Windows XP Stops Responding

Computer Data The computer is a desktop and was built by VELOCITY MICRO in February of 2005 It has an Intel P4 Processor 530 with HT, 3.0 Ghz 1MB Cache It has 2GB of DDR 400 ram by Kingston It is running Windows XP It has a USB wireless network adapter, USB external hard drive, USB wireless mouse, and USB printer and scanner. The graphics card is an NVida GeForce 6600. I have had this problem for a long time now. The computer stops responding. I am still not sure if it is a hardware or software problem. I recently tried to to a reload Windows using a "repair installation" that would allow me to keep my installed programs working. The installation stopped midway through. Though I tried a number of times, I could never get it to finish. I also tried a complete, new installation of XP on another partition with the intention of booting from that. I can not get the installation to finish before the computer stops responding. After attempting the "repair installation" I had to register Windows again with Microsoft; no problem. Even though that installation never completed. I don't know what changed in the computer to require that. However, the computer now also runs the graphics card with generic drivers which results an a very slow display. To get it to work properly I have to uninstall the card, let Windows detect it on restart and then reinstall it, specifying where the drivers are. It then works. I can change screen resolution and refresh rates, etc. The problem is when I restart the computer again, the boots fails the first time and then, when it finally does reboot, the graphics card is back to generic drivers. I have created a restore point when everything was working and restoring to that point does not get the graphics card working again. Occasionally I see a warning that says: 16 Bit Windows Subsystem C:Windows\Temp\ A temp file needed for initialization could not be created or could not be written to. Make sure that the directory path exists and space is available. Choose "Close" to terminate the application. If you checkout the post from 9 June 2009 below you can see it was doing the same thing with the wireless network adapter. In fact it still does the same thing with the wireless network adapter. If it was working when I turn off the computer, the computer will fail to boot up on the first try and when it does boot up the wireless network adapter will not be working. I then have to remove it from the USB port and reinsert it at which point windows detects it and it starts working. I used to think the problem was with USB ports/drivers. But now the graphics card is doing the same thing. I am afraid to format the partition on the "C" drive where Windows is and attempt a full, clean install in case the installation stops midway through and I loose all ability to start the system. It seems like something is wrong in the shutdown, when it is supposed to save the settings. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Dan ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— THIS POST WAS FROM 9 JUNE 2009 The problem now is that the computer stops responding. There is no warning and no error message. Now, the computer runs MEMTEST 386 with no problem. But it will stop responding and the only solution is to reboot it. On initial boot up it frequently stops responding and it may take two or three tries to get it started. Sometimes it starts with “start Windows Normally” and other times with “last known good configuration”. Usually, even though the wireless internet adapter is plugged into the USB port, when the computer does start there is no internet connection and no wireless internet connection shown in the list of network connections. If I remove and reinstall the adapter it is recognized and the wireless internet starts to work. If I shut the computer down in that configuration (internet up and working) it’s a good bet that the computer will not start up again on the first try the next time, and when it does finally start up the internet won’t be working. It is like it doesn’t remember the configuration or it tries to start the wireless adapter but it can’t so the boot up fails. I tried to fix the problem by updating the drivers for the wireless internet adapter but the problem persists. Also, the problem of not responding occurs a minute or two after connecting the network adapter, or turning on the external hard drive or printer. What I am saying is that it looks like the problem is related to the USB ports. However I have discovered another way to get the computer to stop responding, I have Photoshop and have used the HDR (high density resolution) feature to combine photos on this computer, no problem. Nowadays if I try to merge photos with the HDR feature the computer will stop responding in the middle of the calculations. I successfully created an HDR photo on May 9 and I am thinking of doing a restore to a point prior to that date but in an attempt to fix this problem. However, I have already gone through and got rid of all malware and viruses etc with WhattheTech?’s help. They told me a restore would undo all of that; although getting the computer to work again and then cleaning the malware again seems to be a good option to me. The computer took three tries at booting to get it started this time and has been running for about an hour now with no problems but I’m sure when I connect the wireless adapter to post this the computer will stop within minutes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi BiggDan, I'm sorry to hear you have what sounds like serious and very difficult to diagnose PC problems. A problem that keeps raising it's ugly head When I have had serious PC issues in the past, I liked to cut to chase and start afresh as quite often it is the easier road traveled. What I would suggest if you have an XP install disk, is a new clean install, including formating the hard drive (not the quick format option). If possible download all the latest hardware drivers you will need to disk before doing so. If you would like to go down this road, please read and follow the instructions here by Trevuren (print them out if you can):http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showtopic=91962 Cheers, Lee

Sounds like hardware to me. What I would do is to remove everything not essential to booting and running XP. By that I mean remove all the USB connections except the wireless adapter. Replace the USB mouse with a PS2 style mouse if there is a PS2 port on the mother board. If you also use a USB Keyboard, see if you can swap in a PS2 keyboard for testing.

Try running that way for awhile and see if the problem occurs again. If it does then it's time to test your memory (computer, not yours personally )

Download Memtest86+ (you want the 2nd one Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)). Unzip it then create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do this easily.

Boot the CD and run for at least 3 complete passes unless it shows errors sooner than that. If possible, let it run overnight.

You should also examine the system board with a good flashlight to check if there are any bulging or leaking capacitors. If there are then you need to replace the system board or use this as an excuse to buy a new computer.

Thanks for the input guys. I opted for the clean installation of Windows. The computer has a 200GB HD partitioned into a 50GB section and a 150GB section. Windows was loaded on the 50GB partition. I formatted the 50GB partition and installed Windows. It got all the way through the installation to the final 4 minutes where it was "saving the settings" and then it locked up. I restarted and it went back to "setup will complete in 39 minutes." OK it took about 8 or 9 minutes to go through all the BS and get back to "saving the settings." With 7 minutes to go while "saving the settings" it locked up again. The third time was a charm. Windows was installed and working!!! I then installed the display drivers for my video card and set the resolution and refresh rate. As this was a problem in the past (that the computer didn't recognize the video card after a reboot) I restarted the computer. When I restarted the computer it advised me to do a chkdsk on "D" drive, the 150 GB partition. I let it go and it started deleting mass quantities of orphaned files. That had me worried. I had backed up everything I wanted on that drive just to be safe; but it was still a concern. Then it started recovering mass quantities of files, so I thought OK no problem. After chkdsk the computer would not boot up past the splash screen. Just a black screen with a cursor pointer which worked. I ran the installation again and chose the repair option. On the first try it locked up while "saving." It worked on the second try and Windows is back up again. I have access to the "D" drive and some of the the pics there are OK but others are corrupt. Also the antivirus program that I put on there to reinstall now says it is corrupt. I have run chkdsk on the "C" and "D" drives in the past. It found the usual few problems and fixed them. Why would chkdsk on "D" cause windows on "C" to fail? What about the failure to save during windows installation? What is the next step? I am thinking my HD has problems. I had been suspecting the mother board. Any comments? Thanks for your time, Dan Additional Info…later the same day… I used an old XP disk so I can't load some programs until I update to SP2 (Free AVG for example). Downloaded SP2 (on my laptop) and put it on the desktop. It went into the installation but the system locked up while "backing up files." Tried again and this time it completed the SP2 installation. I then tried to install the FREE AVG antivirus program again which was on the "D" partition. It had tried to install previously and gave me an error saying it was not compatible with the OS (I needed SP2). This time it was corrupt and did not work at all. I recopied it to the "D" partition again and it installed!! Is the hard drive bad? How can I check? Would formatting the whole thing help? This interaction between "C" and "D" drives is unusual, isn't it? Any advice appreciated. Dan last note… I have a 500gb external that is supposed to work on XP with SP2 no drivers required. When I just turned it on the system locked up just as it always did. It happened after the bubble telling me my usb ports need to be high speed.

Dan, run Memtest86+ as I mentioned before. Let it run at least 3 full passes. If no error, then download and run the hard drive manufactures diagnostic utility from their web site. I just did this with a SeaGate drive, downloaded SeaTools for DOS which is a bootable .iso file. It has a short and long diag run. Similar should be available for your drive. The diag utility can often identify defective drives but not always. You can also try what I suggested and remove everything not absolutely essential to running XP then try the install again. Hard drives are cheap though so if it were me I would replace it. A 200GB drive is cheap. I just bought a 1.5TB SATA 3 drive and a 750GB SATA 3 drive from Amazon.com for $79 (no shipping) and $77 (+4.95 shipping). Large IDE drives are also available for very reasonable prices. If you decide to do this, remove the 200GB drive and do a clean install to a new drive. If that goes okay then the drive was definitely the problem. Reinstall the 2nd drive so you have access to it and see if you can salvage any of your data. If they are IDE drives, mount the old drive as Slave or if using Cable Select instead of Master/Slave, connect it to the 2nd connector on the IDE cable, not the end one. That should be connected the the new drive.

Ztruker, Thanks for the fast reply. I had memory problems in the past. I replaced the memory and the problems persisted (bought the memory on the internet). Your guys convinced me to buy new memory and I did and it fixed the problem. MEMTEST86+ ran OK. I will run it again X3 as you suggest and I will let you know the results. In the meantime, I have more questions. The computer came with windows SP2 preinstalled with various other programs, the usual stuff. I partitioned the hard drive to use one part for data and left Windows on the other part. When I reinstalled XP… My original XP disk with SP2 wouldn't load and I ended up using a basic XP disk to load the OS. My MB instructions say you shouldn't use the ATA HD without SP1 installed. I later loaded SP2 (which includes SP1 I assume). Then I noticed the MB driver disk and tried to load the chipset drivers. I wasn't sure if these were included in SP2 or not. Basically, I'm not sure about the current XP installation. Here is the question: Should I use the rescue disk from the vendor to return the computer to it's original configuration? i.e. remove the partitions etc. and start from square one. Another question, the MB has 4 SATA slots. Two are for master and two are for slave disks. The current hard dive is SATA/150. Can I use SATA2 or SATA3 Hard Drives? In other words what does SATA2 or SATA3 mean? Does the bus speed of the MB come into the equation? The MB book says the FSB is 800/533 Mhz. Thanks Again, I will let you know about MEMTEST86+ Dan

BiggDan, Discovering and correcting errors when running CHKDSK is not unusual. But if additional errors are discovered on 2nd or subsequent runs of CHKDSK, it is a pretty good indicator that the HD is failing and should not be relied upon. It seems that you have decided to purchase a new SATA hard drive upon which to install your XP operating system. But then you seem to reverse your thinking and inquire about whether/how you should reinstall XP on your current hard drive. <– doesn't sound like a good idea. With a fresh Hard Drive, you can use the supplied XP reinstall CD to install XP and then update to XP2 and from there update to XP3 and additional updates via MS Updates. MotherBoard chipset driver and other drivers are not the same thing as XP operating system. You will benefit from installing chipset and other drivers either from your manufacturer CD or from downloads from the machine manufacturer site. As far as SATA, SATA2 or SATA3 Hard Drive is concerned… These designation were/are intended to describe maximum theoretic read/write access speeds of Hard Drive. Your "older" motherboard may not be able to utilize the maximum performance levels of supposed SATA2 or 3, but "any" SATA Hard Drive will be backward compatible and recognized by your motherboard. Get a good quality Hard Drive from a reputable source, and perform the installation of XP operating system and chipset/driver installation, followed by updates all the way to SP3 and the additional available individual updates from Microsoft. Best Regards

Doug/Ztruker I ran memtest86+ for a few hours and three passes and it passed with no errors. I have a friend (in the computer network installation business) who is going to lend me a SATA HD. That should determine once and for all if the problem is the HD or MB. In the mean time I will try to find some MFGR diagnostics for the HD. I pretty much have disconnected everything from the machine as you suggested but the problem persists. I will keep you posted. Dan

what does SATA2 or SATA3 mean?

They are just advertising buzz words.

From the SATA-IO website:

The term SATA II has grown in popularity as the moniker for the SATA 3Gb/s data transfer rate, causing great confusion with customers because, quite simply, it’s a misnomer.

The first step toward a better understanding of SATA is to know that SATA II is not the brand name for SATA’s 3Gb/s data transfer rate, but the name of the organization formed to author the SATA specifications. The group has since changed names, to the Serial ATA International Organization, or SATA-IO.

In other words, there's NO SUCH THING as a SATA II drive.

SATA, SATA I, SATA 1.0, SATA 150, SATA 2, SATA 2.0, SATA II, SATA 300, and SATA III are all the same.

A 7200rpm IDE HDD has exactly the same speed as 7200rpm HDD of any of the above (7200rpm)

For instance, a SATA III HDD will not necessarily have a larger Cache size than a SATA I. Cache size and other HDD features all depends on the manufacturer's build specifications and the quality/price of the drive.

SATA is just a cable connection type. Nothing else.

IDE
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SATA
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Cheers,
Lee

Thanks for the Information Lee. Ztruker/Doug I connected a brand new Seagate 160gb Barracuda HD (on loan from a friend) and tried to install windows XP. It failed copying the files using a SP3 disk. I reverted to the basic XP disk that I have and it got past the copying files phase and went into the installation of windows, setup will complete in 39 minutes. It locked up in the same place as when I tried to reinstall windows on my old HD, that is, with 7 minutes to go and in the "saving settings" part of the installation. Tried a second time, same Yesterday when I downloaded Western Digital disk diagnostics the old HD checked good. One thing it did say was the system was not completely set up for a disk larger than 137gb. It tried to fix that problem and the computer locked up on reboot. I am able to boot up in safe mode reliably and access my files. I guess we can safely say the problem is in the Mother Board. Would you suggest getting a new MB or a new computer? I have a scanner and microscope that will not work with Windows 7 (which I have on my laptop). So I want to have an 32 bit XP system to be able to use those. Thanks for your time and advice. Dan

Dan, sorry to hear it's not the hard drive. Sure would have been simpler. This sounds like a good excuse to get a new computer I would still go with Window 7 X64 if at all possible. Get the best you can afford with a minimum of 4GB of ram, 6GB or 8GB would be better. I currently have 4GB in mine and plane on upping that to 8GB as a Christmas present to myself. Then use your scanner and microscope in XP Mode or even under a XP Client in Oracle VirtualBox.

For most PC users, I'd go with 32bit. not 64bit (I'm a late adopter with everything PC). It saves me heaps of money

Most PC Software (and drivers) have a long way to go before 64bit suits and creates the slightest advantage for the average Joe's PC usage.
Another year at least I reckon

Cheers.
Lee

Guys, thanks for all the input. I wondered why or how the MB could prevent the installation of windows on a new HD. I have the MB disk with the chipset files/drivers and an installation routine/program. The chipset file reload program wouldn't run in safe mode and when I finally got the machine up in normal mode with many restarts etc.; it would crash prior to finishing the program. So I thought: Why was the computer running in safe mode and not in normal mode? I know a lot of drivers are not loaded in safe mode so I created a new hardware profile and disabled the video card (so windows would use a generic VGA driver), I disabled sound, I disabled everything I thought was not necessary. The computer started in normal mode and I was able to run the program to reinstall the chipset files. Now the computer works. It has had some small glitches in the installation of some programs but it starts and is now installing SP3 from the internet. Go figure. Last night another friend gave me a new MB with processor and memory included. If this fix doesn't hold up I will change the MB. I wanted to share this idea of creating a hardware profile with limited devices to simulate safe mode in case it can help someone else. Thanks for all your help, Dan

Dan, that's an excellent idea. Any chance you could write up the steps you used to do this? Might help others and would definitely go in my bag of tricks (with proper attribution of course).

Ztruker, Here are the steps that I used: BACKGROUND: I wanted to install chipset files from my mfgr's disk (they load INF files to allow the MB to support PNP). I couldn't do this from the safe mode, it wouldn't allow it. The computer was unstable in normal mode and would crash prior to finishing the installation program. So I decided to create a hardware profile with minimum drivers loaded in an attempt to get the thing to run long enough to load the files. This was done on a system running Windows XP. Go to control panel. Click on SYSTEM. Click on the Hardware tab and then select HARDWARE PROFILES. Select Profile 1 (current) and copy it; name the copy NORMAL. Then rename "Profile 1" REDUCED DRIVERS. Click on OK. Now you are going to turn off any drivers that are not 100% necessary. You can only turn off devices on the "(current profile)". That is why I renamed the current one "reduced drivers." When you reboot you will be given an option to choose which profile you want to use. The copy I made and named NORMAL has all the drivers loaded. If you want to load all the drivers, select NORMAL. If you want to run the hardware profile with a limited number of drivers loaded select REDUCED DRIVERS. (After you are finished troubleshooting you can delete the "REDUCED DRIVERS" hardware profile so you don't have to select a profile every time you reboot.) Now go to device manager and click on the device you want to remove from the profile. (I was having problems with my display adapter and wanted windows to load generic VGA drivers so I will use that as an example) I opened display adapters and then I right clicked on NVIDIA GeForce 6600. I then selected properties from the drop down box. At the bottom of the properties box you will see "Device usage" and in the box it will say "Use this device (enable)" If you click on the drop down arrow you are now given THREE options (enable, do not use in current profile, do not use in any profile) instead of the normal two options (enable or disable). Choose "do not use in current profile" Repeat this procedure for any items you do not want to be enabled when you run the REDUCED DRIVERS profile. I turned off the sound drivers, some comm ports, network adapters, etc. As you disable the items they will stop working immediately. So don't turn off the mouse if you want to keep using it! Now reboot the system and at the prompt select the hardware profile called REDUCED DRIVERS. When I did this my system came up and ran long enough to run the chipset file installation program. And the machine started working. Hope this makes sense and helps. Dan