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Unknown computer problem
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Posted by: JinrO
Hello, I was referred to this site from another forum, after asking the same question there.
I am not entirely sure this is hardware related.. but at the same time I can't see how it could possibly not be.
About 1 month ago my computer started acting up and I decided it was time for a format, which went smooth and all but after I was done I started experiencing very strange system lockups and performance problems (in starcraft, of all games).
Basically what would happen is, I'd get back to my desktop after using starcraft (or cooldvd, or hell, most anything) and find my computer completely frozen. Starcraft would still be running, or cooldvd, or whatever but everything else would be dead.
Ctrl alt del would bring up nothing but an hourglass. I ran F-Secure virus scans, adaware, memtest (2 different ones), pandasoftware scans, defragged and tried scandisk - which refused to complete (got stuck at step 4).
At this point I decided to buy a new harddrive (not sure if I tried to format again first, my memory is a bit hazy, it was almost a month back). Well, now scanddisk could complete, at least, however I still had system lockups.
I had to format again after a failed SP2 update (I would prefer running without SP2 as I think it's bulky/interferring, and I have done this for the past 4 years, but if you think this could be the problem I'll of course update - which I'm doing right now to check).
Anyway, problem persisted. Seeing how memtest had completed time and time again without reporting any memory errors I decided, hell, why not buy a new motherboard (I needed these things anyway, most everything except the harddrive was 4 years old).
Stupidly enough I didn't format (I was expecting to have to format, but since it worked without it, I didn't), and since it kept crashing I got another pair of memory sticks (again, kind of needed anyway) and after it still persisted I finally formatted.
Now it worked for 2.5 days without crashing.. I did connect the old harddrive after 1 day, but seeing as how it continued running for another 1.5 days I don't think this is the problem, right?
Also, yesterday my computer suddenly lost connection, the other 4 computers in my house didn't so it was obviously just mine, anyway. I had it running for 4 hours or so without crashing. Moved it upstairs today, changed network cable and well, internet is back, so is the crashing (although since there wasn't really a lot of stuff I could do with my computer when it was offline, this might not count for much) - after about 2 hours or so.
Ok, so this brings us to where I am now;
This is what I have:
Asrock P4V88/P4V88+
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440
2 x Kingston 256mb 3200 DDR400 CL2.5
Seagate Barracuda (IDE)
Intel P4 1.8 Ghz (533)
The network card has also been changed.
My PSU:
Voltage
+3.3V/+5V/+12V/-5V/-12V/+5Vsb
Max load
26A/30A/15A/0.5A/0.8A/2.0A
Min Load
0.5A/2.0A/0.5A/0A/0A/0A
Regulation
+/-5%/+/-5%/+/-5%/+/-10%/+/-10%/+/-5%
Ripple
50mV/50mV/120mV/100mV/120mV/50mV
Noise&Ripple
100mV/100mV/200mV/200mV/200mv/100mv
Passive PFC
What's been replaced in the last few days (in order);
PSU, harddrive, motherboard/graphiccard/soundcard/almost all the cables inside the computer, the memory.
What I've installed.. Hm.
Not much really.
Starcraft
ABC (the bittorrent client)
DC++
Igowin (a GO program)
Freestyle (a korean basketball game)
Adaware
MSN 7.5, then changed back to 6.2..
Firefox
Winrar
Some codec pack
CoolDVD
I cracked the activation thing for windows XP (because I used to use another key before I formatted, and the other key was taken, however I've also done this on another computer which showed no problems, and it crashed several times before I'd even done this) but I'm almost certain this has nothing to do with it.
I don't think it's a software issue because it crashed on a fresh install a couple of times too (I mean literally, 5 seconds after it booted for the first time..).
I run open case, the fan works.
The case is clean, no dust.
I use Windows XP Pro.
I disabled the built in firewall (it interfers with the things I use my computer for)
Hopefully I didn't forget anything.. But if I did, it's probably been mentioned here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/vie...&topic_id=37555
I hope I provided enough info, any help would be much appreciated.
Ok, as of writing this, the SP2 update has crashed with the same error as before; "An error occured when the file wordpad.exe was copied.
A file cannot be copied into the target directory."
And the usual abort/try again.
This happened the last time (I was just reminded of the exact error when seeing this), and if I remember correctly, my computer could no longer boot after this. I want to stress that I doubt it has anything to do with the crack, as another computer used it and updated just fine to SP2.
Is there ANY chance of this being my processor acting up? Most people seem to tell me that it's unlikely?
Thanks for any help you can provide
//Jonathan
EDIT: I just remembered about a strange error I got a couple of times when opening files saved to the desktop (or perhaps only when opening files directly from where I downloaded them).. Something about a "search path error" (translating from swedish here, and memory.. was a while ago. Also, files for some reason downloaded to a separate folder called desktop instead of to my actual desktop).
Oh and I have my computer set to korean (ie country: korean, unicode support korean, input language korean - but also swedish and english) because I want to be able to read and write korean when playing starcraft.
I can't really see how this would interfer tho? Everything is still in swedish. It does replace the \ with what I think is the character for the korean currency WON, a W with a line across it. However, this has never been a problem before, and is not a problem when installing things.. although some programs seem to use english font when installing and some not.
Hm.. And I did have a completely korean installation of windows before. All in all, I'm very confused as to what might be the problem.. Every piece of hardware except the processor and floppy has been replaced.
Posted by: redwench
its possible its your processor, but its pretty unlikely. i think you forgot to flash the bios, or update a driver.
ok, start over. download everything youll need ahead of time: drivers, bios, sp2, security software, etc. repartition, full format, reinstall. before you even go online, flash the bios, put on sp2 and update drivers, particularly the chipset and board drivers. leave the default drivers only as long as you have to.
and sp2 just needs to be tweaked to prevent it from interfering, it contains both security and stability patches, so its not a good idea to skip it.
as to cracking xp: *smack*
Posted by: JinrO
Thanks, but how/where do I download Sp2 as a file that I can put on a cd (since you said I should update before I even go online)?
Posted by: DemonBob
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...&DisplayLang=en
Posted by: JinrO
Thanks, everything seems to be running smoothly so far (although I need to see if it stays this way).. However, one thing is odd, and this happened before too; when I update to the latest graphiccard drivers I can't choose a refresh rate above 75hz, and I even have the correct screen drivers.
However, with some slightly older drivers (at least this was the case before) I could set it as high as 100 hz without any problems..
It's these drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html
And a Scaleo C994 monitor (not sure if this matters much).
There was an error when I first ran it, but I didn't catch it.. After having updated everything else I re-ran it and it worked fine, but still can't go above 75 hz.
Also, this might seem trivial, but is it safe to use MSN 6.2 instead of 7.5? I've always done so since I feel 7.5 is bloated and has lots of annoying features.. However if you download it from the MS site it forces you to update, so I've always got it from http://www.batkhela.com/msn/downloading-msn6.shtml which always works.. strangely enough the file comes from the MS site.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the help.
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