[naxa]

Hi all,

I have a computer with newly installed windows XP with all updates from microsoft + avg free + spybot S&D. It is an Athlon XP 2200+ processor, VIA KT400-8235 mobo, 1 gb DDR memory, samsung sp1213n hdd on a desktop computer.
The problem is that programs close unexpectedly with abnormal termination, also when i download an installer e.g. spybot s&d update, it often says that the download got corrupted and i have to redownload it. I think most of the programs and dlls got corrupted somewhere during operation. What could cause this? This was the reason that made me reinstall the computer, but it didn't solved it. I must mention I have several windows installations on different partitions, i don't know if this is important or not. None of them work correctly anyway. I checked memory with an ubuntu cd, and it was ok after hours of testing. I also checked HDD with windows in-built scandisk program, after hours it also seemed ok.
I don't know what the problem is. Is tihs a CPU error? Or my cmos battery is low? What do you think?

Edited by naxa, 06 January 2009 - 10:07 AM.

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Maybe you have a bad stick of memory, or a glitch in the HD.
I would test the Memory(Memtest86), and HD(manufacturers websites seem to have a test you can download and run to).
You download those programs, then burn them in an ISO format and boot the computer using the ISO CD.

[rosiesdad]

Maybe you have a bad stick of memory, or a glitch in the HD.
I would test the Memory(Memtest86), and HD(manufacturers websites seem to have a test you can download and run to).
You download those programs, then burn them in an ISO format and boot the computer using the ISO CD.

[naxa]

This was my first thought, too. I've already tested the memory with the ubuntu cd, which has memtest86 I think. There were no errors. I tested the HDD via windows xp's "scandisk" utility, with checking against bad sectors. The result was the same, no errors. Is this possible? Is windows scandisk not good enough and should I try a disk scanner provided by the manufactor of the HDD? (The problem is that I have a limited time to access to that computer since it is the property of a child-aged friend.)

[rosiesdad]

One other possibility comes to mind, is the machine cleaned out (dust clogged?) compressed air... you know the drill.
Couldnt tell from the specs, is this a laptop or desktop?
How old?
Athalon's run hotter, thus temp could be an issue.
Also, I would still run the HD test, I am sure Samsung has a utility to download and run. It shouldnt take too long, ckdisk is a LONG time running.
HD's fail at any time, sometimes slowly and sometimes zap youre done. I had one fail in a month (new) and Ive gome some that are years old.

[naxa]

Thanks for reply, I'll try dust cleaning and Samsung's HD utility.
It's a desktop computer. /Now included in the specs, too./
The hdd must be years old, probably as old as the cpu is. However I wonder, if scandisk couldn't find a problem at all, what problem could be there? I am curious what Samsung's program will find.

Edited by naxa, 06 January 2009 - 10:10 AM.

[123Runner]

Did you run memtest86 from the ubunto cd? Memtest is meant to go on its own cd as an iso file and you boot from that.
If you booted from ubunto, I believe (I could be wrong) that it does not have exclusive use of memory.
There are different views as to how long to let the test run. Anywheres from 1 hour to overnight. Of course, the longer the test, the better.
Usually you test 1 ram at a time and then test the others.

Scandisk will check/ repair errors, but the HD manufacturers diagnostics are more complete. (Link to tests in my signature).

HOW TO TEST MEMORY

You could have driver/ device issues. Look in device management for any ? or !
go to start/ run and type in devmgmt.msc and hit enter.

[naxa]

Hi all,

thanks for your replies!
To answer 123Runner's questions: I ran the memtest86 from the ubuntu installer CD originally. However, today I made a pure memtest86 boot cd with only memtest on it, and the test passed again with pass = 100% complete and no errors. (Same result.) My memtest ran for ~ 3 hours I think.
I don't have ? or ! in device manager, I think I have no driver problems. I've downloaded all needed drivers from the manufacturer and installed them correctly. I've already checked this earlier actually but forgot to mention, sorry.

I downloaded the program "Hutil" from samsung's website. This was the only software option for the model "sp1213n", except the ones for enabling/disabling something under windows 2000 (and the manual).
I booted into dos with a boot floppy image and started hutil from dos. However, it seems to me that "Hutil" is an information utility only. I couldn't start any surface check or other thing like this. Hutil's infos seemed ok to me anyway. There were infos only about the model and some dma settings and etc. Nothing diagnostical if you ask me.
There is another samsung utility called shdiag over this http://www.samsung.c...ort_Shdiag.html link. It doesn't list "sp1213n" as a supported hard drive. However, it says "And other older models" at the end of the supported model's list. My next move would be to start shdiag, but, just in case, do you have any info when shdiag caused harm to a hdd what's model wasn't directly listed in the supported models list? As far as I understand computers, it is 95%-99% sure that it won't cause any harm, but I would like to ask your opinion too.
Anyway, I backed up the important data from the hdd already.

Actually my general idea now is that it is a cpu / cmos battery (not likely) / mobo problem, but I don't understand these devices so much. The system time is always ok so i guess it's not battery related. Is there a way to (mass) test cpu if it can do calculations correctly?

Anyway, just for information. Ubuntu CD has a boot loader what enables you to load whichever OS on the CD or CD image installed on the CD you want. The Ubuntu installer livecd comes with a prebuilt memtest86 image. When you start the memtest86 from the CD, I am sure that ubuntu itself is not loaded at all. I am unsure if the bootloader is doing something significant to the memory test, but i think it's 95% sure that it's not. I think memtest86 from the ubuntu livecd and memtest86 "stand-alone" do the very same thing.

Edited by naxa, 18 January 2009 - 01:40 PM.