[AnnJS]

I feel bad having to post this, because a year ago I had what appears to be the exact same problem. I received some amazing help here, from Wannabe1 to be exact (the old thread can be found here), and everything was working fine. But, unfortunately, it's acting up again I was going to just repeat the fix he came up with, but I felt a bit hesitant to do so because while the symptoms are technically the same, there are some slight differences... Well, I'll start from the beginning:

Roughly a week ago my computer was making wheezing and hacking noises when I tried to boot it up in the morning (sounded like it came from one of the fans). I shut it off immediately and tried rebooting, same sound again. I repeated this a couple of times until the fan was running smoothly again, thinking it just needed to warm up or something. And then after that it started freezing. Just like last time, it was completely random too; sometimes it'd freeze after three hours and sometimes after only a few minutes, didn't matter if I was just typing in Notepad or doing something more strenuous.

I used an old systen restore point and cleaned my fans (but they weren't really that dusty), but the problem persisted. And now, when I turn on my computer, it reports an error before starting up; "CPU is unworkable or has been changed. Please recheck - CPU SOFT MENU". Pressing F1 gets it to boot up though, and this additional error doesn't seem to have affected anything.

Checking the event logs during the time of freeze ups reports the following three things:

"The service Splsipnia could not be started because of the following error: The search-path could not be found."

"The service Nsvpismal could not be started because of the following error: The file could not be found."

"The service Moufe39adr could not be started because of the following error: The search-path could not be found."

What I find interesting about this is that "Splsipnia" and "Nsvpismal" showed up the last time I had this problem, but "Moufe39adr" is new.

And that's pretty much it. Do you guys think I should just repeat the final fix that Wannabe1 came up with, or is this a different problem (despite the symptoms being almost identical)? Any input is much appreciated, so thanks in advance. Once again, I'm sorry for requesting help for something that you might already have helped me with once

EDIT: I just realized that I forgot to mention something, that might or might not be important. Roughly two weeks before this freezing problem began, my computer wouldn't recognize my external harddrive when I turned it on to move some files. When I turned it on it told me that the driver couldn't be found and asked me for the CD to install it. This really threw me for a loop cause I've got a lot of important stuff on that harddrive and I got worried that somehow it had all been erased. I searched high and low for the CD, but couldn't find it. I emailed the company that made the harddrive asking if they had the driver for download online or if perhaps I could buy another copy of it. Still no reply though, so I don't know what's going on with that. I doubt it has anything to do with this problem, but I still wanted to mention it just in case

Edited by AnnJS, 19 October 2006 - 03:34 PM.

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Hello AnnJS...

I'm not recognizing those services right off...let's see what's running and where from. Download and run HiJackThis. Save a log and attach it here for me.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hello AnnJS...

I'm not recognizing those services right off...let's see what's running and where from. Download and run HiJackThis. Save a log and attach it here for me.

wannabe1

[AnnJS]

Hey there Wannabe1, thanks for coming to my rescue once more

Here's the HijackThis log:

edit: attach HJT log

Attached Files

•  HiJackThis_log.txt   4.28KB   153 downloads

Edited by wannabe1, 27 October 2006 - 07:52 AM.

[diggeryo]

If I could just offer a suggestion. I had a similar problem once with my computer randomly freezing...didn't seem to follow any rhyme or reason: sometimes it would freeze right after startup and sometimes it would be fine for hours.

It turned out the problem was that computer was overheating. I would suggest a couple things: download some sort of temperature monitor to check your temperature (I use Everest Home Edition: http://www.majorgeek...wnload4181.html ). Also, try using your computer with the side off for a while. Keeping the side off usually drops the internal temperature substantially, so if it doens't freeze while it's off, that's pretty much the problem. Then you know all you have to do is get a better fan or something.

Hope this helps, and good luck...

mike.

[wannabe1]

This sure does look like the problems you were experiencing a year ago, huh?

Please download, install, and run WinAudit on the machine. Save a report (use the floppy-like icon on the toolbar) in PDF format if you can...HTML if you can't save it as PDF. Attach the report to an email to me...I'll PM you with the address. You will probably have to zip this report to send it.

wannabe1

[AnnJS]

Wannabe1: Yeah, the problem seems to be almost identical That's why I was really close to just repeating the registry hive replacing that we did last time, but I wanted to ask your opinion first (for safety's sake). I've emailed you the WinAudit report now, it's certainly a massive log... I really hope it's not a big hassle for you to go through!

Diggeryo: I run SpeedFan almost always in order to monitor the temperatures, but they aren't too warm. Also, last time I had this probem I did replace one of my fans; and it didn't help. Thanks for the idea though!

[wannabe1]

Let's play with the services that are giving the system errors. I have absolutely no idea what these services are or what installs or uses them. There is no information available, that I can find, on either one of them. Both are listed in services (one is a process) as Status: Stopped...Startup Type: Manual.

Let's change both of those to "Disabled" and see if 1) it will stop the crashes...or...2) disabling them will generate an error that will tell us what uses them.

Click Start, then Run, type services.msc and click "Ok". Locate Nsvpismal in the list, double click on it, and change the "Startup Type" to Disabled. While you have this window open, note the path to this file and see if there is an application listed in the description box.

Then open Task Manager (Ctrl + Alt + Delete), click on the "Processes" tab, locate Splsipnia, right click on it, point to "Priority", and choose "Low" (note what this is set to before you change it). With this process selected, click on the "End Process" button.

Reboot and run for a while. If you get another hang, reboot and run a while again. After you have restarteda a few times, send me a new WinAudit report.

[AnnJS]

I went to disable "Nsvpismal" in the Services window, but it wasn't on the list... "Splsipnia" and "Moufe39adr" were there though, so should I disable those two instead? Also, there's no application listed for either of them, and the paths are blank.

Task Manager doesn't list "Splsipnia", nor the others. I rebooted too, just incase, but it still didn't show up.

It's almost as if these services don't exist anywhere, nor being used by an programs. Sure is odd

[wannabe1]

Hmmmm...odd that they show up in the WinAudit report.

Let's see if we can find them in the registry.

Click Start, then Run, type regedit and click "Ok".

Click "Edit" on the toolbar and choose "Find". Type the name of one of the stubborn services in the "Find What" field and click on the "Find Next" button. If the service is found, click "Edit" on the toolbar and choose "Copy Key Name"...paste the key into a notepad document...then click on "Find Next" to see if the reference to this service is found in another key. Copy the key names for each location found.

Do this for each of the services referenced in the errors. Then attach the notepad document here for me.

[AnnJS]

Oh yes, it found a lot of those services in the registry! Here's the list:

Attached Files

•  services.txt   2.99KB   98 downloads

[wannabe1]

Can you navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_NSVPISMAL, expand it if possible and get me a screenshot of the registry editor window?

These keys may be the problem. I have still not been able to find any information on these so am really questioning their legitimacy. I'm going to run this by a malware expert real quick, but I'm thinking we'll just get rid of these keys and see if things improve.

I'll be back to you in a bit.

Can you get me exports of each of the following keys? (To export: Right click the key and choose "Export"...save them to your desktop, zip them, and attach them here for me.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_NSVPISMAL

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_SPLSIPNIA

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_MOUFE39ADR

Edited by wannabe1, 28 October 2006 - 03:39 PM.

[AnnJS]

Possibly a malware, huh? I never would've guessed that, but atleast a pesky malware would explain why the computer always seems to freeze at the worst times possible

Here's the zip with the screenshots and the key exports:

Attached Files

•  files.zip   84.07KB   105 downloads

[wannabe1]

I'm not sure what we're looking at quite yet. My first impulse is to delete them, but experience tells me to make sure of what I'm deleting.

I don't really think this is malware...they appear to be device related. I noticed in the report that the drivers for your iPod are not installed...is this intentional? Or is it another possible part of the problem?

[AnnJS]

Yeah, I'm also wary when it comes to deleting unknown stuff like that. But hey, we never did try disabling "Splsipnia" and "Moufe39adr" in the Services window, so I'm gonna give that a try right now, just incase.

The drivers for my iPod? I don't even own an iPod, nor has one ever been connected to my computer Perhaps it is a device and/or driver related problem then; both the iPod thing and the disappearing driver for my external harddrive hints at that, I think.

EDIT: I just went to disable those two, but could only do so for "Splsipnia"... I got an error when trying to disable "Moufe39adr" saying that the file couldn't be found.

Edited by AnnJS, 28 October 2006 - 05:52 PM.

[wannabe1]

I admit, the language is a bit confusing at times...

It's not necesarily an iPod, but an MP3 player of some sort. Like these.

From the report.