Win XP Crashes Often _ SP2 ???

[Guest]

For the last three months my System has been plagued by continual crashes
(Blue Screens).

I have SP2 installed, with Norton2005 AntiVirus /Utilities, LavaSoft Adaware
and Sbybot keeping the system Virus and Spyware free. I leave the SP2
Firewall active as I trust it more. Various reports show that my system is
clean from Spyware.

Chkdsk /f /v /x is a daily routine, as is weekly defragmentation of both
Hard Drives.
Windows Updates are routinely downloaded and installed.

I replaced the Sound Card and the Graphics Card to more recent types, and
also installed a second Hard Disk, assuming (wrongly) that it might be the
original Hard Disk crashing the System. Both Hard Drives and System Utilities
verify that Hardware is without problems.

Although I send every Error Report to Microsoft, the feedback is generic,
like “ A Driver has caused the Stop error….†, but the report is unable to
identify which Driver or what causes the Crashes.

System Summary:
Intel Pentium III Processor at 651MHz
Ram: 448 MB
Windows XP Professional Version 2002
Service Pack 2
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hard Drives: 1. SAMSUNG 20Gb
2. WESTERN DIGITAL 80Gb

Optical Drives 1. Sony DVD-Rom
2. Pioneer DVD Writer
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have formatted and Clean-Installed Windows 4 or 5 times, alternating each
Hard Disks as Master. After each clean format, I install SP2 immediately
after the Operating System.
After each new installation I do not install programs yet, except for Norton
and MS Office2000: still the Crashes occur at random.

Sometimes, Blue Screens come up immediately after the first Cold Boot.
At other times, after an hour of work. On good days, the System hums happily
along all day, then Crashes in the evening. It is very difficult to pinpoint
exactly what the PC was doing at the time as the Crashes are random, on rare
occasions even in Safe Mode. I have become paranoid, saving Excel and Word
files every few seconds, dreading a BSOD every time!

Unfortunately, System Crashes are “every-day†routine since I installed
Windows XP Pro. I did not have these problems with Windows 98.

Appreciate your help in arriving at a conclusion to the matter.

 

[Tom]

For the last three months my System has been plagued by continual crashes
(Blue Screens).

I have SP2 installed, with Norton2005 AntiVirus /Utilities, LavaSoft
Adaware
and Sbybot keeping the system Virus and Spyware free. I leave the SP2
Firewall active as I trust it more. Various reports show that my system is
clean from Spyware.

Chkdsk /f /v /x is a daily routine, as is weekly defragmentation of both
Hard Drives.
Windows Updates are routinely downloaded and installed.

I replaced the Sound Card and the Graphics Card to more recent types, and
also installed a second Hard Disk, assuming (wrongly) that it might be the
original Hard Disk crashing the System. Both Hard Drives and System
Utilities
verify that Hardware is without problems.

Although I send every Error Report to Microsoft, the feedback is generic,
like " A Driver has caused the Stop error.." , but the report is unable to
identify which Driver or what causes the Crashes.

System Summary:
Intel Pentium III Processor at 651MHz
Ram: 448 MB
Windows XP Professional Version 2002
Service Pack 2
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hard Drives: 1. SAMSUNG 20Gb
2. WESTERN DIGITAL 80Gb

Optical Drives 1. Sony DVD-Rom
2. Pioneer DVD Writer
----------------------------------------------------------------
I have formatted and Clean-Installed Windows 4 or 5 times, alternating
each
Hard Disks as Master. After each clean format, I install SP2 immediately
after the Operating System.
After each new installation I do not install programs yet, except for
Norton
and MS Office2000: still the Crashes occur at random.

Sometimes, Blue Screens come up immediately after the first Cold Boot.
At other times, after an hour of work. On good days, the System hums
happily
along all day, then Crashes in the evening. It is very difficult to
pinpoint
exactly what the PC was doing at the time as the Crashes are random, on
rare
occasions even in Safe Mode. I have become paranoid, saving Excel and Word
files every few seconds, dreading a BSOD every time!

Unfortunately, System Crashes are "every-day" routine since I installed
Windows XP Pro. I did not have these problems with Windows 98.

Appreciate your help in arriving at a conclusion to the matter.

Do these crashes happen after you've have been up anbd running (if even just
for a while), or does it do it anytimg, e.g. fresh from starting up? Click
on System in the Control Panel, Advanced tab, Settings button under Startup
and Recovery, uncheck box Autoimatically restart, and be sure box "Write an
event to the system log" is checked. When you have another BSOD, you then
should see the crash code, write down, and post back. If you are able to use
your PC now, you may want to check the Event viewer (start/run type)
eventvwr.msc and look under system for for errors. You may also want to look
under applications too, though I don't know about that.

Sounds as if you may be overheating, or maybe memory is going south.

 

[Guest]

First of all Tom, thanks for replying.

"Blue Screens" appear because, as you stated, I unticked the Automatically
Restart, which doesn't give a clue what is happening.
My Sytem event Log is like a christmas tree, all lighted up with red alerts
because of these Stop Messages: I am not in a position to decipher them.
One thing you said made me wonder: RAM.
I have three modules: 256+128+64Mb = total 448. Using CheckIt, it does not
report anything wrong with them. At Boot Up, I believe there is a RAM test:
should not this report any damaged module if it is bad? Do you know of a Ram
Checker which I could download? Perhaps I should try powering on the PC with
one module at a time, though this would slow down the system, doesn't it?

You also said: "When you have another BSOD, you then
should see the crash code, write down, and post back."

Is this what you are refering to:

 

[Tom]

Sounds like a driver problem, but I am not ruking out memory issues. You can
go here :
http://www.memtest86.com/
Download and run memtest, as the instructions are easy; it may take a while.
Other than that, it may very well be a driver issue, and one may have become
corrutped, or damaged. Have you tried installing the latest drivers for your
hardwares, e.g. Soundcard, video card, etc?

 

[Guest]

I will run the mem test first, and then try the Driver Updates again, just
to make sure. Do you mind if I come back again to this page with further
developments?

Thanks guys.

 

[Tom]

Nobody here minds, it is part of what these mediums are for. And if you find
a fix, posting it can be helpful for future reference