Constant BSDs

For about the past month I have been having issues with my computer. I have been receiving the following stop error messages:

09c; 07F; 00A; 0D1; 08E; 0x10000050; 0x1000008E; 0EA; 050

These errors have been occurring when I have been using SimCity4, IE6, Office (various programs associated with), Acrobat, PhotoShop, InDesign, Winamp, et. al. I have even received these errors when the system is idling at the desktop with nothing running

Reading up on these messages suggests that it is a RAM issue. I have tried running the system with a combination of the two sticks in, but still get the problem. I tried to reformat the system this past week, but when I attempted to, I would also get a BSD. Per a suggestion on support.microsoft.com, I removed the sound card and the WinTV card and disabled all caching and was able to install, but it took over three hours. Upon completion of the install, I re-enabled all caching (because the system was running very slowly). The first install (after updates to the drivers) was SimCity 4. When I run SimCity, the system either crashes (BSD) or exits SimCity.

My question, then, is this: are the BSDs caused by the RAM, the video card, the cache, or a combination of the above? I doubt that it is the IDE controller because I have not been having (under the old install) a problem making a CD or reading from either drive. Unfortunately I do not have another video card to test.

Any suggestions anyone may have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

~~Chris


System Specs: Athlon 1.3GHz w/ 512MB PC133 (two sticks) on an ECS K7VZA 3.0 (latest BIOS installed); WD 80GB HDD w/ 8MB buffer; Sony CD-RW; Toshiba DVD-ROM; NVIDIA GForce 2 MX400; Raytech LAN Card; Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Platinum; WinTV card; WinXP Pro

 

Hi Chris, welcome.

Not enough info to pin point anything?

Do you have Broadband (cable or dsl)?

Have you had a hit by a virus in the recent past?

I always reccomend a deep cleanup on an eratic or undefined problem.

So do the below as they will help stability and performance even if they don't cure the problem as well they might. Additionally they will clear the slate for further trouble shooting.

1. Configure CleanMgr to max settings
Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sageset:1
The above need only be ran once (these settings will be remembered as the default until another sageset is ran).

It will present a menu select all except compress, then

Go to Start-Run and type

cleanmgr /sagerun:1
As long as /sageset above has been ran on this computer from now on the /sagerun is the only thing that needs to run.

2. Spyware and adware removal

SpyBot http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download
Run this twice delete all it finds, always run this before AdAware

AdAware http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Delete all it finds

BHO Demon http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm

This program runs stand alone no install is required post me the items it finds

3.RegScrubXP http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware/RegScrubXPSetup_3.2.exe

NOTE: W2K and XP only

Select RegScrub finds problems and remove all it finds.

Hope this don't seem too much. They are easy to do and safe.

Mike

 

Mike,

I am on a cable broadband connection but am behind a firewall via my router. I always have Norton (ver. 2003) running on my computers with the latest updates and never open emails from unknown persons or download unknown files from the internet, so I serousily doubt that it is a virus. Plus, I just reformated the drive (but am still getting the described errors), so most likely the infected file(s) would have been nuked. I will try the suggestions you gave me in your post and will report back on their success/failure by Sat. afternoon. Thanks for your help.

~~Chris

 

Hi Chris

Yes with that additional info it would seem you are correct. Also I was at work yesterday and quickly scanned your message. On rereading more slowly from here at home I notice that you only formattted a week ago.

Do you have other partitions on this HD that were not formatted?

Ok so lets see what shows up in these cleanups. These cleanups will look on other partitions if you have any.

Also are you reinstalling all apps or restoring from a backup?

It appears you should uninstall SimCity for a while to see if it is the culprit.

Use the following proceedure to uninstall SimCity.

Download but do not run the following:

RegCleaner http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml

Then boot to safe mode. Use add/remove to remove SimCity, once the add remove is complete do a search of the HD for all left overs from it.

Then run RegCleaner.

Look in first 2 cols for SimCity and other programs you thought you uninstalled or removed, these are the dregs left by the uninstallers.

After removing these still in RegCleaner go to the top, Tools-Registry Cleanup-Do them all. Delete all it finds.

Then run the Regscrub again.

Finally lets look at your event logs for a hint of what is happening? It is probably quite large now so we should clear it so we can begin with a clear slate. Additionally we should clear it since we have done these cleanups especially of SimCity and the registry.

So go into Administrative tools and clear the logs you can save them if you want.

Then reboot and immediately after the Desktop go back to the event logs an cut and paste back in a message. Ignore any event log error about safe mode, that is normal.

So what we have now is a clean event log that shows us only events that happened during the last boot.

Now clear the logs again. Run normally but immediately check them after rebooting from the next BSOD. Lets hope you have none. If not it is the SimCity and we have pinpointed the cause.

This should be enough for now.

Mike

 

My Money is on MotherBoard Drivers and/or Video drivers.

I had roughly the same problem with XP Pro.

I have also had it with Win98 SE when trying to run LS Links Golf 2003. It would either be a BSOD or kick me right out COMPLETELY. LS 2001 would not run at all. And both had both been working just fine for MONTHS.

IE6 was also spitting and sputtering a little also.

OK Mr. BilllyBob, what changes have you made recently that may cause this to happen. ( new Video card ) It turned out to be VIDEO DRIVERS and an improper version of Directx. Those two MUST be compatable with each other. I wound up Re-installing DX9 and using the Video Drivers that are on the CD that came with the card. All has been well for at least three weeks now.

As has been the case ever since Windows was invented we need to experiment and find drivers THAT WORK. And that may not be the latest and supposedly greatest.

Or find the COMBINATION of drivers that will work together.

Also when you installed/re-installed did you re-install any Mother board drivers that my be required. In some cases AGP Video * MAY NOT * work without them. Or at least not work properly.

Again these are just things that I have learned over time.

BillyBob

 

BTW.

The order of things quite often can have an effect on how things work.

I find it best to make sure Directx is installed properly BEFORE adding the Video drivers.

This procedure is recommended by Nvidia. At least that is what the instructions that I have say.

The The video driver install screen also advised the same.

BillyBob

 

BillyBob,

I have not installed any drivers for the motherboard. The only ones that exist are the VIA 4-in-1, which I have never used. I am currently using the video driver included in the Windows CD. Before my latest reformat I was using NVidia drivers 30.82 and then 41.09.

I am not sure how to check DirectX, but I assume that the version shipped with XP installed correctly.
My video card was purchased before XP was released, so the CD I have for it would not have the latest version of DirectX, if it has it at all.

Mike

Ok, I ran the programs you suggested, and here is what I got:

Spyboot ran three times, and all three times got a BSD (error codes 08E, 00A, and 07F respectively).

BHO found nothing

RegScrub found 123 problems and fixed all of them

I uninstalled SimCity and ran RegCleaner (both in SafeMode), which found problems and fixed all.

Then ran Spyboot in SafeMode and was able to complete the scan. I fixed all issues.

Ran AdWare in Normal Mode, found 7 issues, quarentined all, then deleated all.

I will let the system run and see if I get any more BSDs.

I do have a partition on the HDD (split into two 40GB sections). The second half does not have any programs installed on it. The partition only has some Word, Excel, PDFs, et. al. files - nothing that should (in theory) cause a BSD.

I thought I should give you a complete system history, to help figure out what is going on. Here goes:

System built: July 2001 w/ IBM 40GB HDD, an older CR-RW, and WinME; all other specs current.

I had a hard time getting the OS to install the first time, but do not remember exactly why. Around late August/September the unit began to randomly restart without a BSD. I consulted several people and determined the problem to be the power supply. I replaced the supply with an Enermax 350W supply in September.

The system began to run sluggish starting in about mid August 2001 (random HDD accesses, slow processor time, et. al.). I upgraded to WinXP (clean install) in October 2001. I continued experiencing a sluggish system throughout this entire time.

The CD burner began to not function in December, and I replaced it with a new one in January. The system continued to be sluggish, but the burner worked.

In August 2002 I upgraded the BIOS to the latest version, as provided on the ECS website; however the system continued to be sluggish even with these updates. I ran system diagnostics in November 2002 (PC Mark and ZDnet) and determined the problem to be the HDD. I contacted IBM and was able to RMA the drive, only to find out that the drive had been reported stolen from the factory in the spring/summer of 2001.

I ended up replacing the drive with the current WD HDD in January 2003. Instillation of WinXP was smooth until user creation portion of setup, where the system hung for a long time. I restarted the system and was able to return to the setup. I loaded all drivers and software, however the system would always need to sit and "cool off" after installing anything (or required two restarts) "“ this was a new issue. I have not had a sluggish system with relation to the HDD since the instillation of the new drive.

About three weeks after the setup, I installed SimCity 4. The program worked correctly for the first couple of days, and then I started getting BSDs (09C, 00A, 08E, 07F, 0D1, etc.). I tried to run a roll-back several times, however none of them were ever completed "“ windows said that it could not complete the operation, but no BSD were received.

The problem got progressively worse, spreading to IE, Office, et. al. and even begain occurring while the system was idling with no programs running, even in the taskbar. I tried removing each of the sticks of RAM from the system to see if one of them was bad. I also tried removing the WinTV card and the SB card, but none resolved the issue. One day I received error code 050 (relating to a bad video driver) and was able to reinstall a legacy driver that I had historically not had trouble with.

Finally, I migrated all critical work files and email service to my secondary computer and attempted to reformat the system (this past Friday), thinking that it was just a bad install.

During the install process (the first setup screen after booting from the CD) WinXP would not be able to reformat the drive, let alone install itself without BSD (usually 00A, 07F, or 0EA). I was able to reformat and install Win2K and eventually upgraded the OS to WinXP, but only after having to disable all caching on the system because I was getting BSDs. Both installs (Win2K and WinXP) were very slow, taking on average three to four hours. After the installs I returned the BIOS to the default settings and allowed caching. Unfortunately the BSDs have continued to appear. When I restart the system after it has been on a while or it is recovering from a BSD or a BIOS change (turning on and off caching to test various systems), the OS only sees the processor as a 666 MHz, not a 1.3 GHz. It does continue to see the correct value of system RAM (512 MB).

Thank you both for all your help. What ever the fix is, I just hoe that it is not too expensive.

~~Chris

 

I gotta make this onw short as my dinner is on the table.

But this * COULD * be some of the problems.

have not installed any drivers for the motherboard. The only ones that exist are the VIA 4-in-1, which I have never used.

The newset ones will only install what goes with the OS.

I also tried both 30.82 and 41.09. But I wound up with 40.13 ( I think that is the number ) from the CD that came with the GeForce 4 Video card.

BillyBob

 

OK Chris good job!

While we are waiting to see if the bsod is gone what about general performance now that you did the steps. That was mentioned in you last message, that the performance had dropped. So do we have any back now?

Did you clear the event logs while in safe mode? If so what did they contain immediately on reboot?

Ok good news about the BIOS update. Glad to know it is the latest.

Now be a little patient before putting SimCity back too soon. Once we have gone long enough that you are sure the BSOD is corrected or reduced substantialy then we will take more steps.

After you make the above decision then the next thing to do is:

Do some type of good backup like drive image or ghost etc store it on the other partition and on CDRW if possible.

Definately update the motherboard (Via 4-in-1) drivers, check the site to make sure if there are newer ones than you have and use the newest.

After a period of stability with the new Via drivers then (backup again) and install the latest Nvida drivers. Do not allow any DirectX to be installed with this driver.

Mike

 

Could this be where some ( or all ) of the problem lies ??

Could we be looking at bad CPU Or maybe a heat damaged one.

Especially when a 3-4 hour install time is mentioned.

I installed XP Pro on a 233mhz CPU with only 80meg of Ram in just a little over an hour. And XP is not even supposed to work and a CPU that slow. It is no longer there but it was working VERY SLOW but it did work.

Very good thinking about transfering data.

BillyBob

 

Ok, last night I let the system sit (nothing running), and at about 1:45 it crashed. I immediately restarted the system only to have it lag (that 666Mhz issue I was describing earlier). I shut it down and left it till this morning. I checked the Event Log (under the Manager) and found that from 1:40 to 1:41 that "the devide Device\Ide\IdePort1 did not respond during the timeout period." Right after the system crashed with error code 0x1000008E. So, evendiently, those fixes did not work. I am going to let it sit some more and see what happens. I am willing to entertain any suggestions you may have at this point. Thanks again for all your help - and thanks for the email Mike.

~~Chris

 

Chris

No need to further test! BillyBob is correct the CPU is overheating! This is the reason it comes back at half speed. It is still hot.

Is the CPU enclosed in a computer desk? Or where a heat vent blows directly on it?

A home test to prove this is to remove the case and get a small 6 to 8" fan and set to blow at high speed directly on the CPU. If it then goes well past the point of BSOD then you have it diaged.

The repair begins by using air spray to clean the CPU cooler fan and to visually check that it is mounted firmly to the CPU and heat sink and of course actually blowing.

The air spray should be used in all areas inside the computer especially the power supply fans. And any vent that allows air to enter.

If the CPU cooler fan is clean and functioning and the external fan seems to clear the problem then most CPU cases have additional fan mounts.

Look for these and get a couple more fans and mount. They can be had at most eletronics stores or Radio Shack.

In the meantime I would not leave the computer on 24/7.

Don't turn it off and on all day but at least off at night or when it will not be used for a long period. Overheating will eventually kill the CPU.

Let me know.

Good luck!

Mike

 

I just got another BSD. Windows calls it DRIVER_IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL; stop error 0D1; says it has someting to do with atapi.sys.

I am going to try letting the machine sit in Safe Mode and see if I get an error there, just for fun.

~~Chris

 

Actually, right now I have the side off. I have had it off for about three weeks now. Overheating was one of the first things I thought of and blew the heatsink out well. There is also a rear case fan and a front fan, both of which I also blew out. I have also claened the motherboard and RAM. Does this mean, then, that the processor is toast?

~~Chris

 

Two things of importance to consider.

1. Actually with enough airflow from fans a computer case is designed move cooler air in a channel thru the case actually cooling better than having the case off.

The fan suggestion I proposed would be better than the case fans because it would move a large amout of air.

2. The fact that when it does BSOD it comes back at a slower CPU speed confirms it is too hot.

Toast? I don't know. With enough cooling it could last!

The fan test as I proposed will tell you that. Swamp it with air flow and if it stays up then the right kind of High perf heat sink and hi velocity fans may get you by.

I can only give options here, this will have to be your decision based on what you can afford, or do yourself with replacing the normal fans with a hi perf alternative.

The external fan test will confirm if this is even possible.

Mike

 

Mike,

I did what you suggested with the fan, but the system crashed anyway. I checked the system and processor temps in the bios right after the crash and both were within the normal operating ranges (65C for the processor and 31C for the system as a whole). I still recieved that slow processor issue. Any other suggestions?

Thanks again.

~~Chris

 

Chris

Another far out thing. Go into BIOS and turn off both Video and BIOS caching.

Also if you have a modem or any other HW that you do not use then remove them.

Unplug the printer and cable/Dsl and leave the computer on to see if one of these devices is the cause of the problem.

And does it lockup in safe mode if left on.

The only other thing I can suggest is to get the latest motherboard and chipset updates.

Hopefully someone else has an idea?

Mike

 

Ok, so here is the good news:

I made those changes in the BIOS and the system has not BSD.

The bad news is that when I restared the system this AM, it had the 666 MHz thing going on AND duning bootup the system got a stop error, BUT did not BSD (got an error reporting window). The stop code was 0x1000008E. The only help article associated with this code for WinXP on micorsoft's site has to do with Sound Blaster audio cards and I do not have my Sound Blaster installed, so I am at a loss for why this occured.

I went into the BIOS and checked the temps again and they were all within SOP. I started the system again and the slow processor thing happened again, but no error message.

Anyway, thanks againg for all your help.

~~Chris