Random lock ups... advice?

[hjo3]

Okay, so here are the symptoms: While in Windows, my computer will randomly lock up completely. That is, everything on the screen will freeze, numlock doesn't work, can't move the mouse cursor, ctrl+alt+del doesn't work. The only way for me to reboot is to hit the reset button. These lock ups occur about 1 to 8 hours after boot up. They don't seem to happen if I boot from CD (like, to use MemTest).

Here's what I've tried:
- Replaced the PSU (old one wasn't very good, sometimes wouldn't power on after being unplugged for a little while).
- Tested the memory with 10 passes of MemTest86 on c-1-2-2-3-0 (no errors).
- Checked the event viewer (no errors that coincide with lock ups).
- Ran thorough diagnostics on the HDD with Windows and the paging file on it (clean).

Haven't added any new hardware to the system (besides the PSU) recently except for a Linksys USB wireless adapter (and it's using the latest drivers). Lock ups occur at any time while using any application or none at all. Any suggestions?

Relevant system specs:
Windows 2000 Pro SP4
Radeon 9800 Pro
Athlon XP 2500+
1 GB DDR333

 

[LiLithTecH]

Are you running either Norton SystemWorks or Zone Alarm?

Have you cleaned the inside of your PC lately?
(heavy dust on cooling fans plays havoc with temps)

 

[hjo3]

Re: Norton/Zone Alarm: No, just AVG.

Good call on the overheating possibility! I'll check my temperatures. I blew some dust out with canned air when I installed the PSU, but I wasn't very thorough and there was a LOT in there.

 

[hjo3]

Okay, no temperature issues... my proc. doesn't exceed 130 F under load and other components (like the RAM etc.) are free of dust. Anymore ideas? Is there a chance upgrading to XP Pro might help?

 

[hjo3]

Just upgraded to XP Pro SP2... we'll see if this fixes the random lock ups problem.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: hjo3
Just upgraded to XP Pro SP2... we'll see if this fixes the random lock ups problem.

Lock-ups typically are not a software issue - if the OS was in control and had a problem, you'd get a bluescreen. When the OS isn't in control and the hardware has an issue, the lockup (or spontaneous reboot) takes place.

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: dclive

Originally posted by: hjo3
Just upgraded to XP Pro SP2... we'll see if this fixes the random lock ups problem.

Lock-ups typically are not a software issue - if the OS was in control and had a problem, you'd get a bluescreen. When the OS isn't in control and the hardware has an issue, the lockup (or spontaneous reboot) takes place.

I had a similar hunch, but the lockups never happened when I left the system at the recovery console prompt or running MemTest overnight. But time will tell...

If I still get lockups the only thing left for me to do will be to replace the motherboard I think, right? I've tested all the hardware I can without switching...

 

[deathwalker]

If this were my system I would de-tune my memory settings to something perhaps like 3-3-3-8 T2 and bump the memory voltage a tad to perhaps 2.8 vlts..and give it a ride and see if it improves...yes...I know it passes memtest..but...that is not the know all and end all of memory problems. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[dclive]

You could always reinstall Windows without installing ANY third-party device drivers and see if anything changes. Just install to c:\win2 or something, and you can keep both Windows installs on the same drive (or find another hard drive and install there for a quick test.)

 

[hjo3]

dclive -- Good point. Maybe I'll let the system run Knoppix overnight and see if it's locked up in the morning.
BTW, only one lockup in XP so far, and none since I eliminated the paging file.

 

[dclive]

Windows wants a pagefile, so if it's locking up with a pagefile, I'd look at hard disk errors. Does your event log, system or application portions, show any errors? 50 or 51 disk-related errors?

 

[hjo3]

There are some 51s going back as far as mid-March and continuing to today (even though I got rid of the paging file?), but they're pretty infrequent and don't seem to directly line up with times the system locked up. There're only about 15 events like that. I think I confused HDD1/DR1 (C🙂 with HDD0/DR1 (F🙂... gonna download some Maxtor diagnostics now since the Hitachi boot disk I made won't work on it. Thanks, I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: hjo3
There are some 51s going back as far as mid-March and continuing to today (even though I got rid of the paging file?), but they're pretty infrequent and don't seem to directly line up with times the system locked up. There're only about 15 events like that. I think I confused HDD1/DR1 (C🙂 with HDD0/DR1 (F🙂... gonna download some Maxtor diagnostics now since the Hitachi boot disk I made won't work on it. Thanks, I'll let you know how it works out.

If you want, you can run MPSReports (see my .sig) and I can interpret (at least a little bit more) the errors.

 

[hjo3]

Cool! YGEM (well, in a minute or two). Thanks!

 

[dclive]

Source: Disk
ID : 7
Date : 5/7/2006
Time : 9:31:27 AM
Data :
0000: 03 00 18 00 01 00 72 00
0008: 00 00 00 00 07 00 04 c0
0010: 00 01 00 00 9c 00 00 c0
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0020: 00 24 41 ea 03 00 00 00
0028: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0030: 00 00 00 00 28 00 00 00
0038: 02 84 00 00 00 00 03 00

Disk 1 resides on Bus 0, Target 0, Lun 0

Failing opcode : 0x28 = SCSIOP_READ
Sense code : 0x03 = SCSI_SENSE_MEDIUM_ERROR
Addl sense code: 0x00 = SCSI_ADSENSE_NO_SENSE
Addl sense qual: 0x00
Srb status : 0x04 = SRB_STATUS_ERROR
Scsi status : 0x02 = SCSISTAT_CHECK_CONDITION

is what's happening...the hdd has an issue. That happened a lot in that timeframe.

Try another install of Windows with a different hard drive; the lcal of the swapfile shouldn't change anything, so if that's what stops your crashing, your HDD isn't reliable - if something else writes to that location....

 

[hjo3]

I ran the Maxtor diagnostics and they say the drive is failing and should be RMA'd... gahhh... gotta back up a 120 gb HD... thanks for your help though. That MPSRpts thing is pretty cool; I'd never seen it before.