Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)
Bizarre problem and solution.
Well, normally this group has just the problem questions. I thought I'd
post a problem and solution for someone that may be looking for answers
by searching the newsgroups.
I have P4 3Gig with 768 Meg of DDR 400 RAM using a ECS 661FX-M version
1 mother board, Maxtor Diamond series ATA/133 160 gig HD,Champion MX400
AGP video card, and a BTC IDE1108 DVD/CD-RW. The system is a modified
Fry's "Great Quality" (<---Brand name), model GQ 7000 (a computer brand
and store I will never by a computer from again).
I've had multiple problems with this system and after I had all my
software loaded and the OS setup the way I wanted, there was no way I
was going to bring it back to them for a month to repair. First problem
was the 256Meg DDR 400 RAM was bad as proven by a ram test. It was
intermittent and would fail about once every half hour at the same
address location. I called and asked if I can bring in the memory stick
alone and have them replace it. They agreed after arguing with them for
a while. They had no ESD controls at all in the service department. They
simply removed a stick from a stock computer and gave me it then stuck
the RAM that I returned back into that stock system.. So anyway, Fry's
computer is another issue and that's all I'll say about them.
I was still having an occasional crash with this system even after
replacing the RAM. I bought an additional 512Meg of RAM from Crucial.com
and took out the existing RAM. Still crashes every now and then. I could
not reliably back up my system using NERO since, inevitably, it would
crash occasionally during the backup (normally during compressing of
files (before writing to the DVD).. Because of this, I started thinking
it was the DVD or NERO. But it crashed at other times too so that logic
was wrong. Maybe it was the HD, after all? I had upgraded it myself (the
drive included with the system was a POS). I, then, changed the IDE
cables out and, for some reason, it didn't crash when using NERO backup
afterwards. So I thought it was bad cables. Nope, started crashing
again the next day.. It seems it would crash every 5 to 6 hours just
doing minor stuff with the computer and seemed it was getting worse over
time. After a few weeks of this, I couldn't back up my hard drive
without it crashing everytime. I ran a check on my HD more than several
times and there was never an error. Hmmm??? If it were the HD, I
figured there would be an error when doing a scandisk but no (other than
the error log files when I looked into the event viewer).
At my wits end, I changed the IDE primary to the DVD and the secondary
to the IDE HD. Still got crashes of the system the next day. I changed
the power supply with another I had. Next day another crash so that
wasn't it. I had ran the RAM check program for a solid 24 hours straight
without a single error. At this point, I'm thinking it's an intermittent
mother board. From my past experience at Fry's, it seemed to be the next
logical conclusion.. I ordered a mother board from Newegg but an Asus.
(that was a mistake since the Windows licensing issue with changing out
a MB with a different type is considered a new computer thus need
another license). I decided not to install the new ASUS MB yet. I read a
lot online and found an interesting article that really had to do with
changing out a mother board using the same HD without reloading. The
article basically said to remove all previously installed drivers but
the article went on to say that you normally can't do that if they were
previously installed and that hardware was removed simply because they
are *hidden* when looking at the standard "Device Manager" window. The
author listed away to see the hidden drivers installed which then
allowed the uninstall of those drivers that were hidden.. What the
heck, I was going to have to change out my MB so did it.. I was
surprised to find a ton of hardware that had previously been installed.
Not hardware I installed but in the install by Fry's computer. Must have
been on their ghost copy.. So I uninstalled everything that wasn't in
the system.. All the hidden files related hardware that were currently
not installed I uninstalled (about 20). I really didn't think this would
help anything but I figured it wouldn't hurt.
It didn't hurt at all. I rebooted and the next day the system didn't
crash.. H'mm.. Figured it would crash anytime.. Left it on 24/7. No
crashes. I ran system backup using NERO and it was as solid as a rock.
There have been no crashes at all. Not even one error. So, a week later,
I'm convinced it was removing the hidden installs that fixed it..
Anyone else have an idea?
BTW, to remove hardware drivers that are no longer installed:
Start/Run/cmd
At the prompt type:
SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
START DEVMGMT.MSC
When Device Manager loads - click View/Show hidden devices and the
disconnected devices will be displayed but grayed out. They can all be
un-installed.
Hope this info helps someone else too.
Ben
--
Home Page: www.rvlover.net
Bizarre problem and solution.
Well, normally this group has just the problem questions. I thought I'd
post a problem and solution for someone that may be looking for answers
by searching the newsgroups.
I have P4 3Gig with 768 Meg of DDR 400 RAM using a ECS 661FX-M version
1 mother board, Maxtor Diamond series ATA/133 160 gig HD,Champion MX400
AGP video card, and a BTC IDE1108 DVD/CD-RW. The system is a modified
Fry's "Great Quality" (<---Brand name), model GQ 7000 (a computer brand
and store I will never by a computer from again).
I've had multiple problems with this system and after I had all my
software loaded and the OS setup the way I wanted, there was no way I
was going to bring it back to them for a month to repair. First problem
was the 256Meg DDR 400 RAM was bad as proven by a ram test. It was
intermittent and would fail about once every half hour at the same
address location. I called and asked if I can bring in the memory stick
alone and have them replace it. They agreed after arguing with them for
a while. They had no ESD controls at all in the service department. They
simply removed a stick from a stock computer and gave me it then stuck
the RAM that I returned back into that stock system.. So anyway, Fry's
computer is another issue and that's all I'll say about them.
I was still having an occasional crash with this system even after
replacing the RAM. I bought an additional 512Meg of RAM from Crucial.com
and took out the existing RAM. Still crashes every now and then. I could
not reliably back up my system using NERO since, inevitably, it would
crash occasionally during the backup (normally during compressing of
files (before writing to the DVD).. Because of this, I started thinking
it was the DVD or NERO. But it crashed at other times too so that logic
was wrong. Maybe it was the HD, after all? I had upgraded it myself (the
drive included with the system was a POS). I, then, changed the IDE
cables out and, for some reason, it didn't crash when using NERO backup
afterwards. So I thought it was bad cables. Nope, started crashing
again the next day.. It seems it would crash every 5 to 6 hours just
doing minor stuff with the computer and seemed it was getting worse over
time. After a few weeks of this, I couldn't back up my hard drive
without it crashing everytime. I ran a check on my HD more than several
times and there was never an error. Hmmm??? If it were the HD, I
figured there would be an error when doing a scandisk but no (other than
the error log files when I looked into the event viewer).
At my wits end, I changed the IDE primary to the DVD and the secondary
to the IDE HD. Still got crashes of the system the next day. I changed
the power supply with another I had. Next day another crash so that
wasn't it. I had ran the RAM check program for a solid 24 hours straight
without a single error. At this point, I'm thinking it's an intermittent
mother board. From my past experience at Fry's, it seemed to be the next
logical conclusion.. I ordered a mother board from Newegg but an Asus.
(that was a mistake since the Windows licensing issue with changing out
a MB with a different type is considered a new computer thus need
another license). I decided not to install the new ASUS MB yet. I read a
lot online and found an interesting article that really had to do with
changing out a mother board using the same HD without reloading. The
article basically said to remove all previously installed drivers but
the article went on to say that you normally can't do that if they were
previously installed and that hardware was removed simply because they
are *hidden* when looking at the standard "Device Manager" window. The
author listed away to see the hidden drivers installed which then
allowed the uninstall of those drivers that were hidden.. What the
heck, I was going to have to change out my MB so did it.. I was
surprised to find a ton of hardware that had previously been installed.
Not hardware I installed but in the install by Fry's computer. Must have
been on their ghost copy.. So I uninstalled everything that wasn't in
the system.. All the hidden files related hardware that were currently
not installed I uninstalled (about 20). I really didn't think this would
help anything but I figured it wouldn't hurt.
It didn't hurt at all. I rebooted and the next day the system didn't
crash.. H'mm.. Figured it would crash anytime.. Left it on 24/7. No
crashes. I ran system backup using NERO and it was as solid as a rock.
There have been no crashes at all. Not even one error. So, a week later,
I'm convinced it was removing the hidden installs that fixed it..
Anyone else have an idea?
BTW, to remove hardware drivers that are no longer installed:
Start/Run/cmd
At the prompt type:
SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
START DEVMGMT.MSC
When Device Manager loads - click View/Show hidden devices and the
disconnected devices will be displayed but grayed out. They can all be
un-installed.
Hope this info helps someone else too.
Ben
--
Home Page: www.rvlover.net
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