XP Related Hair Loss
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
We had a box here that was doing something like that. We would get BSODs, reboots, application crashes several times a day with no pattern in the error codes etc. Never happened when it was sitting idle, just when it was being used. I downloaded and ran a RAM testing application which showed no problems, but I still suspected the RAM. Finally we had the RAM replaced and voila! Everything is fine now. Drew.
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
Processor or graphics card is getting overheated? Try leaving the case opened. jhaga CodeProject House, Paul Watson wrote: ...and the roar of John Simmons own personal Nascar in the garage. Meg flitting about taking photos.Chris having an heated arguement with Colin Davies and .S.Rod. over egian values. Nish manically typing *censur*. Duncan racing around after his pet *c.* Michael Martin and Bryce loudly yelling *c.* C.G. having a fit as Roger Wright loads up *c.* . Anna waving her *c.* and Deb scoffing chocolates in the corner. ...Good heavens!
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
RAM is a good possibility, as already mentioned. The fact that it usually happens after running idle for a time also indicates either a heat problem, or a possible power supply mismatch/failure. Can you monitor the CPU temperature and the core voltage levels? My motherboard came with a monitoring tool from Intel that does both; perhaps yours did too. Is there any pattern in the time elapsed from idle state to crash? Have you tried killing any power management functions? These can cause errors, especially if both Windows and your BIOS are trying to manage the same resources and don't play together well.
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee..." -
OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
If there is any chance, you can try swapping the power supply out and then the motherboard. I have had similar problems with both before. Some time a simple chip on the motherboard can be damaged and heat sensitive or a solder joint. Oh yeah, there is one other step I would try first, put in another OS (Windows 2000 or Win9x) and let it run to see if there is something not compatable with your hardware. Rocky Moore <><
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
Install Win2k. I don't think it'll sort things, I just don't like XP :rolleyes: Seriously, check CPU temperature and if that is OK, then check and reseat the RAM and all plug in cards, if that fails replace the RAM. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
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We have always replaced the memory when this happens. If you have more than one SIMM then try swapping thier positions. NT and XP can get really flaky if a faster SIMM is behind a slower one.
The BIOS should run them at the speed of the slowest :suss: The tigress is here :-D
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OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
This is most likely a hardware or driver problem. Since others mentioned making sure that heat, power supply, or bad memory isn't the problem here's some info to help you diagnose the software problem. 1) Go to System Properties / Advanced / Startup and Recovery and choose "Kernel Memory Dump" or "Full Memory Dump". This way you'll get information saved about the BSOD so that you can analyze it later. 2) Install the Microsoft Debugging Tools[^] if you don't already have them. You're a developer, so if you don't already have them consider them new useful toys to play with anyway. :cool: 3) Wait for next BSOD. 4) Debug it: a. Set symbol path.
set _NT_SYMBOL_PATH=srv*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbolswhere c:\symbols is the symbol cache. b. Run kd.exe -z crash dump file. (Use the event log to find the crash dump file corresponding to the BSOD.) c. !analyze -v to show stack trace and related debugging information. Quite often you can make a reasonable good guess as to the culprit by looking at the stack. For example, for this crash dump on usenet[^] notice that the top of the stack looks like:ed9822fc bf905f53 00000050 00000000 00000000 nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x19 ed982368 bf8711d7 00000000 b1050c01 e12456c8 win32k!SURFACE::bDeleteSurface+0x84 ed982378 bf9c1b63 b1050c01 00000000 bf9c1b28 win32k!bDeleteSurface+0x18 WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong. ed9823bc bf905fed e12456c8 e1067c40 00000000 nv4_disp+0x6b63 ed98240c bf8711d7 00000000 e1067c40 6a050ac7 win32k!SURFACE::bDeleteSurface+0x13dand the symbol/module names point toSYMBOL_NAME: nv4_disp+6b63 MODULE_NAME: nv4_disp IMAGE_NAME: nv4_disp.dllYou can tell easily by the stack that it has something to do with graphics, and the nvidia function and module names corroborate that's it's probably a driver issue. Often it's not this easy, but you can poke around a lot more in the debugger if you want. -
OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
Windows 2000 is the ultimate cure for XP woes. Paul Hooper wrote: One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced! I've got a bug with Word XP, it actually crashes while saving. So I set the auto save to 1 minute :-)
"I have a strange ginger man living on my roof!"
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Jonathan 'nonny' Newman Homepage [www.nonny.com] [^] -
RAM is a good possibility, as already mentioned. The fact that it usually happens after running idle for a time also indicates either a heat problem, or a possible power supply mismatch/failure. Can you monitor the CPU temperature and the core voltage levels? My motherboard came with a monitoring tool from Intel that does both; perhaps yours did too. Is there any pattern in the time elapsed from idle state to crash? Have you tried killing any power management functions? These can cause errors, especially if both Windows and your BIOS are trying to manage the same resources and don't play together well.
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee..."My motherboard came with a monitoring tool from Intel that does both I presume you have an intel mobo as well! I love that monitoring tool it is so cool! ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)!
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My motherboard came with a monitoring tool from Intel that does both I presume you have an intel mobo as well! I love that monitoring tool it is so cool! ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)!
Jim Crafton wrote: I presume you have an intel mobo No, for some reason I prefer not to use them. It's a SuperMicro. Since I started using them and recommending them to others I've never experienced or heard of a failure, so I've never been tempted to switch.
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee..." -
OK ... I give up - I have totally run out of ideas. I have a nice new machine with a nice fresh XP install on it. It's my main development machine and basically has very little on it apart from VS.NET. Lovely to work on - apart from the crashing. About once every 36 hours the bloody thing crashes to a BSOD. There is little pattern in the errors and I haven't noticed a "trigger" event. The machine runs 24 hours a day but the fault usually (say 19 times out of twenty) occurs when I am using it. About 50% of the time, Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis system picks up the error and indicates that "something" has gone wrong - maybe with a driver. Thanks Microsoft - that helps heaps. So far I have... Updated every driver for every piece of hardware Updated the BIOS Deleted every non essential program. Wiggled and jiggled every connector I can find Cleaned the RAM contacts Done a full format/reinstall cycle (twice) and the problem is basically unchanged. The fault is SO intermittent it is almost untraceable and I don't really have time to spend on this anyway. It is also pretty hard to take it back to the vendor and say "Just USE the computer for anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week and you will probably see the problem". Any ideas? Please!:(( One good result is that my Ctrl+S twitch has been STRONGLY reinforced!;P Paul Hooper User - a four letter word.
Thanks for all the ideas. About half I have already tried but the new ideas are great. Paul Hooper If you spend your whole life looking over your shoulder, they will get you from the front instead.
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Thanks for all the ideas. About half I have already tried but the new ideas are great. Paul Hooper If you spend your whole life looking over your shoulder, they will get you from the front instead.
I have a Dazzle 6-in-1 card reader. As soon as I would plug it in, XP would detect it, then BSOD with different STOP codes. After a week of reboots while on the phone with MS, the system packed up. When I reinstalled XP, I installed the Dazzle first thing. All ok:confused:. Then the ATI graphics card setup gave a warning that it might conflict with the installed drive(s) (Dazzle creates 2)... Light bulb appeared over my head. From now on, I always install dazzle first.