How is SETI as a system diagnostic?

[Mucman]

I have a friends computer who complains about IE crashing all the time. It's P166 w/64M and a fresh install of win98SE. He thinks it needs a new MB. I just started working with it and have noticed the IE crashes. I am going to d/l IE 5.5 and I just put on SETI. If SETI can finish a WU with out a crash, does that mean the mobo, CPU, and RAM are fine?

thanks

 

[Possessed Freak]

there could be a number of things wrong. If your friend narrows it down to just IE that causes crashes, then it is NOT the mobo,ram,or cpu. Best solution there is to revert back to an older version of IE or try netscape.

 

[Mucman]

Actually he was wrong when he said IE... Explorer crashed, as in Windows crashed. I had SETI on for 10min then I moved the mouse a bit then Explorer crashed. I rebooted and it had to restore the registry... sounds pretty bad.

 

[paruhd0x]

format C: /s /q

 

[helpme]

install linux

 

[nickdakick]

Anyone noticed the 'moron' in oxymoron ?

 

[Joe O]

Mucman,Windows Explorer will crash at the first sign of overheating of the CPU. I don't reallly know why(I have my theories), but I've seen this on many machines. Take the case off and blow a fan on it. See if it stays up longer.
The registry failures could also be caused by overheating. I've seen this on a few machines. The other thing I see a lot is that registry failures are the first sign of a disk drive problem. Backup early and often!
While I don't work on PCs for a living (yet), because there is too little money in it, I do build, fix, repair them for family, friends, the Church, the School, the Library and anyone who works for them. Actually I have done some hardware work for companies, but most of the time I'm on the software side of the house.

 

[Robor]

I've seen bad RAM cause Explorer to crash and overclocking too high will do it as well. If that's a fresh install of Win98SE and it's not overclocked you shouldn't be experiencing those crashes. I'd suspect that you've got a bad piece of hardware in there. Since it's a P166, how old is that system? Maybe it's just old, tired, and wants to be retired?

Like helpme said, you could put Linux on it because that's a pretty old system and it's not as demanding on system specs. However, I tried Linux and found that it was nothing special. IMO, just another alternative OS with less driver and software support than Windows. Much harder to work with and administrate as well. Just my $.02...

Rob

 

[Joe O]

Robor, Yea I've RAM do it too, but I didn't mention it because it's less likely(IMHO). I've only seen 2 bad sticks of RAM so far. The other times it was overheating, loose in the socket, corroded pins (gold vs tin mismatch + humidity) etc.
Mucman, I should have suggested that you reseat the memory.
By the way, is this a tower or a desktop? If a desktop, full size or Pizza Box?

 

[Chintan]

Mucman,

RAM may be the problem. One time, I was buildinga computer, and every time that I would install windows, explorer kept crashing after a few minutes. GPF's and errors every all the time. I kept on reinstalling thinking I was doing something wrong. Checked all the components, and everything was seated fine..even replaced the hard drive. Same thing.

Finally, I replaced the memory, and everything worked properly. What had happened was when you install windows, during installation, it sticks as many of the files into RAM. Basically, it puts explorer.exe, the kernel, and some other files into memory, so it doesn't access the CD. if you have bad memory, and windows stuck these finals into memory during installation, it gets messed up. Check the RAM

that's my $0.02. good luck

 

[Mucman]

Thanks for all the help! You guys are almost better than the folks in General Hardware . The computer is a tower and I am sure it is all original components except for the RAM. I am going to take a look at the RAM tonight and see how it acts.

I will give you more details later...

thanks again!

 

[Mucman]

Well the RAM is Mitsubishi and I believe it is 10ms RAM. It is in a TX chipset MB. I am trying to run it with one stick out (32M) and see how it is...

 

[DanC]

If you are a Rush fan - your opinion matters to me!

 

[office boy]

Rush????
BAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

[Mucman]

Not the responses I was hoping to get guys

I tried it with 1 stick in the lower slot and it seems to work fine... I tried running both (only 2 dimm slots) and when I rebooted in immediately (sp?) crashed.

 

[DanC]

Rush at least knows the definition of "is"...
unlike our fair-haired boy -

 

[Mucman]

*update* it seems as though this crash only occurs with both dimms occupying the slots.... The only tests I have done are: SETI, opened up 10 IE windows, basic file transfers in My Computer.

This crash has come up when I just clicked on the start menu, or double-clicked on My Computer....

I am re-testing each dimm individually so I can say that there is something wrong with using both dimms with confidence.

 

[Mucman]

nevermind... I may have it narrowed down to one of the dimms now... it failed in the Internet Explorer test.

 

[Assimilator1]

Cool (that you found the problem that is!)