[rshaffer61]

Worth a try to replace the battery then. CR2032 is the normal number on it I believe.

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OK. I will get a replacement battery today.

If I could figure out what creates the fasttx2k error that shows up in Event Viewer, I might be able to solve the freezing problems, if not the slowness of Windows things loading.

When the BIOS post is occurring, one of the messages that flashes up says:

SATA 378 TX2Plus BIOS Version 1.00.0.33

Detecting
Device not found
BIOS is not installed

Any suggestions?

[domer07]

OK. I will get a replacement battery today.

If I could figure out what creates the fasttx2k error that shows up in Event Viewer, I might be able to solve the freezing problems, if not the slowness of Windows things loading.

When the BIOS post is occurring, one of the messages that flashes up says:

SATA 378 TX2Plus BIOS Version 1.00.0.33

Detecting
Device not found
BIOS is not installed

Any suggestions?

[rshaffer61]

The error is related ot the promise controller and if the battery is low it may cause this error.
For a couple of dollars the new battery may be the resolution.

[domer07]

OK, I installed a new battery. Other than seeing an increase in BIOS boot time, nothing else changed. I am still having occasional freezing events requiring re-boot.

Also, something else has started happening - when windows boots up, when it is almost done loading, the screen goes dark for about one second then re-loads all the icons and background.

[rshaffer61]

Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[domer07]

Check disk ran for less than 2 minutes, said everything was OK. Is this right? Your post said the process would take several hours.

[rshaffer61]

Did you type it in just as instructed?
How big is your hard drive?

[domer07]

This is what I typed in (copied from the Run command line)

Chkdsk /r

My hard drive is 150 GB and has 45 GB data/programs on it.

[rshaffer61]

The process depends on first if there are any errors found and then how large the drive is that it is scanning. Yours seems good.
What exactly is the issue now other then the screen flashes black and then the desktop loads?

[domer07]

Windows continues to freeze requiring re-boot.

The mouse freezes / stops responding

About 10 seconds later the screen goes dark blue, although the power light stays active

Have to re-boot to get back into windows.

I have checked System Event Viewer in Computer management and see a Fasttxk2 error message #4
Says "Internal error in data structures for ."

Device Manager shows an alert (yellow with exclamation point)for the WinXP Promise FastTrak 378 controller Says This Device Cannot Starte (Code 10)

Also, I have not updated to XP SP3 as I had heard about incompatibilities with AMD chips. I have since been advised by jwang1 on this site my computer is probably not affected and I should update.

That's about it.

[rshaffer61]

Try doing the update straight from Microsoft. That may take care of the other problem then.

[domer07]

I completed the SP3 update. Still having freezing problems. Still seeing Event Viewer error message for Fasttx2k
Now I am also seeing an error message for a parallel port driver:

"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. "

I have tried to update the XP FastTrak driver. I downloaded the 1.00.0.37 version BIOS says I am running 1.00.0.33) but when trying to update it through Device Manager, it said the version I had downloaded was not better than the current one.

So....I just went into Device Manager, highlighted the Win XP Promise FastTrak Controller and disabled it. Since I am not running a RAID configuration, I am not sure what effect it will have. I do have a SATA HDD installed for data storage, but it is not running right now.

I am going to reboot, go into BIOS and disable the onboard controller and see if the problem goes away. I am not exactly clear what the Promise controller does anyway

[rshaffer61]

Go Start and then to Run ("Start Search" in Vista),
Type in: sfc /scannow
Click OK (Enter in Vista).
Have Windows CD/DVD handy.
If System File Checker (sfc) finds any errors, it may ask you for the CD/DVD.
If sfc does not find any errors in Windows XP, it will simply quit, without any message.
In Vista you will receive the following message: "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations".

For Vista users ONLY: Navigate to C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder. You'll see CBS.log file.
Usually, it's pretty big file, so upload it to Flyupload, and post download link.


If you don't have Windows CD....
This applies mostly to Windows XP, since Vista rarely requires use of its DVD while running "sfc"
Note This method will not necessarily work as well, as when using Windows CD, because not always ALL system files are backed up on your hard drive. Also, backed up files may be corrupted as well.

Go Start and then Run
type in regedit and click OK


Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

You will see various entries Values on the right hand side.

The one we want is called: SourcePath

It probably has an entry pointing to your CD-ROM drive, usually D and that is why it is asking for the XP CD.
All we need to do is change it to: C:
Now, double click the SourcePatch setting and a new box will pop up.
Change the drive letter from your CD drive to your root drive, usually C:
Close Registry Editor.

Now restart your computer and try sfc /scannow again!


Thanks to Broni for the instructions




SFC - Which stands for 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.
If you want to see what was replaced, right-click My Computer and click on Manage. In the new window that appears, expand the Event Viewer (by clicking on the + symbol next to it) and then click on System.

Edited by rshaffer61, 23 January 2010 - 05:59 AM.

[domer07]

rshaffer61,
First of all, thank you for sticking with me on this and your continued support and suggestions!

I ran the SFC and had the Windows CD. It asked for the CD about 8-10 times, even after I had inserted it into the CD-ROM drive. When the progress bar reached the end of the space, the SFC just finished with no report. Going into Event Viewer afterward, there was no record of any files replaced.

My system continues to freeze, even in MS Word. It almost seems like a slight movement of the mouse at just the right time (whatever that is) causes the system to freeze. Previously I had removed the Logitech SetPoint software and tried to let the OS configure the mouse, but the cursor speed kept defaulting back to mid speed at each boot up.

The system loads slowly - especially things like Control Panel. When I do a Start - Control Panel , the window opens up with about 4-5 icons loaded, then the rest load one by one over the next 2-3 seconds. Not sure if that is normal. I thought a lot of the processes used to be faster.

domer7

[rshaffer61]

Lets see what you have in your startup

Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Startups
Then uncheck everything and restart.
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results