Help with frequent random crashes

[Sagittaria]

My daughter's computer was crashing frequently, so I reformatted her
hard drive and reinstalled windows XP pro. Now it's still crashing
frequently, but instead of the whole computer rebooting, now she
gets a message saying "The application has crashed and will now
terminate" and the app closes, but the computer keeps running. But
it happens with different apps - Internet Explorer, windows media
player, sims 2. Any ideas on what to try? I did update the video and
sound drivers already.

This is a homebuilt (not by me), hodgepodge computer with a chaintech
motherboard, one IDE hard drive, CD-ROM and CD-RW, pretty basic stuff.
It was running with no problems for about a year before this started.

 

[Larry Samuels]

Run a memory diagnostic. Bad memory is frequently the cause of random errors
and lockups.
You can get a free one here:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Sagittaria]

Run a memory diagnostic. Bad memory is frequently the cause of
random errors and lockups.
You can get a free one here:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Thanks for the tip - that seems like a useful tool to keep around. I
ran the standard and the extended tests and found no memory errors.
Can you (anyone) suggest anything else to try? Thanks very much.

Refresher of problem: My daughter's computer was crashing
frequently, so I reformatted her hard drive and reinstalled windows
XP pro. Now it's still crashing frequently, but instead of the whole
computer rebooting, now she gets a message saying "The application
has crashed and will now terminate" and the app closes, but the
computer keeps running. But it happens with different apps -
Internet Explorer, windows media player, sims 2. Any ideas on what
to try? I did update the video and sound drivers already.

This is a homebuilt (not by me), hodgepodge computer with a
chaintech motherboard, one IDE hard drive, CD-ROM and CD-RW, pretty
basic stuff. It was running with no problems for about a year before
this started.

 

[Larry Samuels]

Unfortunately my next suggestion after running full hard drive diagnostics
is to wipe and reload again, but use the other CDrom this time. Read errors
during install can cause similar symptoms.

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Sagittaria]

Unfortunately my next suggestion after running full hard drive
diagnostics is to wipe and reload again, but use the other CDrom
this time. Read errors during install can cause similar symptoms.

Do you have any suggestions for hard drive diagnostic tools? I haven't
done that part yet, except through windows.

 

[Larry Samuels]

I usually just use chkdsk at boot for a basic check, then use the hard drive
manufacturer's suggested tool if chkdsk reports problems with the drive.

PS--nice to see another murray head fan <G>

--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[Sagittaria]

I usually just use chkdsk at boot for a basic check, then use the
hard drive manufacturer's suggested tool if chkdsk reports
problems with the drive.

PS--nice to see another murray head fan <G>

It's a good song! I haven't heard anything else from him though.

The hard drive checks out. I'm leaning toward the motherboard beginning
to fail - are there any tests for that?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Larry Samuels]

One thing to check on the motherboard that is obvious to the naked eye are
the capacitors near the processor socket. If any are swollen or leaking you
can plan on motherboard replacement.

If there are no signs of bad caps, I would try another wipe and reload
before replacing the board. A power glitch at the wrong moment can do
strange things to an install, including random errors you can never trace
down.


--
Larry Samuels Associate Expert
MS-MVP (2001-2005)
Unofficial FAQ for Windows Server 2003 at
http://pelos.us/SERVER.htm
Expert Zone-

 

[S. Taylor]

Unfortunately there is no easy or inexpensive way to do so.
The easiest way would be for you to take the pc to technician and have
him check for failing hardware.
In US prices the bill for doing this could easily hit $100+ , so you have to
decide
if the computer is worth it, or is it so old, it'd be cheaper to by another
used one to
replace it.

Otherwise. if you want to troubleshoot your hardware, start by check the
System Information Tool
for any problems devices (if windows detects driver or hardware issues
before it causes a crash,
the device will be listed in it)
Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information
Expand the Components tree and select Problem Devices.