Random Computer Lockups

[Skizzy]

I was asleep one night, and I awoke by the sound of my computer POSTing. I was confused, but concluded it was just a Windows Updated rebooting my computer. It happened again the same night, waking me up. I woke up, started looking around my Event Logs (which show no Warnings or Errors by the way), and it froze. I have tried reformatting, updating video card drivers, updating BIOS, running MEMTEST86, clearing CMOS, and none of these have cured it or helped me diagnose the problem.

I was watching a movie the other day on my computer, and it froze. Weird thing was, I continued to hear the video for about 20 seconds, but the screen was frozen, and couldn't move my mouse or use my keyboard (couldn't SEE me using it anyways).

My mouse has been acting up, so I thought maybe in some weird way, that's affecting the freezing. I unplugged it, using only my keyboard, but of course, it still froze. I can still hear the HDD activity, and the LEDs flashing, but nothing changes on the monitor. I have also tried different monitors, but that didn't help either.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/3595/tempsmx4.jpg
Temps; accurate.

Could it be a video card problem? Unfortunately I do not have a PCI-E video card to test with, so I'm SOL there.

Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance,
Skizzy

 

[Skizzy]

I'd like to try a different PSU and a different video card, but I don't have those available, so I'd like to try and diagnose as much as I can before I go out and buy stuff.

I tried to do a ScanDisk, but the comp froze in the middle of it. I tried Safe Mode, but it froze in that as well. My Event Log actually has errors this time, and here they are:

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D.
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort2, did not respond within the timeout period.
The server {F3A614DC-ABE0-11D2-A441-00C04F795683} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

All those were at times I was away from my computer. My computer froze twice while typing this, and no new errors are showing up.

I disabled automatic restart in hopes of some blue screens of death, but the comp. just freezes, showing no blue screens.

I will do my best to continue to try to run ScanDisk and see if I get lucky and have it finish. Tonight I will run MEMTEST86 all night as well.

I searched through my minidump, and the only file in there dated 02/26/07. It had the following in it:

k m i x e r . s y s `§ô Щô  ÔÐA…d r m k a u d . s y s é÷ °é÷  üÐA…D M u s i c . s y s €Ôô PÕô  $ÑA…a e c . s y s P¶ô €¸ô  LÑA…s w m i d i . s y s €×ô `Øô  tÑA…s p l i t t e r . s y s ÐÛ÷ ðÛ÷  œÑA…i m a p i . s y s Ш÷ p©÷  ÄÑA…C d a u d i o . S Y S л÷ ¼÷  ìÑA…S f l o p p y . S Y S

Edit: I ran chkdsk, and the cmd prompt just closed. Does that mean it finished? I also ran verifier and sigverifier, all drivers are signed.

 

[Skizzy]

Getting a couple new errors...

The driver nv4_disp for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.
This one happened right one a freeze. Though it doesn't show in the Event Log every time the computer freezes.

Error code 000000ea, parameter1 860fd878, parameter2 86ecaec0, parameter3 86d694e0, parameter4 00000001.
Got two of these within two minutes of eachother. Don't think they showed up on computer freeze.

Also, my computer is still not creating minidump files. Any reason why?

 

[sPlAtOiD]

Well you could try a reinstall its the cheapest thing to try. It looks like your temps are good. After you do a reinstall you will know for sure if it not the OS.
Sorry but it's all I got on this one.

 

[Skizzy]

Well you could try a reinstall its the cheapest thing to try. It looks like your temps are good. After you do a reinstall you will know for sure if it not the OS.
Sorry but it's all I got on this one.

Wow, an actual reply.

I already tried reformatting though, that didn't help. It freezes in Safe Mode as well, so I definitely know it's hardware-related. I believe it's either the IO controller or even the HDD. When it hasn't frozen for about 30 minutes or so, I go to download something, and it freezes in a minute or so. But other times it freezes 2 or 3 times at the Windows boot-up screen. At this point, it seems it could be anything. :\

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Hi! Do you have Windows installed on that Hard Drive 0? I'm asking you this because it looks like you have a failure on your Hard Drive's Controller as you can see from the Event Viewer Log. I believe SpeedFan won't detect those failures, you had good results because the drive managed to write and read and "passed" the test. I think that's why you keep getting lock-ups even in Safe Mode and a reformat didn't work. If you can't complete a CHKDSK, then something is wrong with the drive. I just finished troubleshooting a friend's drive that became "Bad" and CHKDSK woudn't work, Windows would take forever to load and had a lot of errors of different kinds. The other Video Card driver error could be related to the same problem or there's an issue with that driver and you would need to update it. Did you try a CHKDSK test again? Did you try plugging the Hard Drive with a new cable so you make sure it's not that what's causing conflict with the controller? Post back with more info/results. Good Luck!

 

[Skizzy]

Hi! Do you have Windows installed on that Hard Drive 0? I'm asking you this because it looks like you have a failure on your Hard Drive's Controller as you can see from the Event Viewer Log. I believe SpeedFan won't detect those failures, you had good results because the drive managed to write and read and "passed" the test. I think that's why you keep getting lock-ups even in Safe Mode and a reformat didn't work. If you can't complete a CHKDSK, then something is wrong with the drive. I just finished troubleshooting a friend's drive that became "Bad" and CHKDSK woudn't work, Windows would take forever to load and had a lot of errors of different kinds. The other Video Card driver error could be related to the same problem or there's an issue with that driver and you would need to update it. Did you try a CHKDSK test again? Did you try plugging the Hard Drive with a new cable so you make sure it's not that what's causing conflict with the controller? Post back with more info/results. Good Luck!

Thanks for the reply. I was able to complete a CHKDSK in the Recovery Console with the Windows XP CD finally. It took a little over an hour to complete, is that normal? I don't recall it ever taking that long.

And unfortunately I do not have any other cables available for my Hard Drive. Does Best Buy sell single SATA cables? I have one pretty much right across the street.

Also, would it make a difference if I changed the SATA cable from SATA_0 to a different slot?

Found another new Error in my Event Log:

atapi: The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort2, did not respond within the timeout period.

Edit: Checked temps again with SpeedFan, I'm worried about the 50c one. Is it normal? I don't even know which component that is.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

Hello. First off, CHKDSK takes a few minutes only. That's exactly what happened to me when I tried a CHKDSK on my friend's computer hard drive, which is dying. I think Best Buy sells cables but I'd go to CompUsa or MicroCenter if you have one nearby. You can buy it on the MicroCenter website but it'll take a couple of days.
Regarding what you asked about switching the SATA cable to other slot, I'm not completely sure. With IDE interface the bootable hard drive SHOULD be on the first channel and configurated as Master to avoid conflicts. I'll check that for you. What do you have installed on the Secondary Channel of your IDE interface? A CD-ROM/DVD burner or both? You're having performance or communication/connectivity problems with those devices too. I'm wondering if you don't have a Motherboard issue...Have you ever written down those beep codes you were getting at POST? That will tell you the failing piece of hardware. Do you still get them?
I'm not sure about that overheated piece your SpeedFan is showing...My version of SpeedFan will only show HD temperatures. You can go into your BIOS and it should be listed there, it's the same thing but it will tell you the component that is reading that value. Post back with more info. Good Luck!

 

[Skizzy]

Originally posted by COCOCOOKIE What do you have installed on the Secondary Channel of your IDE interface?

Not sure exactly what this means, are you talking about the molex cables? If so, it's PSU>DVD-ROM>HDD.
If you're talking about the SATA channels, it's
Master [WDC]
Seconary [ None ]
Third [ None ]
Fourth [ None ]

My beep codes seem normal at POST, can't remember at the moment, I'll edit after I post this and reboot.

Edit: Wow. My computer froze 9 times before I finally got to the desktop. Each freeze allowed me to boot up further and further, but at first it would freeze at the Windows Logo. Then a little further more into the Windows Logo, etc. Half the time I didn't even get a single beep code on POST.

Also, one of the times I booted up, I was stuck at the Windows Logo screen. I let it sit there, wondering what would happen, and I heard the Windows start up jingle, while I was still seeing that frozen black logo screen. What the...?

Another Edit: I just unplugged the blue molex cable from my DVD-ROM and put it into the spot where the other blue molex was connected to my HDD, leaving my DVD-ROM unplugged. Could this have been the problem? So far, I haven't encountered any freezing, but it's only been 10 minutes or so since I booted up.

 

[COCOCOOKIE]

No, that's not what I meant. Most computers have two IDE channels or "connector" on the motherboard that support two IDE drives each (CD-ROM,Hard drives, etc.) That error mentioned IDE Port2, so that should be the slave device on your second IDE cable (the flat ribbon cable with 40 pins) Open your Device Manager and post your drives you have installed (IDE and SATA)
What about your BIOS temperatures? Because if you have overheating, that would cause regular lock-ups.

Let me know if you're having lock-ups after unplugging the DVD's power connector. Sometimes, those lock-ups at boot indicates conflict between devices sharing the same bus. Post back.