Computer keeps shutting down and rebooting....why?

I bought a new Averatec Notebook PC (4155EH1) which you can see it here:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Aver...33273/catOid/-12963/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Here is the deal....for no reason, after the laptop is running for about 20 minutes or 30 minutes nonstop...the laptop will display a blue screen of death (remember those?) for about half a second and the laptop will reboot. It doesn't matter what I am doing. The last time, I had media player running an .mp3, I was using Kmeleon to browse the web, and I had bittorrent running and downloading something. Only three things.

The other times, I had maybe four things running or five including email program. (Thunderbird) I just got the laptop a few days ago. I had Circuit City upgrade the memory from 512 to 1024.

I love this laptop but I can't even see what is wrong when the error message happens. It's so **** quick and the rebooting begins.

What can I do? I have defragged, used Norton SpeedDisk, WinDoctor, Disk Doctor, SpyBot, Norton Antivirus, used CCcleaner, etc. The computer is essentially "clean ". What can I do to find out why it's doing this and how to find out the error message? It's too quick to see but you can definitely see a blue background with white lettering....aka blue screen of death. I'm using WinXP Home with Service Pack 2.

Thanks.

 

Right click on My Computer>Properties>Startup and Recovery tab, remove the check mark from "Automatically restart" near the bottom. You should then be able to see the error message.

 

what's in startup? are u'r drivers up to date?

 

Ok, I unchecked the reboot option and now I opened up about 30 programs to stress the computer out and make it lock up again.

My startup doesn't have that much. I only have Kmeleon (browser starting up, my volume is there, along with a Safely Remove Hardware Icon) I already went through services.msc and msconfig and stopped everything that I did not need. I'm not a novice but this laptop issue has me guessing.

Another symptom I forgot to mention is that the screen will freeze wherever I am at and start shaking a little bit. Imagine....if you will.....heat rising from the ground and you see the waves. Now, imagine the entire LCD screen is moving and "waving ". Buzzing....so to speak. The screen seemed to be buzzing. That happened the first time and last night when I left my computer on all night to get it to mess up, I woke up this morning and found it "buzzing ". No sound...just the display was messed up. It seemed that every pixel on the LCD was messed up. I reboot and everything is fine......until it happens again.

I will post the error message when I get it but I do not think that it is a WinXP problem. Updated drivers should not be the issue. The is a new laptop and a recent laptop. It's only been out for about 8 months. I am thinking this is a hardware issue.

The processor is a 64 bit AMD Turion. If you read the specs through Circuit City, you can see what the processor is all about. I'll post an update later when the laptop crashes.

 

Here is the error message:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to yoru computer.

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000004E (0x00000002, 0x00021ADD, 0x0003DFCF, 0x0000003E)

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

***************

Ok, that is what is on the BSOD. The ONLY thing I did was have 2 512 kingston memory chips installed for a total of 1024MB of RAM. I used the same type of memory, PC2700 So-Dimm stick in both slots.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what this is or should I take the laptop back and get another one??

 

Almost certainly hardware. Maybe heat build up or maybe a marginal component, but hardware.

It is new enough you should be able to get it replaced and if it were mine, I'd be doing just that.

 

It will be covered by warranty, BUT since it seems to have occured since the addition of the extra RAM, there may be a long wait while the problem is traced.

I would start emailing the supplier, descibe the problem. The second stick/module of RAM that was added may not be quite compatible with the motherboard. You may find that the supplier will replace both sticks of RAM for one stick of 1024MB (that is recommended by the motherboard manufacturer), or alternatively, replace the "added" stick with a matching one from the same manufacturer as the original (EDIT: I see they are both Kingston, but the motherboard may require a special type. If you find their model numbers look them up at the Kingston website. Also, if you remove the second stick, does it return to normal? Try running the diagnostics in my signature...requires a floppy drive or make a bootable CD).

I think I would want to "test the water before diving in ". See what they plan to do and how good their "support" is. I would not want to be left without a computer for (maybe) several weeks while they discover that the RAM that was added is not compatible.

Matt

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/w2kmsgs/439.asp
Written for win2000, but applies also to XP.

I would definitely check with averatec to see if they have any driver updates / patches for this and if not, return it under warranty .

That is assuming you do not have any non compatible hardware connected to it which could cause this problem (such as an older printer or scanner or external drive etc)

 

Error Message:

STOP: 0x0000004E (parameter, parameter, parameter, parameter) PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
Explanation:

This is a Windows 2000 Executive character-mode STOP message. It indicates the memory management page file number (PFN) list is corrupted.
User Action:

If this is the first time you have booted after installing new hardware, remove the hardware and boot again. Check the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List to verify that the hardware and its drivers are compatible with Windows 2000. For information about the hardware, contact the supplier. If you are installing Windows 2000 for the first time, check the Windows 2000 system requirements, including the amount of RAM and disk space required to load the operating system. Also, check the Hardware Compatibility List to verify that the system can run Windows 2000. If Windows 2000 is loaded and no new hardware has been installed, reboot with recovery options set to create a dump file. If the message continues to appear, select the Last Known Good option when you reboot. If there is no Last Known Good configuration, try using the Emergency Repair Disk. If you do not have an Emergency Repair Disk, contact your technical support group.

************************************

Ok, so according to this, everything seems to point at the memory sticks that I had installed. It's strange that I have XP and I get a Win2000 error. First I'll try to upgrade drivers from Averatec (if any) and then I'll get the memory replaced.

I will keep you guys updated so we can get closure on this. Thanks for all the input.

 

Alright......I took the laptop and memory back to Circuit City. The guy that worked the IQ Crew told me that the memory and the computer checked out fine and it was because I deleted some software, including IE. Well, I did not delete IE..just took the shortcut off the Start Menu and desktop. I was using the K-Meleon browser.

So, I traded the laptop in for a new one and I traded the two 512 memory sticks for two new ones and had them install it again. So far I have not had that blue screen error message pop up. So, as of right now, the problem seemed to have been hardware related with the first laptop and I don't have to worry about it anymore. (knock on wood!)

Consider the matter closed. Thanks everyone.

 

Well done! Never give up your rights.
You believed it was a hardware problem, they tried to convince you it was your fault. (You SHOULD be able to remove anything you like on your own machine.)
They have shown good consumer support by replacing everything (without too much whinging).

Hope it goes well
Matt

 

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't know deleting a shortcut will cause a memory issue.