Repeatable, Predictable System Freezes, Possibly Java Related

[Zytrex]

Athlon 64 3500+ 939
Asus A8V
SB Audigy
Leadtek 6800GT 256
1536MB Generic RAM

ABSTRACT:
Prismiq Media Server running + Lock Workstation = Freeze
Azureus (Java) running + Start World of Warcraft = Freeze
Azureus running + Exit Azureus = Freeze
Try to uninstall Java Runtime Environment = Freeze

Unistallation of JRE cannot be done in Safe Mode because it uses Windows Installer Service which does not run in Safe Mode for some stupid reason.

DETAIL:
I'm not sure if all these events are related, but they all happened within a few days.

A few days ago, my computer suddenly stopped playing video. Sound worked, but no video. Restarting didn't help. Uninstalling and reinstalling ffdshow didn't help. Downloading and installing latest video driver fixed the problem.

Later that day, I hit 'Windows Key + L' to lock my computer, but the computer froze instead. This happened when Winamp was playing. Winamp continued to play the song and the HDD light continued to flash. When the song ended, Winamp did not play the next. Eventually, the computer reset on its own.

As this problem showed up, a new hard drive I ordered arrived. Drive changes happened like this:

Original= C: D: E: F:
Add====== J:
Clone==== D: to J:
Clone==== E: to D:
Clone==== C: to E:
Trash==== Original C: Drive

So now the system drive is a different drive and the old system drive is no longer in the computer.

After everything was up and running, I tried to lock the computer again and it froze. I eventually figured out that having Prismiq Media Server running when I tried to lock the computer is what made it freeze. Not that this makes sense. I've been running Prismiq for almost two years and never had a problem like this. I uninstalled the software for the time being anyway.

While I was trying to figure out what software was making this happen, I discovered that sometimes starting World of Warcraft or EVE Online would make the computer freeze as well. But not always.

After I uninstalled Prismiq, I thought the problem was solved, but then as I was downloading something with Azureus, I started World of Warcraft and the computer froze. I had just tested WoW a few minutes earlier and the only thing different was Azureus running. I restarted the computer and then starte WoW with no problems. Then I ran Azureus and started WoW again and it froze. This happend every time. I restarted again, started up Azureus, and then exited Azureus and the computer froze. I don't know if Prismiq uses Java, but this made me think that JRE might be the problem.

All these freezes had the same characteristics. Numluck freezes, mouse keeps working for a few seconds to a few minutes, and the hard drive light keeps flashing. So I thought maybe something was wrong with Java. I downloaded the latest version but when I tried to install it I was told I already had it and must uninstall before I can reinstall. So I open Add and Remove Programs and try to uninstall JRE, but the computer froze. So I restarted in Safe Mode but the uninstaller wanted to use Windows Installer Service which was not running in Safe Mode.

Every mentioned occurence of the computer freezing was repeated several times with the same results.

And that's where I am now.... with no clue what's going on.

 

[Zytrex]

Forgot to mention....

Running Windows XP SP2

Long version (5 step) chkdsk was run on the system drive before it was cloned and no errors were found.

 

[BadBigBen]

1.) I would suggest you RUN an AntiSpyware and AntiViral Scan (preferrable more than once, both in Regular and Safemode)

2.) DL Ewido Security Suite (

http://www.ewido.net),

and run a scan aswell, both in regular and safemode...

3.) Run HJT, do a LOG, paste here in the FORUM or have an Online Analysis done at

http://www.hijackthis.de/en

as it sounds like you may have a JAVA or JavaScript malware in there...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[Zytrex]

I've done all that and had no luck. Here's what's happened so far.....

I don't know why I didn't mention this before, but the stop error I get when the computer resets is 0x100000ea. This says a driver is stuck in a loop and points to the video card as being a possibility. Look it up in the MSDN database for more info if you want.

So I remembered that all this started when videos stopped playing on my computer and I installed the latest video drivers to fix it. So I uninstalled the nvidia drivers from Add and Remove Programs and then uninstalled the video card from the device manager. I then reinstalled everything.

At first, this seemed to fix everything. I could run a Java app and start a game without problems, but eventually everything ended up just like it was before. Closing a Java app crashes the computer. Locking the computer crashes the computer. Running a Java app and then starting a game crashes the colmputer.

I then decided to uninstall JRE. There were several listed, all the different updates. When I go to uninstall, the computer crashes. Fortunately, when the computer starts up and I try again, it will uninstall. But the next one I uninstall will crash. I keep doing this until everything is uninstalled. I then even uninstalled the video card drivers from Add/Remove and Device Manager and reinstalled them again (I've also tried older drivers with no change in results).

I then installed only the very latest version of JRE. Upon installation (and this has happened twice now) I get this error message: ftp://zytrex.com/images/jre-1_5_0_06-windows-i586-p_INSTALL_ERROR.jpg
This error message only appears for a couple seconds and then goes away before I have a chance to press any buttons. I've tried looking up parts of it on google but none of the situations I've found have been this serious. They all have to do with one program or another not working.

So that's where I am now. What do you guys think?

 

[allteltec]

You could be haveing ram problems the combo of Asus and AMD some times dose not like Generic RAM. I have a system 3000+ 512k pc3200 ram 2 sticks one at a time will work put both in it starts BSOD, Ran find at first only started one month after system was build and tested.

 

[BadBigBen]

Yes, RAM could play a major factor in this... I would test with a branded model of RAM...

Thinks that I would check at this stage, aswell:

1.) run DxDiag and see if there are any probs...

2.) use DriverCleaner to remove all (old) GFX Drivers... reboot and reinstall new drivers...

3.) reinstall NET Framework and Visual Basic Runtimes...

if all this does not work...

I would then go ahead and do a Repair Installation of WinXP...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."