Win XP Locking Up

[dik]

I have a problem with a recent install of Win XP 32 locking up after a random period of time from a few minutes to maybe an hour. I'm preparing the computer for a 'give away' and have cleaned the HDD, and re-installed WinXP again... from the original disk that was installed many years ago. I haven't updated the MB BIOS because of the instability. I was only able to get SP-3 installed after 3 tries. There is a Linksys, Wireless N router attached.

Summary from Speccy is:

Operating System
Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition 75 °C
Agena 65nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 400MHz (6-6-6-18)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3N-HD/HDMI (Socket AM2 ) 40 °C
Graphics
SyncMaster (1680x1050@59Hz)
1024MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (Undefined)
Storage
931GB Seagate ST31000333AS (SATA) 43 °C
Optical Drives
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-216D
Audio
No audio card detected

 

[goombawaho]

Download the hard drive diagnostic tool and run the short test first, followed by the long test.Link

If Windows won't run long enough to finish the test, download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD image to a cd and boot from that. Run the diagnostic from there.
Link
Further down the page - Mirror Sites


"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

Thanks... will test the harddrive... have started memtest to check to see if some of the RAM has leaked out... I've also copied the names of the processes running... only thing maybe odd is that cvchost.exe is running on LOCAL SERVER, NETWORK SERVER (2X), and SYSTEM (2X).

Dik

 

[rclarke250]

AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition 75 °C

75 degrees is way too hot. Check the cooler isn't clogged, and check for dried out thermal paste, and if the heatsink is installed correctly. That cpu shouldn't be above 60-61 c.

 

[goombawaho]

Assuming the temp reading is accurate, that's a good call.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

I stress tested the RAM, CPU, GPU and hard drive yesterday and that was the temp for the processor after the test... I'll clean the fan and replace the paste later this week. One of my other desktops (the real fast one) has a 6" cube air cooler on the 6 core 2011 processor and the processor runs at 33C under a heavy load...

I'll now take a gander at the processes running to see if that's where the bump is.

I've updated all drivers so far (not too many) and running SP-3 with latest updates.

Still have to update my MB Chipset, and BIOS. For BIOS was waiting for machine to be more stable.

Dik

 

[dik]

Forgot to ask, is there a utility that logs the events up to freeze?

Dik

 

[rclarke250]

just the windows event logs, which may or may not catch the issue. If it is heat related, it usually doesn't.

 

[goombawaho]

IF you were to run the video stress test and/or cpu stress test off the CD I mentioned, that would prove whether it was a windows problem or a hardware problem. If it locks up in & out of windows, it's a hardware problem (heat included). If it only locks up within windows, then it's a windows issue.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

Thanks, it only locks up in Windows and sometimes after it has gone into sleep mode, it hangs...

It took me 3 tries to install SP-3 and only one to load the 150 other upgrades beyond SP-3. I was thinking it was tied into a 'bad' copy of one of the windows processes. My son thought it was CPU, GPU or RAM related... and that's when I cranked out the stress tests... just to confirm. Used Prime95, Furmark, MemTest86, HDDScan and the Seagate file noted above... The Furmark uses Windows and ran for 4 hours without a glitch.

Dik

 

[rclarke250]

If future mark ran for 4 hours, not a heat issue. And it doesn't sound like it is hardware related, but maybe a driver issue.

 

[dik]

rclark... will try that. I've stress tested just about everything... I'm pretty sure it's a WinXP problem... just a matter of trying to chase it down. Windows has been running for about 3 hours so far and has awaken from sleep properly... just checked it again and it's frozen... I ran the Microsoft disk and file check program and nothing. I reran the HDDTest program and noticed an error this time (may have missed it first time)... Reallocated Sector Count... have to see what that's about... Next thing, maybe reinstall... but I want to check out processes, first...

Dik

 

[goombawaho]

Did you run the SeaTools diag?? Don't do anything else until you do that. That was my first suggestion and everything else appeared (and still does appear) to be secondary.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

I did, and I will re-run the test...

Dik

 

[goombawaho]

Sorry, did I miss you saying that you had run it? Results of test???!!!???

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

Error with HDDTest, "Reallocated Sector Count"... will try to chase that down... I have a spare 1T drive and if all else fails, will plug it in and reinstall WinXP. My PCIE solid state drive on my main desktop works fine, but, I don't want to give it up <G>.

Dik

 

[goombawaho]

Error with HDDTest

But not specifically SeaTools. I'd say that's your answer right there though.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[dik]

It passes both the short and long test... and then freezes shortly after; I think it's tied into one of the 'sleep' processes. Spent the weekend doing a NAS with two 4T drives and Raid 1 and including a new Netgear Nighthawk router into the system... increased NAS speed by a factor of 10 (really good hardware)... I'll get back to the XP next week...

Dik