[anthom]

Apologies in advance for the novel-length post...I'm using a custom built computer, approx. 6-7 years old, hoping to get a little more life out of it, since I'm too poor to afford a new one right now. Here are the specs (let me know if I'm missing anything):

Motherboard: MSI MS6378 v.1 (VIA KLE133 chipset)
Video/Audio: Onboard video and audio
(I was using a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum for audio, but removed it last week after recalling stories of SBLive not playing well with VIA chipsets)
Memory: 256 MB ram
Drive: Lite-On 48x CDRW
OS: Windows 2000 with latest service pack
Power Supply: FORTRON 300W P300-60PN (purchased in 2003 to replace the incredibly loud Deer PSU it had been built with)

Here are the issues I'm running into - I'm going on a hunch that these are all related somehow, but I could be wrong:

- I'm getting multiple BSOD's seemingly on a daily basis - usually related to tcpip.sys - STOP messages like "PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA" or "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED". I've run MEMTEST multiple times since first getting these errors, and it hasn't shown any errors. It's been a month or two since I ran CHKDSK, but I don't recall seeing any disk errors, either.

- Often, apps will crash on me - the whole "(application name) has encountered an error and needs to close" bit, with Dr. Watson writing an error log. Usually, they're memory-hungry audio applications like iTunes. Somehow, video doesn't appear to cause any issue - I use VLC regularly with little to no problem.

- Occasionally, when surfing pages heavy on embedded elements (like YouTube or MySpace), Windows will completely freeze. Three finger salute does nothing - I end up having to shut off the power supply for a few seconds then restart.

- Very intermittently, the PC won't POST. Power turns on, the light on my CD-RW drive lights up, and stays lit, but I don't hear the "beep" that tells me it's getting ready to boot. Shutting off the power, letting it sit for 10 seconds or more, then restarting seems to take care of this.

I've done the malware/virus scan as shown in the malware board (except for HijackThis). Aside from a few tracking cookies, it comes up clean every time, so I don't think this is a malware issue.

Can this system be saved?

[Advertisements]

I think your best bet with the memory hoggers out there today is try to buy and install more RAM. What you have (Memory: 256 MB ram) just is not enough. You didn't mention HD capacity, but doing a disk clean up and defrag may help some things, but RAM is the best bet. If you even have a worry that it might be malware, visit the Malware section and read the pinned instructions there before posting to that forum.

Ron

Edited by Major Payne, 18 May 2007 - 04:09 PM.

[Major Payne]

I think your best bet with the memory hoggers out there today is try to buy and install more RAM. What you have (Memory: 256 MB ram) just is not enough. You didn't mention HD capacity, but doing a disk clean up and defrag may help some things, but RAM is the best bet. If you even have a worry that it might be malware, visit the Malware section and read the pinned instructions there before posting to that forum.

Ron

Edited by Major Payne, 18 May 2007 - 04:09 PM.

[anzenketh]

Blue screen error messages are one of the most misunderstood error messages out there in regards to windows.According to Microsoft, only 5-20% of these errors are actually caused by the OS. Only 10% are hardware related. The other 70% are the result of faulty drivers or software incompatibility. Based on those numbers, less than 15% of blue screen errors can be permanently resolved with an OS reinstall.

So we can correctly solve this issue we need to get the minidumps.

To get the Minidumps do the following

1 > create a new folder on the desktop and call it "dumpcheck" or whatever you like
2 > navigate to %systemroot%\minidump and copy the last few minidump files to that folder.%systemroot% is normally c:\windows. They are numbered by date. You can paste that address in address bar to get there.
3 > close the folder and right click on it and select Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder. Please do NOT compress them in .rar
4 > use the "add reply" option upload that zip file here as an attachment.

[anthom]

Here's a zip of my last few minidumps.
 Minidump.zip   44.69KB   103 downloads

[anzenketh]

Thank you for the Minidumps I ran them though windows Debugger.

This is what I got back.

For Mini051307-01 BSOD error was 0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
The system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. The most typical cause is a bad device driver (one that uses improper addresses). It can also be caused by caused by faulty or mismatched RAM, or a damaged pagefile.

Probably Caused by IMAGE_NAME: NTOSKRNL.exe

For Mini051307-02
0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Probably caused by IMAGE_NAME: tcpip.sys

For Minidump 051407-01
0x0000007F: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
Probably Caused by IMAGE_NAME: ntoskrnl.exe

For Minidump 051407-02
0x00000050: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Requested data was not in memory. An invalid system memory address was referenced. Defective memory (including main memory, L2 RAM cache, video RAM) or incompatible software (including remote control and antivirus software) might cause this Stop message, as may other hardware problems (e.g., incorrect SCSI termination or a flawed PCI card).
Probably Caused By IMAGE_NAME: kmixer.sys

For minidump 051707-01
0x000000D1: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Probably caused by IMAGE_NAME: tcpip.sys


For minidump 051707-02
0x000000BE: ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY
A driver attempted to write to read-only memory. Commonly occurs after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a driver file is named in the error message, try to correct the problem by disabling, removing, or rolling back the driver.
Probably Caused By IMAGE_NAME: ntoskrnl.exe

Translation what that means is you have received 6 Blue screen error messages
Most of them point to Driver issue according to http://www.aumha.org/a/stop.htm Only one said possible hardware.

ntoskrnl.exe Came up 4 Times, tcpip.sys came up 2 times, and kmixer.sys came up 1 time.

ntoskrnl is the kernel it is a Core Operating System file.
tcpip.sys is your TCP/IP drivers the communication protocol of the internet.
kmixer.sys also came up Kernel Mode Audio Mixer.

Now what to do about it.

Do you have your XP CD handy?

If so, place it in your CD ROM drive and follow the instructions below:

* Go to START-->RUN and type sfc /scannow (note the space between sfc and /scannow)
* Once the blue bar goes away, reboot your computer.

SFC - System File Checker, retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.

Other things you can do unfortunately all the drivers that came up are windows file errors so drivers to uninstall are a little harder to do. But you can also run a memory test to make sure it is not memory.

We need to run some memory tests.

Click here for a guide in running memtest
Click here to download Memtest

Download Unzip and Burn ISO immage to cd.

Run overnight if possible.

Edited by tuxmaster, 19 May 2007 - 12:43 AM.

[anthom]

I do have my original Win2k install disk (as I've never upgraded to XP), but when running SFC, it keeps asking me to insert my Service Pack 4 CD. I don't have an SP4 disc - I believe I just got the service pack from Windows Update.

I've already Memtest burned, so I'll try running that again tonight.

Edited by anthom, 19 May 2007 - 09:14 AM.

[anzenketh]

Sorry about that Um you can try Slipstreaming your 2000 CD but that is a bit advanced did you try your original windows 2000 CD.

[anthom]

Yeah - the original 2000 disc keeps giving me that same message.

So, how would I go about slipstreaming the CD?

Edited by anthom, 19 May 2007 - 04:35 PM.

[anzenketh]

Here is some instructions Go here

Go Ahead and run those memory tests too. Slipstreaming may or may not work.

[anthom]

I'll give the slipstreaming a try, and then run Memtest overnight.
Thanks!

[anthom]

OK...Memtest made 13 passes in over 6 hours and showed no errors at all.

As for the slipstreaming, I was able to copy over the files, dowload and extract SP4, and run the updater fine. I burned the entire i386 folder onto a disc then ran sfc.exe /scannow with the new slipstreamed disc in the drive. The progress bar on SFC got a little further than before, until I got a similar error message asking for my Windows 2000 CD again.

I put in my original disc, retry, and get the message "The CD you provided is the wrong CD. Please insert the Windows 2000 Professional CD into your CD-ROM drive." Just for giggles I tried putting my slipstreamed disc in again, but it gave the same message.

I'm not sure what else it could possibly be looking for...

[anzenketh]

Try slipstreaming with all the updates See if that helps the SFC /scannow.

[anthom]

A few stupid questions - first, how do I know what updates to include? I see I've got an "update rollup" that was installed back in 2005 and about 20 or so different hotfixes in the Add/Remove Programs dialog. Any updates that were installed came automatically through Windows Update, and Windows Update only seems to remember the very last thing I updated a few days ago (a hotfix for IE, if I'm not mistaken).

And, once I figure out which ones I need, how do I update my slipstream folder with them? Would the installation files still be somewhere on my hard drive?

[anzenketh]

You want to slipstream all of them again SFC /scannow may or may not work. You would slipstream them using the same method you slipstreamed SP4.

[anthom]

To try this out, I downloaded the Win2k Update Rollup, and extracted all the files. When I follow the same steps to slipstream the Update Rollup, I get the following message:

Extracted packages cannot be integrated. The /integrate switch must be used with the original software update package.

Once I figure this out, does this mean I'm going to have to hunt down every last KB number I have installed, download the hotfix package for each of them, and do this again before I can burn the slipstream disc?

Man, I never thought I'd miss Windows 98...