Ty Emerson

hi, this is my first post, so hi everyone.

I have been having quite a few problems over the last month or so, where my PC freezes (no mouse etc) but PC fans still run. I then have to reboot and then it runs for between a few minutes and a few hours then freezes again.

However, this is an improvement on a few months ago, when my PC frequently blue screened every few minutes or so with "IRQL not less than or equal to" error. The local IT technician reinsalled Windows XP and also changes the power supply. I no longer get the blue screens.

Also, I stopped running wireless (DLink DWL-G132) as it was quite problematic (cutting in and out and sometimes freezing like it does now). So, I am now running broadband through cable direct to my wireless router (Netgear FWG 114P). Wireless works fine with my other computer (Laptop).

I run a registery cleaner (Max Registery Cleaner) every night, but it sometimes freezes either during or immediately after this process. Have also run AVG - and it finds no viruses.

I am also unable to undertake a file transfer between my PC and iPod with the PC freezing about half way through.

Regarding temperature, my Motherboard is running at 25 C (77 F) and CPU is running at 37 C (99 F). Which is quite cool.

Here is a summary my system details - are you able to please help?

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Logon Domain USER-6F3D24B4C7
Date / Time 2008-04-15 / 07:01

Motherboard:
CPU Type 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
Motherboard Name Asus P5P800 (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Springdale i865PE
System Memory 3072 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (05/23/05)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256 MB)
Monitor Dell 1905FP (Analog) [NoDB] (M6750567AA14)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC'97 Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24D1
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24DB
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD1600JS-60MHB1 (149 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-W162C
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 35000 MB (24923 MB free)
D: (NTFS) 117616 MB (79396 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
Mouse HID-compliant mouse

Network:
Network Adapter Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (192.168.0.4)

Peripherals:
Printer Lexmark E232
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Universal Host Controller
USB2 Controller Intel 82801EB(M) ICH5(-M) - Enhanced USB2 Controller
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device


DMI BIOS Vendor American Megatrends Inc.
DMI BIOS Version 1010.002

justpassingby

Hi Ty Emerson and welcome to TSF !

This sounds more like some hardware issue. I've binned your other thread in the XP support section, we can move you back there later if needed.

What's the brand, model model and wattage of your power supply ? Open the computer case and look on the sticker that's on the side of the power supply.

Enter the BIOS at startup and look for some hardware monitor or pc health & status screen. Please report your temps, fan speeds and voltages from there.

Go to start => run and type devmgmt.msc. Are there any flagged devices in the device manager ?

Go to start => run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the different sections there for errors or warnings (double-click the event for the full error message).

If you see disk errors then go to start => run and type chkdsk c: /R. You'll be prompted to restart the computer, tell us about the scan's results.

If you see "the memory could not be read" errors then you may have a failing memory stick. Download, unzip and burn memtest86+'s bootable .iso image file using a burning software that can handle .iso files. Enter the BIOS at startup and set the boot order priority to CD-rom first. Leave memtest run overnight or at least do 3 full passes on your memory. It's advised that you test one memory stick at a time, removing the others from their slot. Report if it finds any error and double-check memtest's results with windiag as it runs different tests.

Stay away from registry cleaners, they can do more harm than good.

__________________

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Posting system specs

Ty Emerson

Thanks for your help justpassingby - I will do all those things and will post back the outcome in the next day or so.

Ty Emerson

Hi justpassingby. I have now done all that you have asked. Below is my reply to each of your questions (my reply in red):

What's the brand, model and wattage of your power supply ? Open the computer case and look on the sticker that's on the side of the power supply.

Brand: Termaltake
Model: XP550NP
Wattage: 430W


Enter the BIOS at startup and look for some hardware monitor or pc health & status screen. Please report your temps, fan speeds and voltages from there.


CPU temperature = 63.0 C / 145 F
Motherboard temperature = 29 C / 84 F
CPU Q-fan = disabled
CPU Fan Speed = 2556 RPM
VCORE voltage = 1.416V
3.3V Voltage = 3.312V
5 V Voltage = 5.222V
12 V Voltage = 12.250V


Go to start => run and type devmgmt.msc. Are there any flagged devices in the device manager ?

No, I don’t see any flags

Go to start => run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the different sections there for errors or warnings (double-click the event for the full error message).

I ran this test and came up with two errors and two warnings. However, note that Error (2) and Warning (1) have not occurred for a few weeks, but Error (1) and Warning (2) are still occurring at regular intervals. See below:

ERROR (1)

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7000
Date: 4/5/2008
Time: 7:48:42 PM
User: N/A
Computer: USER-6F3D24B4C7
Description:
The ASInsHelp service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

ERROR (2)

Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10005
Date: 4/7/2008
Time: 7:24:05 AM
User: USER-6F3D24B4C7\Zoe Emerson
Computer: USER-6F3D24B4C7
Description:
DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to start the service usnjsvc with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{98AC5C33-EE18-4EC2-BE25-3B16EE8F75F1}

WARNING (1)

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Dhcp
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1003
Date: 4/5/2008
Time: 7:51:49 PM
User: N/A
Computer: USER-6F3D24B4C7
Description:
Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00179A82A52D. The following error occurred:
The operation was canceled by the user. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.


WARNING (2)

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: W32Time
Event Category: None
Event ID: 36
Date: 4/11/2008
Time: 7:42:05 PM
User: N/A
Computer: USER-6F3D24B4C7
Description:
The time service has not been able to synchronize the system time for 49152 seconds because none of the time providers has been able to provide a usable time stamp. The system clock is unsynchronized.

If you see disk errors then go to start => run and type chkdsk c: /R. You'll be prompted to restart the computer, tell us about the scan's results.

I ran the scan and the report stated that the disk was “clean”


If you see "the memory could not be read" errors then you may have a failing memory stick. Download, unzip and burn memtest86+'s bootable .iso image file using a burning software that can handle .iso files. Enter the BIOS at startup and set the boot order priority to CD-rom first. Leave memtest run overnight or at least do 3 full passes on your memory. It's advised that you test one memory stick at a time, removing the others from their slot. Report if it finds any error and double-check memtest's results with windiag as it runs different tests.

Given that the chkdsk scan stated that the disk was “clean”, I did not undertake the above memtest. Do you recommend that I do this test anyway?

Stay away from registry cleaners, they can do more harm than good.

OK – will I do in future, thanks for the advice.

justpassingby

Your cpu temp is too high, it's probably what's causing your freezings and crashes. Turn the computer off, unplug the power cord, open the computer case and use a can of compressed air to clean the dust out of the CPU fan and heatsink, also clean the video card fan and the PSU fans (I think there are 2 on this model, one at the rear and one at the bottom). Then replug the computer, turn it on and check that all the fans are spinning properly.

If there's no dust at all check that the CPU fan and heatsink are seated properly and don't budge at all. Recheck the CPU temp in the BIOS.

What program did you use to monitor the CPU temp within Windows ? Software readings may be erroneous if the program uses the wrong sensors, the values in the BIOS are the most accurate ones. See if there's some Asus PC probe program on the motherboard CD or download it from here under utilities.

By flagged devices in the device manager I meant devices with a red cross or a yellow exclamation mark in front of their name (like on this pic for instance), there shouldn't be any.

The errors in the event viewer are probably caused by the crash, not what's causing it. The ASInsHelp service error happens because AI booster or Asus cool&quiet aren't installed. You don't need those programs but installing then uninstalling them should solve the issue.

The Thermaltake XP550 NP power supply is not a very good PSU, more like a low-end 300W model according to this review from X-bit labs. The +5V line is nearly out of specs. Your computer shouldn't be a power hog but see what extreme outervision's PSU calculator says about your max power requirements : enter your complete specs, set capacitor aging to 30% and add another 30% to the final result to take the PSU's average efficiency into account. See if you can get your hands on another good quality 400W+ power supply, look at the recommended models for standard computers in this thread.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

Ty Emerson

Thank you very much justpassingby. Your help is very much appreciated.

Regarding device managers, I attach a screen shot (cut and paste into Word). As you can see, there are no flags - so that is good. Let me know if this seems OK to you.


I opened the case and cleaned out all dust away from fans (yes, there are two fans - you were right). I have rechecked the temperatures using both BIOS and EVEREST Professional - with slightly different results:

BIOS temperature reading:

CPU = 37-40C / 99-104F
MB = 27C / 80.5F
Fan Speed = 2657 RPM
VCORE Voltage = 1.424V
3.3V Voltage = 3.328V
5V Voltage = 5.222V
12V Voltage = 12.249V

EVEREST Professional temperature reading:

CPU = 30C / 86F (lower than BIOS)
MB = 28C / 82F (slightly higher than BIOS)
Aux = 122C / 252 F (what is this? seems high!)
Hard Drive = 44C / 111F
Fan Speed = 2657 RPM (same as BIOS)
CPU Voltage = 1.51V (higher than BIOS)
CPU Aux = 3.71V (not measured in BIOS)
3.3V Voltage = 3.36V (higher than BIOS)
5V Voltage = 5.62V (higher than BIOS)
-12V Voltage = 1.87 (not measured in BIOS)
-5V Voltage = 2.09V (not measured in BIOS)
+5V Standby = 5.09V (lower than BIOS)
VBAT Battery = 2.08V (not measured in BIOS)

ASUS Probe temperature reading:

CPU = 25 C / 77F (lower than BIOS and EVEREST)
MB = 28C / 82F (same as BIOS and EVEREST)
Fan Speed = 2678 RPM (higher than BIOS and EVEREST)
VCORE Voltage = 1.328V (lower than BIOS and EVEREST)
3.3V Voltage = 3.328 V (same as BIOS, higher than EVEREST)
5V Voltage = 5.222V (same as BIOS, lower than EVEREST)
12V Voltage = 12.302V (higher than BIOS)

A few more questions please.

* Are the above temperature readings OK? Do they mean that I should buy a better Power Supply? If so, I will visit the website you suggest to check the functionality of my Power Supply and the recommended models.

* Would the temperatures also explain the screen freezing when I transfer files to and from my iPod?

* Also, last night, after I cleaned out the dust in the computer case and did the temperature measurements, I tried to test something. I left my computer on, turned off the screen saver, turned off the monitor power saver (so that my screen stayed on) and scheduled AVG to update at 1am. The screen freeze happened at exactly the time that the file was competed (I could see from the clock and the AVG “download complete” box on the screen that had frozen). This is the second time I have done this test, once by scheduling the Registry Cleaner a few nights ago and now with AVG and both times the system freezes when the download or test is completed. Is this one of the symptoms of a power problem?

* Do I have BIOS problem? I have an a 2 year old BIOS for my motherboard (I don’t think it was updated when the IT person reinstalled Windows and my new power supply after my BSOD’s a month ago. Would BIOS be the problem? Unfortunately, I do not have a floppy drive in my PC, but can I update my BIOS by burning the new BIOS using a CD/DVD download?

Thank you!

Attached Files

device manager screen dump.doc (270.0 KB, 3 views)

Ty Emerson

Just to add, I have just read on a number of sites that the ASUS motherboard that I own(P5P800) has a frquent problem of blowing ICH6 chips. Is this right? If so, maybe I need another MB. Sorry for asking so many questions, I am just running out of ideas to fix this issue.

justpassingby

If the ICH chip (btw the P5P800 uses ICH5, not ICH6) had failed I'm not sure the computer would still boot. Asus usually makes good motherboards but maybe someone more knowledgeable than me with the hardware will know more. There seems to be some problem with ICH5 and the front USB ports so try to use the rear porst instead and see if it helps.

BIOS updates are most often used to add support for new CPU's and more RAM brands. What's your BIOS revision (should be written in some corner of the BIOS screen) ? I don't think updating the BIOS would change anything but you can give it a try if you wish. The latest BIOS for the P5P800 is from december 2005 anyway. Sometimes you can update it within Windows, else borrow some friend's floppy drive.

Your CPU temp is fine now, it's often higher in the BIOS than in Windows, either because it's using a different sensor to monitor the temp or because the CPU usage and frequency is lower in windows when the computer is idle (if speedstep is on it'll reduce the core speed to reduce the power consumption when the computer is idle). Use Asus PC probe instead of everest to monitor your temps and voltages, obviously everest doesn't use the right sensors (if the 5V line really was at 5.6V the computer would already have crashed). I'm not sure you can trust the 25°C temp from PC probe though, seems pretty low for me. Refer to the BIOS when in doubt, a 40-45°C or lower temp in the BIOS is ok.

All devices in the device manager look ok.

An overheating CPU can cause freezes like the ones you encoutered but there seems to be another problem if your computer froze again last night. See if there's some error in the event viewer at the time of the screen freeze. Also make sure you've cleaned the dust out of the video card fan/heatsink.

Right-click my computer => properties => advanced => settings under startup and recovery => make sure "automatically restart" is turned off. Then go to the c:\windows\minidump folder and see if there's some recent .dmp file there. If so zip it and attach it to your next post.

As I said, your PSU is not a very good one : it's overrated at 430W and its 5V line is too high (ATX specs say it can't go over 5.25 and as you can see it's very close to that). I would consider testing your computer with another good quality power supply to see if it solves the problem. You can borrow a friend's (try to find a 400W+ model and stick with good brands like Antec, Corsair, FSP or Seasonic) and see how it works before making unneeded expenses.

Use the PSU calculator to know what wattage you're after : Run memtest to make sure bad voltages didn't damage your memory sticks. It'll take some time so start the test in the evening and leave it running overnight :

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

Ty Emerson

thanks again justpassingby. I have downloaded memtest and burnt onto a bootable DVD and will run it tonight and let you know how it goes. Also, had another blue screen of death today (while I was running AVG) - so attach minidump file as you requested. Ty

Attached Files

Mini041608-01.zip (23.2 KB, 2 views)

justpassingby

The minidump file indicates a memory access violation caused by csrss.exe, causing the computer to crash. Let's wait for the memory test's results.

If memtest and windiag indicate your ram is clean then the problem may be linked to AVG since it seems to trigger the crashes. Also, please run chkdsk /R on all your hard drives if you only tested your system drive : right-click the drive => properties => tools => check now under error checking and tick both boxes.

You may want to uninstall/reinstall AVG or another antivirus (Antivir is another good free one) : download the installer, turn the router off or unplug the ethernet cable to disconnect from the internet before you uninstall the antivirus, reboot, install the new antivirus and only reconnect to the internet once it's been reinstalled.

Open the task manager (press ctrl+alt+del) go to the processes tab, look at the cpu usage and see if there's anything weird with any of the processes there. When the computer is idle the system idle process should use 99% of the cpu, and no process should use more than 90%. See if you can monitor the cpu usage and the temps and voltages when you run AVG to see if there's anything unusual just before the computer crashes.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

Ty Emerson

OK -here are the results justpassingby:

1) Ran Memtest (I ran the test between 7 and 20 times on each card) came up clean - no errors were reported

2) Ran Windiag (I ran the test 5 times) came up clean - no errors were reported

3) Totally cleaned all dust out of the case

4) Ran chkdsk /R on both drives (ticked both boxes) - no problems were reported

5) Ran Task Manager - noted that System idle processes runs at around 96 and 99%

6) Uninstalled AVG and installed Antivir (Avira)

7) Opened Asus probe (for temperature monitoring) and Task Manager (for CPU useage monitoring) and ran the virus scan (Avira). I got a screen freeze after about 15 minutes (approx 20% of the virus scan completed). I noticed that the CPU temperature had spiked from an average of 33C to 44C just prior to screen freeze and also noticed that CPU useage (avescan.exe) was 38%. A temperature of 44C is hardly hot is it? But it was a spike from an average of 33C.

8) I rebooted, then monitored temperature and CPU while I sycronised files between my iPod and computer. The screen froze after only 2 minutes at a temperature of 36C and an iTunes CPU usage of of 25%.

Justpassingby - I notice that my PC very rarely screen freezes when I am undertaking "low-impact" activities such as general internet surfing or typing to you now on this forum. What should I do now?

Ty Emerson

Update on the above: I was just downloading something and my PC beeped a long and continuous tone, until I rebooted. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test) states that this is a Power Supply issue. Is that right justpassingby?

justpassingby

The meaning of the beep code depends on the BIOS utility your motherboard uses (Ami, Award, ...), refer to the motherboard manual for more information.

The power supply is the last remaining bit of hardware you haven't tested yet and as I said, it may be unsufficient for your rig (you still haven't told us what the PSU calculator says about your computer's power needs). See if you can find some friend with a good quality 400W+ PSU to test your computer with.

__________________

HJT - 5 steps against malware. Post your HijackThis log there and not here !
Posting system specs

Ty Emerson

Thanks. I'll keep monitoring for beeps (havn't had another one since).

I went to the PSU calculator site and it said that I required a PSU of around 350w. This is less than my current Themltake PSU (430w) but, as you said, my PSU is likely to be unsuffient as it really is more like a low-end 300w (plus, 12 volt is out of specs). I'll investigate use of another power supply and post back the result shortly.

Ty Emerson

Before I swap over power supplies - I attach a screen shot (that I cut and paste into Word) just before screen freeze. Note that the temperature of the CPU is cool (34C/93F) and that CPU useage is only 4% (from Task Manager). The use of the CPU fluctuates to between 2 and 45 percent when running virus scan or iPod synchronising. Note that there were also no variations in voltage from the PSU in the lead up to the screen freezing. I have also closely monitored my temp, voltage and CPU when sychnronising my iPod and there are no big changes with that just before screen freezing either. So, with no variation in temperature or voltage or CPU useage just prior