Constant Crashes! (long story)

R

Robert Simandl

Guest
Help!!!!

I left my computer (Athlon XP 2000+, Giga-byte Tech GA-7DXR+ mobo, 60 gb ATA100 Maxtor hard drive on IDE0, Pioneer 104 DVD-R/RW and Toshiba DVD-ROM on IDE1, two Maxtor 80 gb ATA133 drives on IDE2, ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon Video Card with current drivers from ati.com, Windows XP Pro) running last week when I went out for the day.

It was running Grokster (current version), Outlook Express 6, and Norton A/V 2002.

When I came back, the computer was off.

When I tried to start it, instead of loading Windows, it gave me a message that a problem was detected and Windows had been shut down to prevent damage to my computer. The technical info was:

STOP: 0x0000008E (0x0000005, 0x8052E396, 0xF7946040, 0x00000000)

I hit the reset button, and when XP was about to load, I got this error message:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

....and the same message about Windows shutting down to prevent damage to my computer. This time, the technical info was:

STOP: 0x00000050 (0xFFFFFFF7, 0x00000000, 0x8058FAE4, 0x00000000)

I let it sit off for a few hours and turned it on again. It booted up with no problem, but after a few more hours, gave me another blue screen of death (I have the auto-reboot option turned off so I can see the error messages). This has been the pattern ever since. Sometimes different messages (STOP 0x00000050, STOP 0x0000008E, STOP 0x0000007E, "load needed DLLs for kernel", etc) but there always is one.

I've updated all the drivers for my motherboard and components, didn't help.

I tried removing the All-in-Wonder card and trying a simple TNT2 card instead, didn't help.

I've downloaded a memory test program, DocMemory 2.0, and ran it in "burn-in test" mode. My computer passed 11 tests and failed 15 before the computer crashed again (Windows not involved here, DocMemory runs its own DOS operating system). Mouse and keyboard wouldn't work, time-elapsed counter stuck at 7:00:13.

This gave me the impression one of my three memory DIMMs might be defective. I took turns taking out two at a time and letting the machine run just one. Also tried moving each one from one slot to another. No help. Still crashed with each one.

I've also noticed in the PC Health area of the BIOS, the CPU runs at 129 degrees Fahrenheit (not sure how that translates into Celsius). That seems REALLY hot to me, though the mobo has an option to sound an alarm if the CPU temp gets too high, and the lowest option to set it is 140 degrees F.

System consists of:

Athlon XP 2000+, heatsink, and fan
Giga-Byte GA-7DXR+ mobo
3 Kingston 256 MB PC2100 DDR RAM modules (unbuffered, non-parity)
IDE0: Maxtor ATA100 60 GB Hard Drive set as Master
IDE2: Pioneer DVR-104 DVD-R/RW set as Master
Toshiba DVD-ROM set as slave
IDE3: Maxtor ATA133 80 GB Hard Drive set as Master
Another Maxtor ATA133 80 GB Hard Drive set as Slave
ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon video/capture/tuner card
No sound card (I'm using built-in audio from mobo)
Teac floppy drive
Generic PS/2 mouse and keyboard
2 more fans in addition to the one on the CPU

I had originally tried to install the two 80 GB drives as a 160 GB RAID array but couldn't get WinXP Pro to recognize it as such, said screw it, and just installed them as two ATA133's.

Doesn't seem to matter what programs I'm running, or even if I'm running any at all (only thing that loads at startup is Norton AntiVirus 2002). The computer will run fine for a few hours, then crash with a blue screen of death as described above. Can someone tell me what the problem is?????????

Thanks,
 
Hi xsivforce,

Hmmm, both your links say faulty memory.

I've tried removing a DIMM at a time, removing two at a time, and moving each one that's left from one slot to another.

The computer crashes no matter which DIMM is installed and no matter which slot it's in.

I'm using unbuffered, non-parity PC2100 DDR.

Can all three DIMM's be defective?

Should I try registered ECC DIMM's instead of the unbuffered ones I'm currently using? Just for grins, I looked up my mobo on crucial.com. They recommend both registered and unbuffered DDR.

Could the DIMM's be overheating? I've seen the tigerdirect.com catalog advertise DDR RAM fans. Might these help?

Your links have helped me determine it's a memory problem, but I'm not sure where to go from here.

Suggestions?

Thanks....

Bob Simandl ... near St. Louis
rsimandl@spamcop.net
 
Out of curiosity, do you have ECC enabled in your bios? If you do, turn it off.
 
Originally posted by Lonman
Out of curiosity, do you have ECC enabled in your bios? If you do, turn it off.

Hi Lonman,

Not sure right now. I've got the IBM Disk Fitness Test program running in it for another few hours. When it's done (or when the computer crashes again <G>), I'll call up the BIOS and see.

Thanks...

Bob Simandl ... near St. Louis
rsimandl@spamcop.net
 
personally, i'd just keep moving around your dimms. maybe you can find a combination that works.

on a side note, you seem to have a power hungry system. 4 hds, lots of fans, etc. what wattage do you have on your psu?
 
I had the same exact problem with my Asus A7V-266E. Found out 1 stick of 512 DDR was bad along with the motherboard. One of the pins for the ATA controller was bent. I didn't bend it, it came that way. lol

Just a note on the side: I'm from St Louis :)
 
Originally posted by dijital
personally, i'd just keep moving around your dimms. maybe you can find a combination that works.

on a side note, you seem to have a power hungry system. 4 hds, lots of fans, etc. what wattage do you have on your psu?

Hi dijital,

I think I've tried every combination there is, sorry to say....

My power supply is an AMD-approved 400 watter.

Haven't gone to check how it's done on the Disk Fitness Tester yet, keeping my fingers crossed.....

Thanks....
 

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