What is this program hanging out in my system tray, and did it freeze
my system?
http://www.j-archive.com/unknownsystemtrayprogram.jpg

I apologize for the bad quality image. I couldn't take a screen
capture because my system was frozen, so I had to use a digital camera
to take a photograph of my screen.

Background: I use a 3-year-old Gateway GX7022E (Pentium D 830 3 GHz
dual-core with 2 gigs of DDR2 memory running Windows XP Media Center
Edition 2002) to record Jeopardy! in high definition each night using
Windows Media Center. I left over Thanksgiving weekend and came back
to find the system frozen--I think it's the first time that happened.
It apparently froze mid-way through recording on Wednesday night, but
after I returned, in the following days the system also froze while
rendering an MPEG for a video DVD I was making, and then while doing
nothing at all (except, apparently, whatever this unknown system tray
program was doing). Later the system froze again while recording
Jeopardy!

I can't think of anything I changed in the system just prior to when
it started acting up last Wednesday. I did bring my system up to date
with Windows Update after the freezing problem started happening, but
it didn't fix anything.

When the system freezes, the mouse and keyboard do not respond and
there is no way to power the system down except by holding the power
button in for several seconds. The last time it happened, last night,
even holding the power button in wouldn't shut the system down; I had
to yank the power cable. The system wouldn't start up again after I
did that. I took off the cover and could find no apparent damage.
The next morning (today) I tried powering it up again and it booted.

I don't know where to start, and whether this is a power issue,
motherboard, RAM, video card, software, or what. The system has a
beefy Bestec ATX-400GW 400 watt power supply, and it has always been
fine in the past.

Thanks for any advice you can offer,
Robert

Several diagnostic steps:
1.) Download & run AutoRuns from SysInternals - use this to check
what loads and runs at boot time.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Autoruns.mspx
2.) Run a Chkdsk on your windows volume. Abrupt power offs may
have left the drive in an inconsistent or "Dirty" state.
3.) Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Check the System and Application event logs for red icons that
denote error(s). Double-clicking will open the details box that will
have a brief description and an Event ID #
4.) Regardless of what Security software you use, run a on-line scan
from another vendor - NOD32 here: http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/
5.) Download and run SpeedFan 4.33. This is an environmental monitor
that reads sensors on the motherboard & CPU. It also provides the
capability to read the SMART data of your disk drives.
Direct Download link: http://www.almico.com/speedfan433.exe

"Robert K S" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:247f7c29-e15b-47a7-b4d6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> What is this program hanging out in my system tray, and did it freeze
> my system?
> http://www.j-archive.com/unknownsystemtrayprogram.jpg
>
> I apologize for the bad quality image. I couldn't take a screen
> capture because my system was frozen, so I had to use a digital camera
> to take a photograph of my screen.
>
> Background: I use a 3-year-old Gateway GX7022E (Pentium D 830 3 GHz
> dual-core with 2 gigs of DDR2 memory running Windows XP Media Center
> Edition 2002) to record Jeopardy! in high definition each night using
> Windows Media Center. I left over Thanksgiving weekend and came back
> to find the system frozen--I think it's the first time that happened.
> It apparently froze mid-way through recording on Wednesday night, but
> after I returned, in the following days the system also froze while
> rendering an MPEG for a video DVD I was making, and then while doing
> nothing at all (except, apparently, whatever this unknown system tray
> program was doing). Later the system froze again while recording
> Jeopardy!
>
> I can't think of anything I changed in the system just prior to when
> it started acting up last Wednesday. I did bring my system up to date
> with Windows Update after the freezing problem started happening, but
> it didn't fix anything.
>
> When the system freezes, the mouse and keyboard do not respond and
> there is no way to power the system down except by holding the power
> button in for several seconds. The last time it happened, last night,
> even holding the power button in wouldn't shut the system down; I had
> to yank the power cable. The system wouldn't start up again after I
> did that. I took off the cover and could find no apparent damage.
> The next morning (today) I tried powering it up again and it booted.
>
> I don't know where to start, and whether this is a power issue,
> motherboard, RAM, video card, software, or what. The system has a
> beefy Bestec ATX-400GW 400 watt power supply, and it has always been
> fine in the past.
>
> Thanks for any advice you can offer,
> Robert

This turned out to definitely not be a software issue.

http://www.j-archive.com/foundtheproblem.jpg

I swear it wasn't like that yesterday!

So do I need a new motherboard, new power supply, both, or neither? How can
I prevent it from happening in the future?

Robert


"R. McCarty" wrote:

> Several diagnostic steps:
> 1.) Download & run AutoRuns from SysInternals - use this to check
> what loads and runs at boot time.
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys.../Autoruns.mspx
> 2.) Run a Chkdsk on your windows volume. Abrupt power offs may
> have left the drive in an inconsistent or "Dirty" state.
> 3.) Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
> Check the System and Application event logs for red icons that
> denote error(s). Double-clicking will open the details box that will
> have a brief description and an Event ID #
> 4.) Regardless of what Security software you use, run a on-line scan
> from another vendor - NOD32 here: http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/
> 5.) Download and run SpeedFan 4.33. This is an environmental monitor
> that reads sensors on the motherboard & CPU. It also provides the
> capability to read the SMART data of your disk drives.
> Direct Download link: http://www.almico.com/speedfan433.exe
>
> "Robert K S" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:247f7c29-e15b-47a7-b4d6-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > What is this program hanging out in my system tray, and did it freeze
> > my system?
> > http://www.j-archive.com/unknownsystemtrayprogram.jpg
> >
> > I apologize for the bad quality image. I couldn't take a screen
> > capture because my system was frozen, so I had to use a digital camera
> > to take a photograph of my screen.
> >
> > Background: I use a 3-year-old Gateway GX7022E (Pentium D 830 3 GHz
> > dual-core with 2 gigs of DDR2 memory running Windows XP Media Center
> > Edition 2002) to record Jeopardy! in high definition each night using
> > Windows Media Center. I left over Thanksgiving weekend and came back
> > to find the system frozen--I think it's the first time that happened.
> > It apparently froze mid-way through recording on Wednesday night, but
> > after I returned, in the following days the system also froze while
> > rendering an MPEG for a video DVD I was making, and then while doing
> > nothing at all (except, apparently, whatever this unknown system tray
> > program was doing). Later the system froze again while recording
> > Jeopardy!
> >
> > I can't think of anything I changed in the system just prior to when
> > it started acting up last Wednesday. I did bring my system up to date
> > with Windows Update after the freezing problem started happening, but
> > it didn't fix anything.
> >
> > When the system freezes, the mouse and keyboard do not respond and
> > there is no way to power the system down except by holding the power
> > button in for several seconds. The last time it happened, last night,
> > even holding the power button in wouldn't shut the system down; I had
> > to yank the power cable. The system wouldn't start up again after I
> > did that. I took off the cover and could find no apparent damage.
> > The next morning (today) I tried powering it up again and it booted.
> >
> > I don't know where to start, and whether this is a power issue,
> > motherboard, RAM, video card, software, or what. The system has a
> > beefy Bestec ATX-400GW 400 watt power supply, and it has always been
> > fine in the past.
> >
> > Thanks for any advice you can offer,
> > Robert
>
>
>