Intermittent Crashes

[Howward]

My computer runs normally for days or hours or sometimes just minutes, then crashes. The crash goes immediately to a black screen and the entire unit completely shuts down - it then usually reboots. The crash occurs intermittently when watching videos or (less often) when moving or resizing a window; however, it always crashes when loading BioShock. I thought it was related to old video drivers or a bad card so I updated the drivers for my GeForce 7600GT, but that didn’t help. I then replaced the graphics board with a VisionTek ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB, but again, the crashes occured with similar frequency. I tested memory by removing the sticks one at a time, but there was no improvement. I tested the Audigy card by removing it and using onboard sound, but there was no improvement. I don’t think the problem is the power supply because crashes were no more frequent with the Radeon card than with the GeForce (and the Radeon presumably uses more power). The computer is running many processes, so I ended all that I thought to be unneeded for BioShock – leaving only
Agent.exe, alg.exe, ati2evxx.exe (2 instances),
Backup.exe, CCC.exe, ccSvcHst.exe (2 instances),
csrss.exe, CtHelper.exe, explorer.exe,
imapi.exe, jqs.exe, lsass.exe,
MaxBlastMonitor, MOM.exe, smss.exe,
spoolsv.exe, svchost.exe (8 instances),
System, System Idle Process,
taskmgr.exe, ViewpointService.exe,
vssvc.exe, WindowsSearch.exe,
winlogon.exe, wmpnetwk.exe, and wmpnscfg.exe.
After doing this, BioShock ran into the opening exposition, but crashed afterwards.

My system:
PSU: ThermalTake PurePower Xaser III 480W
MB: Gigabyte GA-965SP-DS3
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 (not overclocked)
Cooler: Intel Bundled
Memory: 2 Corsair CM2X1024-6400 5-5-5-12 800MHz XMS2-6400
Graphics: VisionTek-ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB(latest drivers)
HDD1: Seagate Barricuda 7200.10 SATA 320 Gbytes
HDD2: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 Model 6L250R0 PATA 133 250 Gbytes
Optical Drive 1: ASUS DRW-2014 L1T
Optical Drive 2: ASUS DRW-2014-L1
Sound: SB Audigy SB1394 Model SB0090
WinXP SP3

Any help would be appreciated

 

[RebateMonger]

Start with the basics. Run an overnight Memtest86+ of the memory and run the extended diagnostics on the hard disks. It never hurts to take a look at System Event and Application Event logs, just to be sure there's no hints there.

That motherboard is probably a couple of years old, so it's also possible it could be capacitor issues on the motherboard. That board may have some solid capacitors, so it might be less likely than with some boards, but it wouldn't hurt to take a quick look for any bulged or leaking capacitors.

 

[Howward]

Thanks for your suggestions.
Memtest86+ ran overnight successfully.
The motherboard has no bulged or leaking capacitors.
The Events log showed a number of errors, but I couldn't attribute any of them to the crashes. Here's a list of the errors that occurred during one or two crashes this morning:

Source Type Date Time Source Category Event
(Application Events) Error 12/27/2009 8:18:58 AM STCAgent None 2
(System Events) Error 12/27/2009 8:19:10 AM Service Control Manager None 7000
(System Events) Error 12/27/2009 8:20:11 AM WMPNetworkSvc None 14344
(System Events) Error 12/27/2009 8:20:11 AM WMPNetworkSvc None 14344
(System Events) Error 12/27/2009 9:25:21 AM Service Control Manager None 7000 (System Events) Error 12/27/2009 9:25:34 AM WMPNetworkSvc None 14344
(System Events) Error 12/27/2009 9:25:35 AM WMPNetworkSvc None 14344

Any other thoughts?
Thanks again.

 

[RebateMonger]

Make sure that "Automatic Restarts" in the event of a crash are NOT enabled in the Windows System control panel, and that a small crash log will be generated. That may help point to the cause.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/russel_02may13.mspx

 

[Howward]

I disabled "Automatic Restarts", but the computer still restarts after a crash. However, some new system events show up - two that are "Event Log" and one "Save Dump". Unfortunately, the "Save Dump" indicates that the dump was not saved.

First EventLog:

Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 3 Multiprocessor Free.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
​

Second EventLog:

The Event log service was started.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
​

Save Dump:

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x000000ea (0x8a552640, 0x8910aa28, 0xf78b6cbc, 0x00000001). A full dump was not saved.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
​

Does this information help?

 

[Howward]

I raised all voltages by 0.1V (from Auto) and now my system seems to be working properly - no crash in BioShock, which I had been unable to run.

It's interesting that I've had to raise the voltages even though I'm not overclocking. Something must be deteriorating in my system.

Any thoughts?

 

[Howward]

Update - Not only did I have to increase voltages, but I cannot use my Audigy card without crashing in BioShock. When I use the Gigabyte motherboard's onboard audio, I've had no problems.

 

[TJCS]

Update - Not only did I have to increase voltages, but I cannot use my Audigy card without crashing in BioShock. When I use the Gigabyte motherboard's onboard audio, I've had no problems.

I had an Asrock 775Dual-VSTA board and it had the same compatibility issue with my audigy 2. Good to hear you fixed it.
​

 

[Howward]

Originally Posted by Howward
Update - Not only did I have to increase voltages, but I cannot use my Audigy card without crashing in BioShock. When I use the Gigabyte motherboard's onboard audio, I've had no problems.
I had an Asrock 775Dual-VSTA board and it had the same compatibility issue with my audigy 2. Good to hear you fixed it.

I had an Asrock 775Dual-VSTA board and it had the same compatibility issue with my audigy 2. Good to hear you fixed it.
​

Well...I was somewhat premature in saying "no problems". Even with the increased voltage and not using the Audigy card, BioShock crashed. Just *much* less frequently.

Actually, I give up. I just bought a MSI NF750-G55 with a Phenom II X4 925 at Fry's for $160 after $15 MSI rebate. Also got 4 Gbytes of Corsair DDR3 on 2 sticks for $90 from Fry's, and I'm ordering a Sonata III case, Win 7 64 bit and 500 Gbyte Samsung SATA drive from Newegg. About $600, but I should be set now for a number of years.