Weird problem

[throdgrain]

On my sons pc (built from left-over parts from mine) a problem has occured.
First it crashed and wouldnt restart. It loads the bios stuff, then nothing.
I thought about it for a bit, and suspected the hard drive. I installed another hard drive, and re-installed XP onto it, first removing entirely the other hdd.
Thing went ok for a few hours, then it crashed, showing inconsistencies in windows. XP attempts to fix the problems , but then just hangs. Restart the pc, and XP tries to load until the end, then crashes and restarts.

Any ideas?

(Trem/Kryten, its not the power supply you pair of noobs )

 

[Jonty]

Hi throdgrain

Sorry you're having trouble. At first I thought it may be thermal issues, such as an overheating CPU or GPU, but switching the hard-drive shouldn't affect that. Anyway, please can you clarify what you mean by 'inconsistencies' in Windows (graphical corruption, error messages etc.?), and how Windows attempted to fix it (system restore, disc error-checking etc.)? Finally, please can you confirm exactly where the system is able to boot to (before the login screen?).

Kind regards

 

[Kryten]

It's almost certainly the power su... oh, wait...

- Joking aside, the only 2 things that spring to mind personally are memory and the HDD cable. You mentioned it was ok for a little while after the new drive was plugged in - did you also replace the cable? It's probably unlikely but can't see much else of a reason why the HDD would affect anything.
This brings me to memory - faulty or slightly unseated perhaps - the latter may have been "reseated" to an extent by a knock when replacing the drive.

Otherwise, leave us with the info Jonty requested and should be able to sort it out. Could be a few other things but I don't think it's worth going down that road till we have some more to go on. And yeah, that includes the PSU

 

[throdgrain]

Well, it tried to fix it by disc error checking, but failed and so just hangs. Ive built stacks of computers but not had anything like this. Its been fine for like a year or something, then suddenly just stops, restarts and wont get past the bios screens. As I said, I installed another hard drive, which worked for a few hours then just restarted. It tried to fix itself with disc error checking but then just hung. No error messages before that that I know of. I dont understand why windows has got messed up again to be honest. As far as I see its either hardware or software, but this seems to be hardware AND software, or a hardware problem which is corrupting windows.

The system is a Asus A8V with a AMD 3500-64 , with a AGP 6800GT video card, and 2 gig of ram, overclockers brand iirc. Oh and a newish 400w psu.

This morning Im gonig to take it all apart and reseat everything, then load windows again

Joking aside any suggestions (except power supply Kryten you spaz) will be much appreciated

 

[Trem]

I think memory, then hot CPU in that order. Make sure you use decent thermal grease on the CPU luv, thinly spread.

You could of course just have a faulty Kryten somewhere along the lines.

 

[Jonty]

Hi throdgrain

Good look with the rebuild I'll hold off posting until afterwards; hopefully it will be something and nothing that resolves itself during the rebuild process.

Just out of curiousity, how is your hard drive(s) configured? (e.g. SATA or IDE? Cleanly formatted? FAT32 or NTFS? One partition? RAID? etc.).

Kind regards

 

[throdgrain]

That one is an IDE hard drive, and was properly formatted NTFS. Before it was FAT32. One partition with 8mb on its own in some wierd way I never get the reasoning behind

 

[Jonty]

One partition with 8mb on its own in some wierd way I never get the reasoning behind

Hi throdgrain

Not that this solves your problem, but the 8MB of unpartitioned space is nothing to worry about It's just a result of using the bootable installer on the Windows XP CD-ROM. Western Digital have more information about why it's designed this way.

Kind regards

 

[throdgrain]

Well, Ive taken everything apart, and put it back together again, couldnt really see anything wrong. Of course, it ran the bios screens, then just hung with a black screen, no windows loading or anything. Ive tried swapping out the sticks of ram one at a time, makes no difference.At the moment Im re-installing XP - again! - but I dont have high hopes.

I expect it to load ok, start up ok, run for a bit, then just mysteriously stop again. I just dont get it.

 

[throdgrain]

Aha!

Ive just formatted the hdd, it's gone to installing XP and Ive got the following message -

STOP: coooo21a {Fatal System Error}

The windows logon process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status o
The system has shut down.



Grrr.

 

[Trem]

Stop 0xC000021A or STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED - The Stop 0xC000021A message occurs when Windows XP Professional switches into kernel mode and a user-mode subsystem, such as Winlogon or the Client Server Runtime Subsystem (CSRSS), is compromised and security can no longer be guaranteed. Because Windows XP Professional cannot run without Winlogon or CSRSS, this is one of the few situations where the failure of a user-mode service can cause the system to stop responding. You cannot use the kernel debugger in this situation because the error occurred in a user-mode process.

A Stop 0xC000021A message can also occur when the computer is restarted after a system administrator has modified permissions in such a way that the SYSTEM account no longer has adequate permissions to access system files and folders.

Still searching luv, someone said its a Nvidia problem, as in the drivers.

 

[throdgrain]

There was no drivers installed though mate, as Id just formatted and was attempting to install XP.

I restarted the pc, and it began to install XP again, then crashed blue screen with a huge error message that I didnt get to be honest.

Now though, although the PC starts up, theres nothing going to the monitor at all, no bios screens or anything. Which of course leans towards the video card. or the motherboard. Or bloody something

One other thing I noticed, when I plug in the power plug to the socket on the psu, the pc started on its own, which should at least make Kryten happy anyway

I really need help with this luvs, its my sons pc and the poor soul has nothing to do now I feel bad and want to help him!

edit

Just to clarify, Ive now tried 2 hard drives, a new IDE cable, 2 sticks of RAM separately, and installed XP about a gazzilion times.

 

[Trem]

Do you have another card to try chum?

Be sure to reset bios as well.

 

[Jonty]

Hi throdgrain

I second Trem's advice regarding resetting the BIOS and, if possible, trying a different video card. One thing puzzles me, though, you said the PC worked fine for a year or so before all this happened?

Edit ~ Sorry, the rest may not be so useful ... Who would have thought cryptic error messages would ever be a good sign? Anyway, try Microsoft's troubleshooting steps for this error and see if they help. You may also wish to try slipstreaming so you can have more control over what to install (i.e. include the latest updates and hot fixes).

Kind regards

 

[Moriath]

dead mobo imo

 

[throdgrain]

Just checked, dont have a AGP card to check it with spare. FS

 

[Kryten]

Repeating part of my advice : grab memtest86 and give it a once over...

 

[Trem]

Repeating the advice that Kryt is repeating, memtest is a good idea.

Throd is on noons I think so we won't know until later.

 

[throdgrain]

Repeating part of my advice : grab memtest86 and give it a once over...

Like I said, I tried it with both ram modules, and with one in each at a time, and got the same error every time

 

[throdgrain]

Ah well, I bought some new bits instead

 

[Jonty]

Ah well, I bought some new bits instead

Hi throdgrain

hehe, if all else fails, time for an upgrade I hope everything works out well.

Kind regards

 

[Kryten]

Just thought it would be worthwhile doing - even if the issue repeated itself with both sticks - both sticks could indeed be faulty.
It's unfortunately just part of a long process of trial and elimination with this sort of thing and it's damned time consuming at best.

But an upgrade never hurts anyone - at least you've got a good excuse for it!

 

[throdgrain]

Yeah theres no way it was both sticks of ram though.

As I said it was my sons pc, Ive got him a dualcore Intel chip with an Asus mobo 2 gig of Corsair ram and a BFG 8600 GT video card coming tomorrow, so he should be happy

He'd better pay me back though !

 

[Jupitus]

Yeah theres no way it was both sticks of ram though.

As I said it was my sons pc, Ive got him a dualcore Intel chip with an Asus mobo 2 gig of Corsair ram and a BFG 8600 GT video card coming tomorrow, so he should be happy

He'd better pay me back though !

Did you order a new power supply too? Sounds like yoiur old one is a bit dodgy to me.....






















*runs away*

 

[throdgrain]

Did you order a new power supply too? Sounds like yoiur old one is a bit dodgy to me.....






















*runs away*

lol probably is ! You can overclock your pc with a power supply too apparently, AND it makes tea in the morning

 

[Kryten]

It is *the* most important part of the entire PC and *the* most common cause of hardware failure.

I might share a joke about my constant nagging about the importance of a decent PSU and the likeliness it's causing someone a problem, but it doesn't negate the facts.

If you buy Q-Tec, expect pain.