Rare problem

[philo]

I've only seen this once before.

I'm currently working on a Compaq Presario AMD-2400+ (XP home)
The owner said it BSOD'ed and would not boot to the OS.

I put it on the bench and it booted fine.
Ran CHKDSK from within the OS (audit only) and it found a few errors...
but running chkdsk/f and rebooting found *no* errors.

Each time chkdsk is run from within the OS it always finds errors and each
time they are different.

I ran the MFG's HD diagnostic and the HD checked good.

All the caps look good...no bulges etc

RAM test...good

Tried different RAM and had same problem.


I ran into the same thing on another machine about a year or two ago and
ended up just underclocking it a bit
and it worked fine after that.( The owner never complained at any rate)


This particular machine has no adjustment for underclocking...Bios is
auto-detect only.

I'm wondering if I should try underclocking by putting in a slightly slower
CPU...
or if anyone has some better ideas

thanks

 

[Grinder]

I've only seen this once before.

I'm currently working on a Compaq Presario AMD-2400+ (XP home)
The owner said it BSOD'ed and would not boot to the OS.

I put it on the bench and it booted fine.
Ran CHKDSK from within the OS (audit only) and it found a few errors...
but running chkdsk/f and rebooting found *no* errors.

Each time chkdsk is run from within the OS it always finds errors and each
time they are different.

I ran the MFG's HD diagnostic and the HD checked good.

All the caps look good...no bulges etc

RAM test...good

Tried different RAM and had same problem.


I ran into the same thing on another machine about a year or two ago and
ended up just underclocking it a bit
and it worked fine after that.( The owner never complained at any rate)


This particular machine has no adjustment for underclocking...Bios is
auto-detect only.

I'm wondering if I should try underclocking by putting in a slightly slower
CPU...
or if anyone has some better ideas

I can't really comment on that, but I've seen intermittent drive
problems from two other sources:

1) Borderline power supply

2) Bad cable

Happy hunting...

 

[philo]

I can't really comment on that, but I've seen intermittent drive
problems from two other sources:

1) Borderline power supply

2) Bad cable

Happy hunting...

Thanks for the reply but it's NOT an intermittent drive problem,

 

[Ken]

I've only seen this once before.

I'm currently working on a Compaq Presario AMD-2400+ (XP home)
The owner said it BSOD'ed and would not boot to the OS.

I put it on the bench and it booted fine.
Ran CHKDSK from within the OS (audit only) and it found a few errors...
but running chkdsk/f and rebooting found *no* errors.

Each time chkdsk is run from within the OS it always finds errors and each
time they are different.

I ran the MFG's HD diagnostic and the HD checked good.

All the caps look good...no bulges etc

RAM test...good

Tried different RAM and had same problem.


I ran into the same thing on another machine about a year or two ago and
ended up just underclocking it a bit
and it worked fine after that.( The owner never complained at any rate)


This particular machine has no adjustment for underclocking...Bios is
auto-detect only.

I'm wondering if I should try underclocking by putting in a slightly slower
CPU...
or if anyone has some better ideas

thanks

Have you tested the RAM? I have seen memory problems show up in
Windows GUI that do not show in a manufacturers HD diagnosic test
because more memory locations are used.

 

[meerkat]

I've only seen this once before.

I'm currently working on a Compaq Presario AMD-2400+ (XP home)
The owner said it BSOD'ed and would not boot to the OS.

I put it on the bench and it booted fine.
Ran CHKDSK from within the OS (audit only) and it found a few errors...
but running chkdsk/f and rebooting found *no* errors.

Each time chkdsk is run from within the OS it always finds errors and each
time they are different.

I ran the MFG's HD diagnostic and the HD checked good.

All the caps look good...no bulges etc

RAM test...good

Tried different RAM and had same problem.


I ran into the same thing on another machine about a year or two ago and
ended up just underclocking it a bit
and it worked fine after that.( The owner never complained at any rate)


This particular machine has no adjustment for underclocking...Bios is
auto-detect only.

I'm wondering if I should try underclocking by putting in a slightly
slower
CPU...
or if anyone has some better ideas

Anything in the Event Viewer philo ?.

 

[philo]

Have you tested the RAM? I have seen memory problems show up in
Windows GUI that do not show in a manufacturers HD diagnosic test
because more memory locations are used.

I ran two tests (long term) GOOD
Even tried substituting known good RAM same thing

 

[philo]

Anything in the Event Viewer philo ?.

I have not yet looked there...will have a look shortly
thank you

 

[philo]

I have not yet looked there...will have a look shortly
thank you

Just took a look there...nothing of significance...
also due to lack of anything else to try...also replaced the data cable
and put in a larger PSU...

Chkdsk/f *always* comes up clean


chkdsk from within the OS always finds problems
and they are always different ones!