[Anamacha]

Hey there ... I'm glad to have found this community. I have asked several PC knowledgeable friends, but have yet to try something that actually fixes the problems I'm having.

I'm gonna lay it all out here since these things seem interrelated somehow -- I just haven't yet connected all the dots.

Oh -- the computer I'm talking about is a Dell Optiplex GX280 running Windows XP SP3, has 2 gigs ram, about 15 gigs free on the HDD, has an ATI Radeon X1650 512MB video card, some sort of Firewire card (with no FW devices hooked to it), and maybe some other stuff I am not remembering right now. I can post more details later if you want -- like an AIDA report or whatever.

The problems:
- The computer will not wake up properly from sleep/stand by (I am not hibernating it). Well, it will wake up, but after I type in my password, it will hard crash anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds later. By hard crash I mean no keyboard access, no mouse movement, no ctrl-alt-del, can't activate AntiFreeze, can't hit the power button. The only thing that will recover the computer is to remove and reapply power.

- The same hard crash happens when the computer is idle for any length of time. Sometimes it will sit 8 hours or more without crashing, but more often it hard crashes (as above) a little while after going idle.

- Sometimes I will get a BSOD without any warning whatsoever. Relevant information on these screens is that they are caused by a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA error in the file WIN32K.sys

This all started happening about a month after I installed SP3.

Things I have done:
- run sfc /scannow
- renamed win32k.sys to let the system rebuild one for me
- removed the ATI video drivers and installed the Omega drivers which are gaming drivers guilt on older versions of the official ATI drivers
- pared down my system tray & killed processes
- ran complete scans with several antivirus & anti malware programs (they found nothing)
- defragged C:
- ran nearly every test located on a relatively standard build of the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
- ran chkdsk (several times)
- set the HDD to never go to sleep (in the power options)

Anyone have something else to suggest? I'd really like to put this behind me.

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What is the full stop error on the BSOD.
Go event viewer, application and find the error log please.

Check your HDD connection - IDE or sata and your ram seating.

I realise you have changed the drivers for the graphics, but please check that you do not have any warnings.

Go F8 and load VGA mode see if the error still occurs.

[Macboatmaster]

What is the full stop error on the BSOD.
Go event viewer, application and find the error log please.

Check your HDD connection - IDE or sata and your ram seating.

I realise you have changed the drivers for the graphics, but please check that you do not have any warnings.

Go F8 and load VGA mode see if the error still occurs.

[Anamacha]

going to the Event Viewer, I can't tell what it is you want to see there. I don't know what to copy in for you. However, I do have a tool called WhoCrashed that will read data in system dumps for me. I will paste that in a moment.

I can check the cables, seating and other internal components soon, but I have no reason to believe that this is the problem. I have not opened the case in 6-8 months, when I cleaned it out with an air can (graphics card was getting way too noisy). The problems started a month or two after I did that, so I did not make a correlation between the two events.

I don't believe I have anyh warnings for graphics drivers. Where would I find these? About all I know regarding my graphics drivers is that ATI moved my card to a "legacy architecture" some time ago, and they are no longer directly suporting my card. The latest ATI drivers I can get for my card are the Catalyst 10.2

Regarding F8-VGA mode: I am in Safe mode right now, with networking support. The error has yet to happen, though I am actually USING my computer right now, to type this. Prior to getting in here it did the crash-on-idle thing three times. It appears to be getting worse. After I make this post, I am going to go make a sammich or something to see if it crashes.

Here's the results from WhoCrashed:

Analysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crash dump directory: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.


On Tue 10.10.12 2.34.45 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: win32k.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF9539CC, 0xAB8A4C00, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
Dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini101210-01.dmp
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.



On Sun 10.10.10 2.09.22 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: win32k.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xE1F4801C, 0x0, 0xBF83AD89, 0x1)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini101010-01.dmp
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.



On Wed 10.10.06 1.07.13 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: win32k.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xE4B1701C, 0x0, 0xBF83AD89, 0x1)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini100610-01.dmp
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.



On Tue 10.09.28 5.12.07 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: win32k.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xE111601C, 0x0, 0xBF83AD89, 0x1)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092810-01.dmp
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.



On Wed 10.09.22 7.44.11 PM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: win32k.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF83ACC5, 0xA85BABC0, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
Dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini092210-01.dmp
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time

[Macboatmaster]

Power Supply Small Form Factor 160W; Small Desktop 210W;
Desktop 280W; Mini-Tower 305W

That is a copy and paste from Dell for your computer ie the Optiplex GX280

That video card according to ATI requires a 350 watt power supply. Has the card EVER been OK in this computer please.

I would try this download. Use Mirror 1.
http://www.downloada...389,258483.html
You will see that it reports it as a Vista download but I have checked thw dowload and it includes XP.
PLEASE ensure of course that you save your current driver files first and establish a restore point.
Additionally of course, disable your anti-virus temporarlily whilst downloading as this can of course corrupt the download.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 October 2010 - 11:53 AM.

[Anamacha]

new data:
I left my computer running all night in Safe mode, with networking. It never crashed during that time. The way it's been behaving lately, I would have expected it to have crashed already.

Back when I had a Mac running OS9, there was a nifty tool that I bought called Conflict Catcher. It let you selectively enable and disable extensions to the system, so you could troubleshoot conflicts between bits of startup code, drivers, erminate-and-stay-resident programs, and things like that. Is there such a tool available for PCs?

Regarding power: I am on the minitower version of the GX280. I have never had a problem with this video card. I have not had any power issues that I was ever aware of. I've run some pretty high-power games and have never had any frame drop, artifacts or anything else that would suggest I was having power issues.

One thing that I did forget to mention, though, in my OP was that occasionally when my machine crashes, an incredibly loud fan noise starts up. It ends up sounding like a jet taking off -- I am not kidding. I can't tell, however, if the noise is coming from the case fans or the video card fan.

The file you asked me to download: That looks like an older version of the ATI Catalyst drivers. Why are we doing this?

I can't install them right now as I've somewhere I have to go, but I'll take a look at it later today.

Edited by Anamacha, 16 October 2010 - 12:15 PM.

[Macboatmaster]

As you said and I checked ATi have grouped together a number of Video cards and have them all listed under the catalyst drivers, including yours. I thought that download was the latest available. If you have a later one, obviously do not install the version I found.

Start, My Computer - right click, properties, Hardware, Device Manager - check for errors on any device. Yellow or red warning.

I am not surprised it did not crash in Safe Mode, as of course the demands on the graphics are minimal.

One thing that I did forget to mention, though, in my OP was that occasionally when my machine crashes, an incredibly loud fan noise starts up. It ends up sounding like a jet taking off -- I am not kidding. I can't tell, however, if the noise is coming from the case fans or the video card fan

Are the CPU fins and fan blades clean and the case fans etc.
I recommend this download and check your temps and fans.
http://www.cpuid.com.../pc-wizard.html

I have no knowledge of Conflict Catcher - similar for XP but I doubt very much if it is the problem.
Go start, programs, accessories, system tools, system information and check conflicts, forced hardware and problem devices.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 16 October 2010 - 01:01 PM.

[Anamacha]

i downloaded the non-install version of PC Wizard (as I am still in safe mode), and I get an error --

AppName: pcwizard.dll AppVer: 2010.1.0.952 ModName: pcwiz32.dll
ModVer: 2010.1.9.52 Offset: 0004e2e0

perhaps because I'm in safe mode? I'll try later, in regular mode, when I move back to that.

There are no odd marks in Device manager, again likely because I'm in safe mode.

System Information seems to take an awfully long time detecting my program groups. I was going to attach that info to this post but will do it later -- I think the information will be more useful if I collect it in non-safe mode.

Is there some other program I can get that will collect the same informaton without so much disc access? Like AIDA?

Also, what categories were you interested in as far as System Information goes? I cannot find conflicts, forced hardware or problem devices


thanks mate

[Anamacha]

I am not surprised it did not crash in Safe Mode, as of course the demands on the graphics are minimal.

how sure are you that this is a graphics card/driver problem?

[rshaffer61]

There are no odd marks in Device manager, again likely because I'm in safe mode.

You wouldn't see any in Safe mode. Need to be in Normal Mode.

Suggest rolling back video driver Mac

Also try going to Msconfig Startup and disable any ATI entries to see if that might work.

[Macboatmaster]

Pls do as rshaffer61 says he is far more qualfied than me.

I apologise for not realising we had to return to normal mode.

Attached is the screenshot of system information, but pls try the msconfig start up as advised.
That is Start, run type "msconfig" and click the startup tab.

[rshaffer61]

I'm just suggesting to help you Mac as you are doing good. I just caught the Safe Mode issue and was just replying to OP's comment in post 7 below.

There are no odd marks in Device manager, again likely because I'm in safe mode.

The suggestion to rollback may take care of the issue and then you can get the correct driver as you are attempting to do.

[Macboatmaster]

rshaffer61 - really appreciate it.

Post 6 raised my suspicions, that was why I digressed to fans and temps.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 17 October 2010 - 02:56 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Check your temps and voltages with speedfan
Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply

If the above doesn't work then try SIW.



Motherboard Info:

Download SIW from HERE and get the Standalone English version
It will install itself and when finished

Then Click on SIW Icon to run program
On the left side click on the Sensors directory and then on the right, copy and paste the information in your next reply
On the left side click on the PCI directory and then on the rightcopy and paste the line that says Audio Device

[Macboatmaster]

After you have done as rshaffer61 has suggested and PLEASE DO THAT FIRST.
I have just spent sometime researching your graphics card.
I am reasonably certain that you have the wrong driver.
The general notes do suggest the Catalyst 10.2 but if you then read the actual release notes for the 10.2 it does not apply to your card.
Here is the link to the part of the site I found and if you read the actual release notes for each driver which open as a PDF you will find that 10.2 and all the 10 series does NOT apply to your card.
I do not have time to check each but the 9.3 does.
http://support.amd.c...x?&lang=English

Edited by Macboatmaster, 17 October 2010 - 02:58 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Good job Mac as always. Very thorough with your posts and explanations.