Random Windows 2000 Pro Lockups!

[Peridium]

After hearing all the great comments about the stability and power of Windows 2000 Pro I decided to give the OS a try. I've had good experiences with Windows Millennium Edition, so I really was curious as to how much better Windows 2000 would be. Making sure I had all the Win2K drivers for my peripherals I was prepared to install. I decided to dual-boot between WinME and Win2K since I still like to play games. I had WinME installed on my primary C drive and I installed Win2K onto my D drive.

After setting up all of my hardware, everything seemed great. However, once in a while when I'm browsing through Windows Explorer my computer simply locks right up! I don't understand why, as my system had been perfectly stable in WinME. I can run Distributed.Net Client for hours without any problems in Win2K but why would it lock up when I'm just browsing through my computer? I even played a few games of Quake 3: Arena in Win2K without any problems.

I'm not sure what the source of the problem is. I've tried almost everything I could think of, from updating to the latest BIOS, Intel chipset drivers, Intel Security Driver, and Intel Ultra-ATA Storage Driver. I've also updated all the critical updates from Microsoft's Windows Update and installed Service Pack 1. What really bothers me though is that I in the Device Manager I have 6 devices using IRQ9. Why doesn't Win2K place some of the devices on IRQ5 or IRQ11 which are not even being used? I know that devices are supposed to be able to share IRQs but at least in WinME the devices are spread through all the IRQs.

Does anybody have any similar experiences? I'd really like some input on this problem from you guys. Any tips or suggestions? I'd like to hear them all. Thanks in advance.

Here is my system setup:

Intel Pentium III 700E @ 966MHz (Core @ 1.85V)
Asus CUSL2 Mainboard (1006 Final BIOS)
128MB Infineon SDRAM (2,2,2, 5/7 RAM Timing)
CL 3D Blaster Annilhilator 2 (FastTrax 6.34a Drivers)
CL Sound Blaster Live! Value (LiveWare 3.0)
Linksys LNE100TX EtherFast 10/100 LAN Card
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB (2)
Pioneer DVD-105S 16X Drive
Plextor 12/10/32A CD-RW Drive
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical USB

 

[obenton]

The IRQ thing is normal for w2k. Check event viewer logs for info about what might be causing the problem.

 

[Shadow07]

When your system locks up, is it when you are moving the side scoll bar? I have had a similar problem with a Toshiba laptop. Everytime I would move the side scroll bar, the CPU fan would speed up and then BAM! It would lock. I found that the problem lied with the video card drivers. I would look at the GPU vendor for the most current drivers.

You can also use the Driver Verification tool that comes with Windows 2000, but going to a DOS prompt and typing in VERIFIER. You can search on support.microsoft.com or TechNet for the correct usage.

Hope that helps.

 

[Rogue]

Another thing is that Win2k is very sensitive to overclocking also. You may wish to step down your OC a little and see if the problem disappears.

 

[Peridium]

I took up your advice and opened up the event viewer. The viewer listed quite a few warning signs. This message is listed about 30 times in the viewer. I've only just recently re-installed Win2K on February 26th. The message read:

"The D: disk is at or near capacity. You may need to delete some files."

However, I still have about 2.86GB of free space on the drive. So I'm not sure why I'm getting that message. Is this a possible contributor to my problem? I'm using a FAT32 partition with Win2K by the way. When I first installed the OS I already had some files on the drive. This wouldn't affect anything would it?

Concerning the comment on overclocking, I've been consistently running the Distributed Client without any stability problems in WinME. I've also successfully ran the Client overnight in Win2K without any problems. I've been running the client for 39 consecutive days now. My computer hasn't been off in a while. My maximum CPU temperature is 41°C. The lockups occur when I'm browsing through my computer and clicking on folders and expanding directories. Do you think that Win2K is that sensitive to overclocking? I even ran Quake 3: Arena in Win2K. I would think that would be more stressful on the CPU than runnning 2D applications. I really don't like the idea of clocking down my speed if Windows ME can run at 966MHz without problems. Do you have any other things I can try before I test that suggestion?

Once again, thanks for the replies. Keep them coming...

 

[tlo]

No sure fire suggestions, however I will say that I too have had very eratic system crashes while using a Win2K, 1GTbird, at 1064 (8X133)on an Abit Kt7A MB.I have not been sure if it was a power problem (300W) or what, but I have very similar symptons. When it runs, it the fastest machine I have ever seen, (45G IBM 75GXP + 40G DiamondMax-256M Cas2) However I even get "explorer has generated an error and will be shut down" frequently. What gives? I had the crashed before goint to a 133FSB....so?

 

[Peridium]

Anybody else have some ideas or suggestions?

 

[TomBilliodeaux]

This sounds like W98 stuff. THis together with the lack of support for CDRW software and duplex printer software compared to Millen., and no dos to boot and fix problems, makes me start considering Millenium. (yuk W98). But my friends and others seem to run Mill without problems. I can boot into W98 twice as fast as W2k.

 

[Shadow07]

I would look at stepping the CPU OC down a few notches. Or, I would get a better cooling system. Heat may be the only problem here, or the fact that you are REALLY pushing the CPU too fast.

 

[Peridium]

I'm currently using an Alpha PEP66T with Arctic Silver thermal paste for cooling. I've been running at 966MHz for a couple months now. As I said before, my maximum temperature was 41°C under load. I've played games, ran Prime95, RC5 without any problems whatsoever. It was only until I installed Win2K that I started experiencing these lockups when just doing normal 2D stuff. I'm certain that heat is not the cause of this problem as I ran RC5 overnight without any problems.

 

[Rogue]

Win2k is notoriously sensitive to OC processors, trust us on this one. It doesn't matter what you are doing on it whether it's 2d or 3d, you will most likely have problems with OC processors on Win2k. NT/2k is much more complex than Win9x could ever be, so it's more sensitive to inconsistencies and errata than is Win9x.

 

[GambiT]

I, too, had similiar problems. On shut down or reboot, my explorer said it wasn't responding. I'd have to manually end task it. I realized that upped the core voltage to 1.85 not that long ago to get better compatilibity. Wrong, the system was over heating because of it. Since then, I've lowered it to 1.70 and Win2K shuts down correctly now. Hope that helps!