[The Panda]

Hi boys and girls.

I'm having issues with playing video files on my computer. Whether it's Windows Media, or Media classic...or even youtube or google my computer runs hot and shuts down after a while. Prior to shutting down the video will run behind the audio. I don't know if this belongs here, but I didn't know where else to post it. My computer specs are in my profile. Any help would be appreciated.

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Try running Memtest to see whether faulty ram is at hand

[fozziebear]

Try running Memtest to see whether faulty ram is at hand

[The Panda]

OK. Memtest is like...a DOS application. That's terrifying. Forgive my ignorance but is there anything I need to know before I run this?

I appear to have another issue. It shut down on me today without any video playing. I have an external hard drive and when I was looking for a certain file, explorer.exe (I'm ASSuming because of prior experience) started hogging resources and shut the computer down. I started it back up immediately because the computer really didn't feel as hot as it usually does when it shuts down for the video problem and I probably shouldn't have done this, but I rushed to open my external hard drive and it shut down again.

In my event viewer I'm getting a few messages worthy of noting here I think. This one is appearing almost daily:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1517
Date: 2/6/2007
Time: 8:17:24 AM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: xxxxx
Description:
Windows saved user xxxxx\xxxxxxxx registry while an application or service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is no longer in use.

This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....link/events.asp.

...and this is from earlier, video shutdown...

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7000
Date: 2/7/2007
Time: 12:29:33 AM
User: N/A
Computer: xxxxxx
Description:
The Parallel port driver service failed to start due to the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....link/events.asp.

The external hard drive is a FAT32 and my regular hard drive is an NTFS. not sure if that's an issue, just wanted to throw that in and see if it's related.

This memtest seems like a do it yourself type of a deal...in DOS. This is no good because I'm not confident enough of my computer literacy to attempt it until I know I can't screw this thing up anymore than it already is.

Again, forgive me. I'm sure you have better things to do and you're probably rolling your eyes at this post...but this is really starting to concern me. This laptop is about 3 or 4 years old and it's had it's share of problems but it's never failed to start up and it's never given me any blue screen of death. I've never had to reinstall or anything...it's just shutdown problems.

[fozziebear]

Don't worry, we love to help you

Is there a particular reason why you have formatted your external drive in FAT32.

[The Panda]

Don't worry, we love to help you

Is there a particular reason why you have formatted your external drive in FAT32.

Thanks.

Well, I actually didn't format anything. It came as a FAT32. I really wasn't aware that it was an issue...but I guess I was wrong?

[The Panda]

This doesn't look right.

[The Panda]

Don't worry, we love to help you

Is there a particular reason why you have formatted your external drive in FAT32.

Thanks.

Well, I actually didn't format anything. It came as a FAT32. I really wasn't aware that it was an issue...but I guess I was wrong?

So what's the verdict on this? Am I going to have to reformat my external hard drive?

[The Panda]

Bump

[ultimateslacker2]

You can convert it to NTFS by doing this

convert D: /fs:ntfs

Where D is the drive letter associated with your external drive.

[The Panda]

You can convert it to NTFS by doing this

convert D: /fs:ntfs

Where D is the drive letter associated with your external drive.

Will I need to get my files off of it first? Is it going to damages or delete anything?

[The Skeptic]

You don't have to format the drive. XP supports NTFS and FAT32. Your problem is not there.

I would check temperatures of the hardware. Download Everest Home Edition from here. Install and run it. Go to Computer > Sensor. Wait few seconds until data shows up. Look at CPU and other temperatures. Minimize Everest and run a video file. After about 3 minutes maximize Everest and look at temperatures again.

[ultimateslacker2]

Well if you still want to convert, you can, but backup anything you need just incase if anything gets messed up.

[The Panda]

I won't post the whole report, but here are some highlights...

-------------------------------------------
Field Value
Sensor Properties
Sensor Type HDD

Temperatures
CPU 29 °C (84 °F)
HITACHI_DK23EA-30 51 °C (124 °F)

------------------------------------------------


Field Value
Physical Memory
Total 253 MB
Used 200 MB
Free 53 MB
Utilization 79 %

Swap Space
Total 625 MB
Used 255 MB
Free 369 MB
Utilization 41 %

Virtual Memory
Total 878 MB
Used 456 MB
Free 422 MB
Utilization 52 %

Physical Address Extension (PAE)
Supported by Operating System Yes
Supported by CPU Yes
Active No

Problems & Suggestions
Suggestion Install more system memory to improve applications performance.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Field Value
BIOS Properties
BIOS Type Phoenix
System BIOS Date 03/28/03
Video BIOS Date 12/20/20

BIOS Manufacturer
Company Name Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
Product Information http://www.phoenix.c...cts/default.htm
BIOS Upgrades http://www.esupport....fm?refererid=40

Problems & Suggestions
Suggestion Are you looking for a BIOS Upgrade? Contact eSupport Today!
Suggestion System BIOS is more than 2 years old. Update it if necessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, I think my battery is on it's way out. It's at 93% and my light started flashing orange orange orange orange GREEN a few months ago. Now I know why.

Installing memory on a laptop is like...really hard, right?

And do you think the BIOS issue is urgent? What does BIOS do anyway?

If I need to post the whole report, let me know.

[ultimateslacker2]

Did you run memtest yet? It is safe. It just checks your RAM for any errors. You gotta run it for at least 10 hours though.

[The Skeptic]

"... my computer runs hot and shuts down after a while"(quote from first post)

What do you mean by "computer rus hot"?. How did you get this impression? The data from Everest shows normal, even surprisingly low cpu temp at 29 Celsius. Did you run an application while checking temps? Please repeat the test and run your antivirus at the same time. Report temperatures after about 5 minutes. Read the temps simultanously with the antivirus run.

To test your hardware download and run BurninTest from here. It's free for 30 days. Please report.

Adding ram to a lap top can be very easy indeed. It all depends how you reach the expansion slot. Many laptops have a small cover at the bottom. Open it and insert the ram stick, usually diagonally, into the slot and then push it down. Don't use force!!. If in doubt, let someone else do it for you. Adding ram is a good idea since the Everest report shows that you have very little free ram space (58 MB).