for any suggestions.

Paul.

All of your symptoms point to a bad power supply. Good luck, -Dave

I know what you said about the MemTest results. But a year ago I had the
same symptoms in my machine and it turned out that the motherboard's chipset
was giving memory timing errors. So I'm betting that your motherboard is on
its way out.

--
DaveW



"Paul Baker" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> I have a problem with my system which is some what long winded so my
> apologies in advance for the long post, I do however think that the
> more info you guys have, hopefully the more chance I have of solving
> this.
>
> I was having a problem in my previously stable for 3 years system, in
> that my windows registry was corrupting to such an extent that windows
> would not start at all and the only solution was to re-install. Having
> done this a few times I decided that it was about time I upgraded some
> components anyway, hoping this would silve the problem.
>
> I therefore bought a new hard drive, CPU and motherboard. This is
> where the real fun and games started. After installing the new Mobo
> and CPU I decided that I might as well start with a clean install of
> XP. I therefore formatted the new hard drive from the recovery
> console, and booted up set-up from the XP upgrade disk.
>
> When I tried to write the NTFS format to the disk I kept getting the
> same response, that the disk may be damaged and it could not be
> formatted. I therefore returned it for a new one, same response on the
> new disk though. It would however let me write as FAT32. I therefore
> did this and started the set up. After XP saved all of the info to
> disk ready for installing it re-boots and I would get the blue screen
> of death. "Windows had to be shut down to prevent damage to your
> hardware", Stop Error 0X0000007E followed by a raft of numbers.
>
> This went on for a number of hours whilst I tweaked bios. Eventually,
> after resetting the processor speeds in BIOS I got the system running
> again. I was then also able to format the disk as NTFS. I now have XP
> up and running but it's not stable. It freezes once or twice each
> night when doing different things, i.e. once when booting, once when
> inserting a CD-ROM. I have checked the system logs and there are no
> errors reported.
>
> At first I was running the system on minimal hardware, but have now
> started to add bits back in as the system wasn't stable without them
> so I figured what the hell. I have now been running various tests to
> see if I can isolate the problem. I ran Memtest 86 from a boot disk
> for 3 ½ hours, 7 passes, with no errors. I've also run a diagnostic on
> the hard drive. Last night I ran Hot CPU Tester Diagnostic for 3 ½
> hours, 7 runs) and again no problems were found. Both Board and CPU
> Temps are acceptable (45C under load). The power supply is steady, no
> spikes, and all within set parameters on asus probe.
>
> I know that I am not running the most up to date BIOS but I have read
> about problems with some of the updates. Having reviewed the changes
> in the bios updates there also appears nothing of real relevance in
> there. I am however running the most up to date VIA 4 in 1 Drivers.
>
> If anyone has any ideas of what I can try next I'd be very grateful
> because eventually I want the system to start running games and video
> editing again and therefore it must be stable. Not to mention that
> this intermitent problem is driving me insane. My system spec is as
> follows:-
>
> Asus A7V8X-X
> AMD 2500+ Barton Core
> Samsung 80 Gig 2 MB Cache 7200 - Primary Drive
> Seagate Barracuda 80 Gig 7200 - Secondary Drive (for photo's, Video,
> Etc.)
> 2 x Crucial P2100, 256 DDR, 266 Mhz CL2.5;
> 1 x Crucial P2100, 512 DDR 266 Mhz (Not currently in system though)
> Enermax EG365P-VE 350W Power Supply
> Crucial ATI Radeon 8500LE 128M DDR 4xAGP
> Hecules Fortisimo III 7.1 Sound Card
> Bios Ver 1006 - Set up as follows - CPU Speed [Manual]; Freq. Multiple
> [11X]; External Frequency [133/33]; Mem Freq [Auto]
> Sagem F@st 800 USB Modem for broadband
> Windows XP Home SP1 Upgrade (clean install) All critical & Driver
> updates installed
>
> Also - I've never overclocked. Once again, apologies for the huge post
> and thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Paul.

> When I tried to write the NTFS format to the disk I kept getting the
> same response, that the disk may be damaged and it could not be
> formatted. I therefore returned it for a new one, same response on the
> new disk though. It would however let me write as FAT32. I therefore
> did this and started the set up. After XP saved all of the info to
> disk ready for installing it re-boots and I would get the blue screen
> of death. "Windows had to be shut down to prevent damage to your
> hardware", Stop Error 0X0000007E followed by a raft of numbers.

> Asus A7V8X-X
> AMD 2500+ Barton Core
> Samsung 80 Gig 2 MB Cache 7200 - Primary Drive
> Seagate Barracuda 80 Gig 7200 - Secondary Drive (for photo's, Video,
> Etc.)
> 2 x Crucial P2100, 256 DDR, 266 Mhz CL2.5;
> 1 x Crucial P2100, 512 DDR 266 Mhz (Not currently in system though)
> Enermax EG365P-VE 350W Power Supply

Try it with one memory module installed to see what happens.
One could be flakey even if it passes a memory test.

---
Kevin Chalker, Owner KC COMPUTERS
E-mail: Web: www.kc-computers.com
Internet dealer for 13+ years!!! See WWW.RESELLERRATINGS.COM!!!

On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 08:15:42 -0500, "Dave C."
<> wrote:

>All of your symptoms point to a bad power supply. Good luck, -Dave

No they don't.
If there's anything symptomatic about it at all, it's software.

-------------

Paul, First of all: Are you now running on an install, that was made
during bios cpu settings, that WinXP refused to accept?

What were those settings and what are they now? cpu and memory
timings?

Is the problem exactly the same as before the hardware upgrade?
Do you have an up to date virus checker?

What software package did you install, shortly before all this
started?

Here's a few thing you can try just for the hell of it, (meaning I
don't expect much from it):

Remove your ATI driver and run on generic VGA for a while, just to see
if the problem persists.

Exchange your ram modules (noticed you've only got one in the box,
good thinking).

Lower memory settings.

ancra

If your mouse moves and your buttons and icons don't work then the problem
is definitely the video card. Test it by swapping cards if you have one.
Before you buy a new card, check the manufacturer's site for the latest
video driver. The driver that you have may not be compatible with XP-NTSF.
Sid
"Paul Baker" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> I have a problem with my system which is some what long winded so my
> apologies in advance for the long post, I do however think that the
> more info you guys have, hopefully the more chance I have of solving
> this.
>
> I was having a problem in my previously stable for 3 years system, in
> that my windows registry was corrupting to such an extent that windows
> would not start at all and the only solution was to re-install. Having
> done this a few times I decided that it was about time I upgraded some
> components anyway, hoping this would silve the problem.
>
> I therefore bought a new hard drive, CPU and motherboard. This is
> where the real fun and games started. After installing the new Mobo
> and CPU I decided that I might as well start with a clean install of
> XP. I therefore formatted the new hard drive from the recovery
> console, and booted up set-up from the XP upgrade disk.
>
> When I tried to write the NTFS format to the disk I kept getting the
> same response, that the disk may be damaged and it could not be
> formatted. I therefore returned it for a new one, same response on the
> new disk though. It would however let me write as FAT32. I therefore
> did this and started the set up. After XP saved all of the info to
> disk ready for installing it re-boots and I would get the blue screen
> of death. "Windows had to be shut down to prevent damage to your
> hardware", Stop Error 0X0000007E followed by a raft of numbers.
>
> This went on for a number of hours whilst I tweaked bios. Eventually,
> after resetting the processor speeds in BIOS I got the system running
> again. I was then also able to format the disk as NTFS. I now have XP
> up and running but it's not stable. It freezes once or twice each
> night when doing different things, i.e. once when booting, once when
> inserting a CD-ROM. I have checked the system logs and there are no
> errors reported.
>
> At first I was running the system on minimal hardware, but have now
> started to add bits back in as the system wasn't stable without them
> so I figured what the hell. I have now been running various tests to
> see if I can isolate the problem. I ran Memtest 86 from a boot disk
> for 3 ½ hours, 7 passes, with no errors. I've also run a diagnostic on
> the hard drive. Last night I ran Hot CPU Tester Diagnostic for 3 ½
> hours, 7 runs) and again no problems were found. Both Board and CPU
> Temps are acceptable (45C under load). The power supply is steady, no
> spikes, and all within set parameters on asus probe.
>
> I know that I am not running the most up to date BIOS but I have read
> about problems with some of the updates. Having reviewed the changes
> in the bios updates there also appears nothing of real relevance in
> there. I am however running the most up to date VIA 4 in 1 Drivers.
>
> If anyone has any ideas of what I can try next I'd be very grateful
> because eventually I want the system to start running games and video
> editing again and therefore it must be stable. Not to mention that
> this intermitent problem is driving me insane. My system spec is as
> follows:-
>
> Asus A7V8X-X
> AMD 2500+ Barton Core
> Samsung 80 Gig 2 MB Cache 7200 - Primary Drive
> Seagate Barracuda 80 Gig 7200 - Secondary Drive (for photo's, Video,
> Etc.)
> 2 x Crucial P2100, 256 DDR, 266 Mhz CL2.5;
> 1 x Crucial P2100, 512 DDR 266 Mhz (Not currently in system though)
> Enermax EG365P-VE 350W Power Supply
> Crucial ATI Radeon 8500LE 128M DDR 4xAGP
> Hecules Fortisimo III 7.1 Sound Card
> Bios Ver 1006 - Set up as follows - CPU Speed [Manual]; Freq. Multiple
> [11X]; External Frequency [133/33]; Mem Freq [Auto]
> Sagem F@st 800 USB Modem for broadband
> Windows XP Home SP1 Upgrade (clean install) All critical & Driver
> updates installed
>
> Also - I've never overclocked. Once again, apologies for the huge post
> and thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Paul.

Agreed. Is the output power of your energy font enough? The processor
would be the main suspect, but you said that is new...
Try to put all the hardware acceleration (graphics, etc) to the lowest
level, and check the system. Then try to speed up slowly, and see what
happens. Hope I've helped.

<> wrote in message
news:...
> On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 08:15:42 -0500, "Dave C."
> <> wrote:
>
> >All of your symptoms point to a bad power supply. Good luck, -Dave
>
> No they don't.
> If there's anything symptomatic about it at all, it's software.
>

3 year old system, problems with fresh install of xp, problems with no
software installed, runs better after slowing down the CPU, but random
reboots still . . . and you think it's software?

Well, that's one theory I guess, but I'd be shocked if you are right on
that. -Dave

Thanks for the replies already. Judging by the responses this isn't goiing
to solve itself quickly. Anyway....

> Paul, First of all: Are you now running on an install, that was made
> during bios cpu settings, that WinXP refused to accept?

No - Windows would not install at all until I entered the settings on my
original post.

> What were those settings and what are they now? cpu and memory
> timings?

The non-functioning setting were any combination other than those I have
now. If I alter anything it won't even get past bios, funny thing is, the
monitor goes on stand by as if the PC is not switched on. I have to re-boot
and go into bios straight from the Beep to make it work again.

> Is the problem exactly the same as before the hardware upgrade?
> Do you have an up to date virus checker?

No - before the PC would function fine for about 5 or 6 days, then the
registry would just go berserk and that was that. Now it just hangs every
now and again. Having said that, it has only been up and running for about 6
days and not been put under any great load yet.

I was running Norton Antivirus 2003 - Totally up to date.

> What software package did you install, shortly before all this
> started?

None. Hadn't installed anything for a while.

> Remove your ATI driver and run on generic VGA for a while, just to see
> if the problem persists.

I'll give this a go.

> Exchange your ram modules (noticed you've only got one in the box,
> good thinking).

When you say "exchange" I take it you mean swap them about. This was one of
the first things I did, I have run on 1, 2 together, all 3 - basically all
combinations with pretty much the same results.

> Lower memory settings.

Will Try. - Do you think it's worth forking out for a new power supply as
some have suggested, mine is 3 years old after all. If so which one, and how
powerfull bearing in mind my system?

Thanks again guys.

On Fri, 6 Feb 2004 11:33:00 -0500, "Dave C."
<> wrote:

>
><> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>> On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 08:15:42 -0500, "Dave C."
>> <> wrote:
>>
>> >All of your symptoms point to a bad power supply. Good luck, -Dave
>>
>> No they don't.
>> If there's anything symptomatic about it at all, it's software.
>>
>
>3 year old system, problems with fresh install of xp, problems with no
>software installed, runs better after slowing down the CPU, but random
>reboots still . . . and you think it's software?

Yes. I understand your logic. And 'software' problem can always be
hardware induced.

But if you read his post carefully, you see "registry corruption", and
that he never installed XP fresh on old hardware. And that he
introduced something new, with a problematic bios config and failed
install, on the new system. My take is that it's not the same problem
as before. And that he now has a problem with the new install.

ancra