XP randomly locking up

[maverick2604]

hey guys... i run a dual boot rig with ubuntu and win xp. i have been trying to start up my machine in xp (like i always do), but the past few times it has locked up on me once the OS loads into the desktop. my hdd light stays on. however, when i load into linux *(which happens to be on the same physical drive), it works fine.... any idea as to the problem? i know windows is more apt to viruses and such, but my comp is very very clean.

the reason i can get into linux is making me cancel out any thought of a hardware problem. im running out of ideas...

 

[Zolty]

reinstall windows at the first sign of trouble

 

[maverick2604]

well... now i think it might be a hardware thing. my linux restarted too! but there is a significant time difference between the time windows locked up and linux restarted... is there a difference in the power management of the two OS's?

i think it may be my power supply, but im not sure. i dont think it is overheating b/c i had both case sides open and monitored the heat last night (while running an antivirus) and it still locked up in windows. this is super frustrating... any ideas as to what you would do??

again, the problem is that my computer is locking up in windows; and restarts after a while in linux. sometimes my usb saitek gamer keyboard does not power up before the bios... does that tell me it may be a power problem too?

 

[Genesis15]

It probably isn't a hardware problem due to the fact that your computer runs fine while running Linux, XP is probably corrupt or has a abd boot.ini log or somthing that's causing it to fail at startup.

 

[spherrod]

Originally posted by: Genesis15
It probably isn't a hardware problem due to the fact that your computer runs fine while running Linux, XP is probably corrupt or has a abd boot.ini log or somthing that's causing it to fail at startup.

Um, he said he gets problems in Linux as well.

Maverick2604 - please can you post your full system spec, and include as much detail as possible (RAM, GPU, CPU, Power Supply etc)

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: maverick2604
hey guys... i run a dual boot rig with ubuntu and win xp. i have been trying to start up my machine in xp (like i always do), but the past few times it has locked up on me once the OS loads into the desktop. my hdd light stays on. however, when i load into linux *(which happens to be on the same physical drive), it works fine.... any idea as to the problem? i know windows is more apt to viruses and such, but my comp is very very clean.

the reason i can get into linux is making me cancel out any thought of a hardware problem. im running out of ideas...

The CIA has obviously hijacked your rig. It would be best to format, then throw it off a cliff.

 

[maverick2604]

Originally posted by: spherrod

Originally posted by: Genesis15
It probably isn't a hardware problem due to the fact that your computer runs fine while running Linux, XP is probably corrupt or has a abd boot.ini log or somthing that's causing it to fail at startup.

Um, he said he gets problems in Linux as well.

Maverick2604 - please can you post your full system spec, and include as much detail as possible (RAM, GPU, CPU, Power Supply etc)

certainly... i will post all that info when i get home tonight

 

[maverick2604]

ok... let's start from the ground up:

bios: pheonix tech.
mobo: asus a7n8x rev 1 nVIDIA AMD ATX Audio 10/100 LAN
processor: AMD athlon XP 2800+ (Barton Core) socket A (current speed 2083 mhz/ max 3000 mhz)
Thermaltake volcano 9 CPU Heatsink / Fan (AMD)
RAM: DDR: 184 pin DIMM 256 + 184 pin DIMM 512
Cache: L1 cache = 128k L2 cache = 512
Harddrives: MDT 80 GB EIDE 7200 rpm (C drive) & Hitachi 200 GB (not sure speed and what not)
Video: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB DDR
Optical Drives: Liteon 52x24x52 CDRW & Liteon 16X DVD
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Ed.
Power Supply: Codegen 400W ATX p4 amd recommended

then from system info:
total phys memory: 768.00 MB
available " " : 487.36 MB
total virtual memory: 2.00 GB
available virtual memory: 1.96 GB
page file space : 1.83 GB


not sure where to find gpu info... is this enough?

 

[spherrod]

GPU is the ATI Radeon 😀

My first recommendation would be to run memtest on your machine, and then download a diagnostic utility for your harddrives from the manafacturer's website and check them out.

can you list more details on the power supply at all? Should have some ratings on it

 

[maverick2604]

i ran memtest last night. ver 1.3... ran it while i was asleep for 6+ hours... and the memory is fine. will check the hdd's ...

 

[maverick2604]

i just tried using powermax for my hdd diagnostics... when it ran, the test would go on forever... even the basic test (which approx'd for 60 secs). do you guys recommend any reliable hdd diagnostic tool?