Random lockups

[Graham Daniels]

Hi,

Our son's PC got a virus which we managed to get rid of. I have reinstalled
XP home twice, reformatted the hard drive but tstill we get random and also
non random lockups.

Athlon 3200+ processor ATI Radeon 95500 graphics card. I have swapped the
card with an identical machine purchased at the same time but that didn't
change anything. Have been to Windows update and also updated to latest ATI
radeon drivers but can't seem to get to the bottom of this.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Graham

 

[philo]

Hi,

Our son's PC got a virus which we managed to get rid of. I have
reinstalled XP home twice, reformatted the hard drive but tstill we get
random and also non random lockups.

<snip>

Random lockups may be a bit hard to troubleshoot...
so might as well start out with the non-random lockups

post back with what causes them

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Our son's PC got a virus which we managed to get rid of. I have
reinstalled XP home twice, reformatted the hard drive but tstill we
get random and also non random lockups.

Athlon 3200+ processor ATI Radeon 95500 graphics card. I have
swapped the card with an identical machine purchased at the same
time but that didn't change anything. Have been to Windows update
and also updated to latest ATI radeon drivers but can't seem to get
to the bottom of this.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

First - when you say "reformatted" - do you mean you performed a clean
installation of Windows XP or some sort of destructive restore as provided
by the original equipment manufacturer? (Did you use a real Windows XP
installation CD or some sort of recovery method?)

To me - that could be anything - and if you formatted as well - it sounds
more like a hardware issue than software. Bad memory, dirty power, bad
video, defective motherboard, bad sectors on the hard disk drive, etc.

 

[Graham Daniels]

One prorgam that will reliably cause this problem is a game called Heroes of
the Pacific - plays for about 4 minutes before dead screen and no response.

To reformat I booted off the recovery CD provided by the manufacturer,
deleted then created and reformatted the disc partition containing windows.
Then reinstalled windows on to fresh partition.

Graham

 

[philo]

One prorgam that will reliably cause this problem is a game called Heroes
of the Pacific - plays for about 4 minutes before dead screen and no
response.

To reformat I booted off the recovery CD provided by the manufacturer,
deleted then created and reformatted the disc partition containing
windows. Then reinstalled windows on to fresh partition.

Might as well run a RAM test
and also run the mfg's harddrive diagnostic
for starters

 

[Graham Daniels]

How do I do a RAM test? Also how to run mfg's HD diagnostic?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Our son's PC got a virus which we managed to get rid of. I have
reinstalled XP home twice, reformatted the hard drive but tstill we
get random and also non random lockups.

Athlon 3200+ processor ATI Radeon 95500 graphics card. I have
swapped the card with an identical machine purchased at the same
time but that didn't change anything. Have been to Windows update
and also updated to latest ATI radeon drivers but can't seem to get
to the bottom of this.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

First - when you say "reformatted" - do you mean you performed a
clean installation of Windows XP or some sort of destructive
restore as provided by the original equipment manufacturer? (Did
you use a real Windows XP installation CD or some sort of recovery
method?)
To me - that could be anything - and if you formatted as well - it
sounds more like a hardware issue than software. Bad memory, dirty
power, bad video, defective motherboard, bad sectors on the hard
disk drive, etc.

One prorgam that will reliably cause this problem is a game
called Heroes of the Pacific - plays for about 4 minutes before
dead screen and no response.

To reformat I booted off the recovery CD provided by the
manufacturer, deleted then created and reformatted the disc
partition containing windows. Then reinstalled windows on to
fresh partition.

Might as well run a RAM test
and also run the mfg's harddrive diagnostic
for starters

How do I do a RAM test? Also how to run mfg's HD diagnostic?

You *may* be better off taking it to a professional. As I stated before -
it could be a variety of things... Bad memory, dirty power, bad video,
defective motherboard, bad sectors on the hard disk drive, etc.

- Check your event log for errors, search the web (with Google) for
solutions to these errors. (Start -> Run -> eventvwr)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

- Test your system memory for problems:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
(*makes diskette to boot from)
and/or
http://www.hcidesign.com/memtest/

- Figure out the manufacturer of your hard disk drive (visual inspection in
open case, Computer Management console/Device Manager, Belarc Advisor, etc.)
and then visit that manufacturers web page.. Look in their support section
and get their diagnostics and run that.

For Example:
Western Digital Corp.
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

Maxtor
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...View By Category/Desktop Storage/Maxtor Other

Seagate
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools

Hitachi
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm

Report back with anything you find!

 

[Graham Daniels]

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately it now refuses even to boot into
Windows - safe mode or otherwise so the diagnostics may prove difficult. I
am trying to contact the tech. support of the manufacturer.

Graham Daniels

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately it now refuses even to
boot into Windows - safe mode or otherwise so the diagnostics may
prove difficult. I am trying to contact the tech. support of the
manufacturer.

Sounds more like a bad hard disk drive. Or a virus/trojan/really bad
spyware/adware.

Using whatever computer you are on - go to the hard drive manufacturer web
page (open the computer, read the name off the hard disk drive) and get
their diagnostics. These make bootable CD/diskettes usually. Boot with it
and run the non-destructive diagnostics.

Afterward - the manufacturer may suggest a non-destructive restore or a
repair installation of Windows XP. But if they do not recommend a disk
diagnostic - do it anyway before restoring/repair installing. After all -
what's the point of doing a repair install/restore if it is just going to go
bad again because of bad hardware?

 

[Graham Daniels]

Thanks for the suggestion Shenan - this will be my next step - then I'll
report back!

Graham

 

[Graham Daniels]

Have bitten the bullet and taken the PC to a repair shop after having failed
to run a harddisc diagnostic prog.

Thanks for the suggestion Shenan - this will be my next step - then I'll
report back!

Graham