System Stops Exceptionally Unexpectedly

[Robert V Krahl]

Being laid off, 8 times these last 6 weeks I've made the
90-mile trip to my sister-in-law's remote farm trying to
provide her Internet access via my old DELL with Windows
XP Professional via dial-up to her telephone company ISP.
On each visit after neat connections to the ISP, at some
point within 10 minutes after opening Microsoft Internet
Explorer the system freezes (screen holds where it is, no
sign of response to input from keyboard or mouse, leaving
only option to power-down--wait 20 secs--power-up). All
Windows XP updates are installed and Internet Explorer has
the latest SP1 update due to your Web site reference to
its crashing similarly. Now, after much searching and
reading at your Web site, I certainly have assured that
Control-Panel/System/Advanced-tab/Startup-and-
recovery/Settings under System-Failure boxes checked
are "Write..event..log", "Send-an-admin.-alert," and "Auto-
reboot;" and under Write Debug Information "Complete
Memory Dump" is checked. Last night after crashes (at
17:25, 18:19, 19:04, 19:07, and 19:54) NONE of these
System Failure actions were performed. Only standard
Event Log entries are recorded--System, Security, or
Application. Since for this the dump isn't working, IS
THERE A WAY TO MANUALLY CAUSE GENERATION OF A MEMORY DUMP
after re-starting?

EXCEPTIONALLY, I was able to connect to her ISP and for
the first time, browse with no freeze-up connected to the
Internet for more than an hour at a variety of sites Sis
wanted--USING NETSCAPE. Then, exiting that and opening
Microsoft Internet Explorer, in seconds it was DEEP FREEZE
before I could select from Favorites the "Microsoft Help
and Support" URL. Another EXCEPTION--occurred just after
the first power-on of the evening at Sis's house, the
crash at 17:25 happened just as I clicked the name on
the "User ID and Password" sign-on screen, BEFORE EITHER
Internet connection to ISP or opening Internet
Explorer.

NOW, FOR THE BIG EXCEPTION--throughout these 6 weeks I
have always brought the PC back here to Kansas City where
at NO TIME--NONE--was I able to cause or observe such a
freeze-up or crash under any condition including both
connected to my ISP or calling hers long distance and
running it connected there for more than an hour on
Internet Explorer on various sites including Microsoft
Support. To accomplish this goal for Sis, we would buy
her a new small DELL with factory installed Windows XP
Professional with Internet Explorer--to be like mine for
Remote Assistance (which we planned on and find that it
and Remote Desktop both work). The problem is I expect we
will have the same thing happen with any PC until this is
resolved. If someone out there has no better solution
first, at least next time I will take along two other
DELLs to observe their crashes--or lack thereof. Stay
tuned!

And by the way, I first typed all this earlier today only
to have it all disappear because I took your suggestion
and included "(removethis)" in my Sender's Address, never
expecting that you would have the e-mail address verifier
running. It's taken me this long to cool down enough to
write it all again. You could have saved and returned
that stuff I had already typed--and I should have expected
a slip-up and saved what I typed. This time I did.

 

[Guest]

Since it sounds like the problem evaporates when using Netscape, then why not just use Netscape and spend time on something more useful.

 

[Guest]

Aah yes. Then there was Saturday night when it froze
before sign-on. It really only evaporates when the PC's
being used at my place; so if not solving the problem,
let's forget installing it at Sis's place. Thanks anyway.

-----Original Message-----
Since it sounds like the problem evaporates when using

Netscape, then why not just use Netscape and spend time on
something more useful.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps her phone line is the culprit. I am assuming their is a single line to service the telephone and the computer .. as opposed to a separate telephone number (line) for the computer. Have you checked the connections at the telephone box on the house to insure connections are tight? You could have the telephone company check their line to the telephone box on the house, too. The other possibility would be to run a new line from the telephone box on the house to the phone jack used by the computer (usually a homeowner responsibility as opposed to the phone company, unless one has line maintenance thru the phone company). I think the next step would be to eliminate the phone line as the problem.

 

[Bob's Reply]

Thank you. I'll check that, although it was I who ran the
wiring to the PC from the first box inside the house,
which did need some tightening from the start. It is a
single party line. Still I should think the line would
not be involved with the Saturday night freeze just
following the first power-on 17:25 hours since the PC had
not completed loading Windows XP; so there was no desktop
yet displayed or any ISP connection even considered. If
just having the phone line plugged into the PC could be
related 'though not even connected by dial-up, then
indeed, there's further room for consideration.

-----Original Message-----
Perhaps her phone line is the culprit. I am assuming

their is a single line to service the telephone and the
computer .. as opposed to a separate telephone number
(line) for the computer. Have you checked the connections
at the telephone box on the house to insure connections
are tight? You could have the telephone company check
their line to the telephone box on the house, too. The
other possibility would be to run a new line from the
telephone box on the house to the phone jack used by the
computer (usually a homeowner responsibility as opposed to
the phone company, unless one has line maintenance thru
the phone company). I think the next step would be to
eliminate the phone line as the problem.