[meddlecascade]

hey!

thanks for checking in. they kinda lost interest in me over in hardware... :-(

ok, per your instructions i have the following to report: C is NOT dirty, and i have a MOBILITY RADEON 7500.

lemme know what you think.


thx -- meddle

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...just an update here. the computer still needs me to start-up in safe mode, etc.

a new twist today is that it froze for no apparent reason, forcing a restart. the restart went without a problem (reinforcing my superstition that the computer starts differently "cold" than after warmed up).

when i first started up i ran speedfan and the high temp was 61 degrees. 5 minutes later it was 54.


...don't know if that's relevant, but thought i'd mention it.


thx -- meddle

[meddlecascade]

...just an update here. the computer still needs me to start-up in safe mode, etc.

a new twist today is that it froze for no apparent reason, forcing a restart. the restart went without a problem (reinforcing my superstition that the computer starts differently "cold" than after warmed up).

when i first started up i ran speedfan and the high temp was 61 degrees. 5 minutes later it was 54.


...don't know if that's relevant, but thought i'd mention it.


thx -- meddle

[gerryf]

Hi Meddlescape,

CW is going out of town for a while, so he asked others to chime in. Like him, I think it sounds like a videocard issuek, but it could also be a power supply issue

Do you have a second PC that you could swap out parts on a temporary basis?

[meddlecascade]

no, i kinda just have the laptop. should i try to change that? i.e. borrow another computer for a day or something?

[gerryf]

ack, missed it was a laptop....ok, skip that.



Flip the laptop over, check the vents--are they clear?

[meddlecascade]

i see one vent with a fan on the other side of it. the vent's clear in the sense that there's no dirt on it, etc. it is, however, sitting directly on my desk, so the air it's blowing can't really get anywhere....should i prop up my computer/otherwise encourage air-flow to this spot?

you mentioned *vents* -- in the plural...should there be more? i've got another one on the side of the computer. it looks clean as well.


thanks for the speedy reply, sir.

peace love and long live bill the cat.....meddle

[gerryf]

defiitely raise it up and even blow a small fan across it if possible...see if it makes a difference.


also

start > run, type
eventvwr.msc
<enter>

Look under systems and applications for items with red Xs that happened at the SAME time as your problem...list them here.

[meddlecascade]

'kay...i'll prop it up and see if that does it.

i checked things per your last email, and it was interesting. there weren't any red x's the last time it went to a black screen and froze up (just a couple minutes ago), but there was a *lot* of activity, so i figured i'd share that....

[oh, and "meddler" is the name of my computer"]

SYSTEM INFO
Type Date Time Source Category Event User Computer
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:06 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:01 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 User MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:34:00 PM Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:33:57 PM avgntflt None 17 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:33:43 PM eventlog None 6005 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:33:43 PM eventlog None 6009 N/A MEDDLER

APPLICATION
Type Date Time Source Category Event User Computer
Information 5/12/2006 4:33:59 PM SecurityCenter None 1800 N/A MEDDLER
Information 5/12/2006 4:33:58 PM H+BEDV AntiVir AntiVir 4096 SYSTEM MEDDLER



...or maybe it holds no significance. your thoughts?


peace -- meddle

PS -- wow, i just propped up my laptop and the temp reading displayed by speedfan jumped down immediately to 39 degrees, from its normal spot at 51 degrees. that's probably a good sign, right?

Edited by meddlecascade, 12 May 2006 - 05:53 PM.

[gerryf]

yes, good sign....I always rest my laptop on a book so it has an extra inch of air.


Those are information events---nothing bad there

[meddlecascade]

good news on the info alerts, then. what's our next step?

temperature update: i've got it propped up again, and while the initial temperature was 39 degrees, it quickly climbed back up to 51 degrees. is that hot? should i buy a laptop cooler?

also, i've taken to doing the following in order to get my computer to start-up.

1. i open it in safe mode
2. i run "msconfig"
3. i click on "diagnostic start-up"
4. i wait for the computer to make all the registry changes
5. it asks me if i want to restart right away, i say "no"
6. i click on "normal start-up" within msconfig
7. i wait for the computer to change the registry
8. it asks if i want to restart, i say "yes"
9. the computer starts up fine.

does that mean anything?


peace -- meddle

[gerryf]

Please go back to post number 4--do not reapply the things you are turning off.


Choose SELECTIVE STARTUP and uncheck everything

Reboot. when asked. Run for a while. if it runs smooth, then we apply the other items 1 by 1 from the top down.

We keep reapplying until the problem re-appears.

51 degrees is warm

[meddlecascade]

i hear you on the re-apply thing, but i've done that before. what happens is that once i turn everything off once, the computer starts up smoothly irrespective of what i re-click.

i guess i could try turning things off one at a time and see if that produces any trouble....i'll give that a shot and let you know what comes up.

on the laptop heat issue, is 51 warm enough to warrant a laptop cooler?

[gerryf]

laptop coolers are really hit and miss--here's why

Depending on where the fans are on the laptop cooler it can actually be counter-productive.

For example...some laptops have intake fans on the bottom. Some laptop coolers have fans that pull air down (away from laptop)

So---you have a laptop pulling air one way and laptop fan pulling in another--the result is an extra hot laptop.

So you need to get a laptop cooler that works with your particular laptop

If it were me, I'd rip it open, clean it out, pull the cpu/heatsink, put some arctic silver between them and reassemble.

[The Skeptic]

It looks to me is if a process or program or driver loads badly, causing the computer to freeze. When you boot in safe mode you do not load all the items that you load in normal mode, skipping, most probably, the item that cause the freezing. My opinion is that 51 degrees shouldn't cause any problem. The fact that the freezing occurs after a cold start exclude, in my opinion, CPU overheating. I would try the following:

1: Start > run > msconfig > startup. Uncheck everything, even the antivirus. restart the computer. If not good:
2: Download from Toshiba, and install, all system drivers (chipset, video, audio, lan). If still no good:
3: Control panel > power options. Disable hibernation if enabled. Under General tab choose "never" for "turn off monitor", "turn off hard disk", system standby". If still not good:
4: Perform XP repair (you can look for a link in my signature)

[meddlecascade]

heya --

update for gerry, today i started up in safe mode, ran msconfig and turned everything off, and then one by one added things back in. everything ran fine. per your advice on opening up the computer, i'm going to avoid that.
if that's what you'd do, that translates into what i'd pay someone to do, so i guess i'll try finding someone local to do that if skeptic's ideas don't change things for the better. thanks for all your time, though! apparently this problem is weirder than i thought.

**********
NEW UPDATE (as of 3:56pm Tues): hey, my computer just crashed and i checked the event viewer and there was a red X at 3:56. it said the following: Type-Error; Source-NetBT; Category-None; Event ID-4321; Description-The name "KDSE-PC :1d" could not be registered on the Interface with IP address 192.168.0.5. The machine with the IP address 192.168.0.24 did not allow the name to be claimed by this machine.

just to clarify, KDSE-PC is the network i share all day whilst i'm on this laptop. it's working fine at the moment....thoughts?
**********

skeptic, thanks for the thoughts. i've done step 1 many times, and the computer's always fine if i go to msconfig, turn things off and then turn them on again. so i think that's an indication of where the problem is but doesn't seem to solve things.

step #2 i tried, but unfortunately toshiba has the worst website in the free world and i don't have a clue as to where to find drivers on it (tried googling and that didn't return anything on their homepage).

step #3 i just did, per your note. hopefully that'll help.

and step #4 i'll try if the computer acts wonky tomorrow.


okee-dokee. i'm starting to think that face-to-machine contact is gonna be necessary to sort this out, but i'm thankful for all the geeks that have chimed in.


peace -- meddle

Edited by meddlecascade, 16 May 2006 - 05:01 PM.