indigozeal

Hi there; I own a Toshiba P-105 Satellite laptop, and XP began imploding on me yesterday. (I believe this is ultimately a hardware issue; I'm just providing background.) I'd be typing or going about my business, and the screen would freeze or the computer restart with no prompting. I noted that this usually happened when I was playing music or some other sound file. I also got a couple BSODs, and I copied the error message once:

STOP: 0x000000D1 (0x00000000, 0x000000FF, 0x00000001, 0XF76c8A3A)
***intelppm.sys - Address F76c8A3A base at F76c7000, Date Stamp 48025183

System Restore, as usual, did not help - it "failed" to enact - and neither did Last Good configuration. Googling the intelppm.sys brought up a SP3 update problem purportedly exclusive to HP machines. I didn't have a chance to try any more fixes, though, as XP began getting more and more corrupted - it refused to recognize the cd drive, couldn't "find the volume control" or connect to the net, and still kept resetting every 10 minutes or so. I eventually got it to recognize an external drive, got everything exported, and reinstalled Windows.

Well, guess what. Everything got installed just fine, but when it came to the "set up a new user account" part in XP, the resetting started again. Now, it happens every few minutes - I can't get through more than one or two pages of the account setup per time. The laptop just shuts itself off and then restarts.

The system didn't have any super-special drivers - just what was on the factory disks. It's not hot to the touch, and the fans aren't working overtime, so I very much doubt it's overheating. I assume this points to some hideously expensive hardware issue. (I've tried to run MemTest, but I burned the cd incorrectly.) Might anyone have any idea of what's going on?

Thanks in advance for any help.

TriggerFinger

try Memtest86+ again. to burn it to CD you need to have ImgBurn or Nero. d/load the ISO file of Memtest. if ImgBurn is installed in your computer, just RIGHT-CLICK on the Memtest ISO file and select Burn using ImgBurn. Of course you need to have a blank CD ready in your CDRW drive.

in addition to testing your RAM, run CHKDSK /R under Recovery Console. you will need your XP install CD here.

indigozeal

Looks like MemTest is out, as the cd drive on this machine is inoperative, and downloading all that onto the library's comp isn't going to fly. (It's unkind, but I wish the homebrew programs didn't so often require scads of add-ons and additional downloads.)

Can't get to CHKDSK either - I have a factory CD from Toshiba instead of a stand-alone Windows CD, and it offers only "return to out-of-box state" or "erase the hard disk".

TriggerFinger

use another computer to download and burn Memtest. if you have a PC or a kind friend with a desktop that can do this job for you.

indigozeal

Unfortunately, I don't. I've taken the laptop to the repair shop; thanks for the attempt.

chdboy

Your Faulty RAM is conflicting with the motherboard that is why you are faching the problem...Worked for my laptop (Acer)

indigozeal

I'm afraid I have to ask for help again in burning MemTest, as the repair shop did no good. They supposedly tested all my hardware and said it was fine, blaming the problem on a corrupt Windows file that had supposedly survived the reinstall. I was suspicious of this, with good reason; the restarting problem is still there. I've done multiple formats and Windows reinstalls, and it's no good. (The only thing I haven't tried is the 13-hour "overwrite all sectors" format, which keeps hanging up partway through.) I suspect the repair shop didn't actually test any hardware.

I'm going to have a talk with the shop tomorrow. In the meantime, I need to burn the memtest.iso file within the memtest86-3.4a.iso.zip file to cd with ImgBurn, correct?

(I'm checking ImgBurn now in preparation, and it's giving me the incredibly helpful message of "You fool! You gave cheese to a lactose-intolerant volcano god!". Oh, Lordy, this is going to be like the time I tried to copy files using a Linux distribution with fifty free games and no way of burning cds, isn't it?)

TriggerFinger

i see that memtest ISO is in ZIP format... extract the ISO file. if ImgBurn is installed, just right click on the ISO file and select 'Burn using ImgBurn'. make sure you have a blank CD in the drive.

indigozeal

OK doke, I ran MemTest - thanks for the help with that - and the check came back clear.

TriggerFinger

RAM tested good but still restarting? run CHKDSK /R in Recovery Console. use your XP install CD to do this. whatever the result also run harddrive diagnostics. d/load the diagnostics for your brand of harddrive in the HDD Daignostic Tools link on my sig.

indigozeal

I'm afraid I don't have a separate Windows cd but a set of general recovery cds from Toshiba that simply format the drive or reinstall all the factory-included apps, Windows included. I don't see any way to use them to get to Recovery console, I'm afraid.

In more wonderful news, I see in the link from your sig that Toshiba doesn't provide hard-drive diagnostic tools. This laptop won't quit being uncooperative.

TriggerFinger

i have guessed it to be Toshiba HDD...

anyway, get the Hitachi Drive Fitness test... get the ISO and burn the image into a blank CD. just run the Quick Test.

indigozeal

OK, I'm getting an "operation completed successfully" and a "disposition code" of 0x00. I am not optimistic enough to believe that this is solved yet.

TriggerFinger

ok that's good... run CHKDSK /R. you may have to borrow an XP install CD.

indigozeal

OK, I was unable to do the CHKDSK yet, but I was able to use HDD Regenerator to scan the disk for bad sectors, and it didn't find any.

TriggerFinger

your hardware seem to be free from errors, i mean based on what we have tested so far. does it keep on restarting still?

btw, can you recall when this all started? after SP3, perhaps?

indigozeal

I'm afraid it still has the problem; I just tried it now, and it froze after one Setup screen. There wasn't, really, any one event that precipitated the whole thing; I installed SP3, but that was way before the glitches started.

(The first reset did come after loading a particularly photo-heavy page; I pressed PageDown several times to get to the bottom of the page while the photos were still loading, and, after not responding, the machine reset. It wasn't an unsafe page; it just had a lot of photos.)

I'm sorry this is taking so long, and I thank you for your patience here. Is the motherboard perhaps at fault, and is there anything I can do to test it? Should I just keep trying that 13-hour "overwrite all sectors" long format? (It hung up at 30% done the first time and 65% done the second; maybe this time it'll get all the way through, huh?) I'm just at a loss here.

indigozeal

I don't know if this is related, but perhaps I should add: Windows had developed a couple other odd glitches before the freezing-and-resetting behavior started. In folders with image files, it refused to load thumbnails for the second and third rows of images; if I right-clicked on a file and highlighted the "Send to..." option, it wouldn't display the submenu but instead hang up for a bit; I'd usually then have to shut down that particular folder with the Task Manager. Very minor things, but I thought I'd make note of it, just in case this were related.

TriggerFinger

ok this may sound far fetched... run a live CD (bartpe XP or a linux live CD) see if it runs smoothly. since this is live CD, there is no interaction with your HDD. if it hangs, i suggest you run Memtest again, this time overnight. if it survives Memtest with no errors, then it could be your motherboard.

btw, it looks like (from your post above) that you are formatting the drive... if so, try DBAN in formatting the drive. do a complete format and not the short/quick run.

indigozeal

I've got an old copy of Knoppix that should do. I did do the "long" test with MemTest previously, and it came up clean.

(Is there anything I can do to check if it's the motherboard directly, or is that just beyond home diagnosis?)