[resolved] Help needed.. no clue what it is..

yuppicide · 08-09-2005, 11:00 AM

Need some help. I'm very experienced in computers, but can't figure out my problem.

A few days ago my system started rebooting randomly. I thought it might be due to oveaheating because after playing Battlefield 2 my temperature was 70 or 71 degrees celcius. That was the first time it was over 70, so I figured it was overheating.

I went out and bought a Cooler Master Hyper 48 from CompUSA. Very nice indeed. It has 4 heatpipes and a 90mm fan, yada yada. Now my system idles at 37 degrees celcius and after playing Battlefield 2 it was 48 degrees celcius. Good job!

It still had the reboot problem! I formatted and reinstalled Windows XP Professional fresh.. still have problems.

I ran a program to test the memory and used stock settings which was 50% stress test and it found no errors. I just ran that Windows error checking on both my hard drive.. nothing.

I have the latest BIOS and I have the latest Windows yupdates as well as Spybot Search & Destroy and Spyware Blaster.

My system specs:

Pentium 4 3.0Ghz, Intel 865GBF mobo, Soundblaster Audigy, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB video, Lite-On 52X CD-Burner, main hard drive is a Western Digital Raptor 36gig 10,000rpm and backup drive is 120mb 7,200 rpm.

Any help would be most appreciated.. maybe today I'll go out and buy some RAM if I can find it cheap enough and test if that's the problem.

Oh another thing.. I went into BIOS and checked the voltage of my power supply and everything is stable.

Sometimes when Windows starts back up after the reboot it gives me a message that windows has recovered from a fatal error.

dai · 08-09-2005, 11:57 AM

you need to post error messages in full,what brand and size of power supply are you using

yuppicide · 08-09-2005, 12:17 PM

Heh that was the error message in full. :) It was:

"Sometimes when Windows starts back up after the reboot it gives me a message that windows has recovered from a fatal error." and you hit the CLOSE button and that's it.

Anyway, I did some searching on the web and found out by going into System, Advanced, Startup and Recovery, and unchecking Automatically Reboot I can see Blue Screen of Death when it happens again.

Well, I went to the bathroom and came back to stare at a BSOD. It leads me to believe it's not a driver problem because there's no driver listed. Must be a memory problem. It says:

"Stop: 0x0000008e
Beginning dump of physical memory.
Physical memory dump complete."

So I pulled out one chip for now and we'll see. I have a 512mb and 256mb DDR PC2100. I left the 512 in for now.

I also ordered Corsair ValueRam 1GB PC3200 so I can finally run Dual Channel. $88 from ZipZoomFly.

dai · 08-09-2005, 02:47 PM

with a bsod error message the computer freezes on that screen,and the bottom ofthe message identifies the cause
you usually only get the memory dump when it is on auto reboot
the most common with 8e is,down the bottom left you see a reference to nv4 dll

yuppicide · 08-09-2005, 06:35 PM

No reference to any DLL. That leads me to believe it's not any type of software problem.

I removed one stick of memory (256mb PC2100) and still have my 512 in there and the system has been stable for hours now. Guess I solved my problem.

Man did that extra 256 help. System is slow now. I can't wait to get my 1 gig PC3200. The memory will be faster, plus it'll be in dual channel mode.

yuppicide · 08-11-2005, 11:51 AM

Just thought I'd yupdate the situation: It was a bad 256MB memory chip. The 1GB PC3200 should be here tommorow night and I can't wait.

dai · 08-11-2005, 04:45 PM

thanks for letting us know

08-09-2005, 11:00 AM	#1 (permalink)
yuppicide Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 100 OS: Windows XP Pro	Help needed.. no clue what it is.. Need some help. I'm very experienced in computers, but can't figure out my problem. A few days ago my system started rebooting randomly. I thought it might be due to oveaheating because after playing Battlefield 2 my temperature was 70 or 71 degrees celcius. That was the first time it was over 70, so I figured it was overheating. I went out and bought a Cooler Master Hyper 48 from CompUSA. Very nice indeed. It has 4 heatpipes and a 90mm fan, yada yada. Now my system idles at 37 degrees celcius and after playing Battlefield 2 it was 48 degrees celcius. Good job! It still had the reboot problem! I formatted and reinstalled Windows XP Professional fresh.. still have problems. I ran a program to test the memory and used stock settings which was 50% stress test and it found no errors. I just ran that Windows error checking on both my hard drive.. nothing. I have the latest BIOS and I have the latest Windows yupdates as well as Spybot Search & Destroy and Spyware Blaster. My system specs: Pentium 4 3.0Ghz, Intel 865GBF mobo, Soundblaster Audigy, ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB video, Lite-On 52X CD-Burner, main hard drive is a Western Digital Raptor 36gig 10,000rpm and backup drive is 120mb 7,200 rpm. Any help would be most appreciated.. maybe today I'll go out and buy some RAM if I can find it cheap enough and test if that's the problem. Oh another thing.. I went into BIOS and checked the voltage of my power supply and everything is stable. Sometimes when Windows starts back up after the reboot it gives me a message that windows has recovered from a fatal error.

08-09-2005, 11:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,531 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	you need to post error messages in full,what brand and size of power supply are you using __________________

08-09-2005, 02:47 PM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,531 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	with a bsod error message the computer freezes on that screen,and the bottom ofthe message identifies the cause you usually only get the memory dump when it is on auto reboot the most common with 8e is,down the bottom left you see a reference to nv4 dll __________________

08-11-2005, 04:45 PM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,531 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	thanks for letting us know __________________

08-09-2005, 12:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
yuppicide Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 100 OS: Windows XP Pro	Heh that was the error message in full. :) It was: "Sometimes when Windows starts back up after the reboot it gives me a message that windows has recovered from a fatal error." and you hit the CLOSE button and that's it. Anyway, I did some searching on the web and found out by going into System, Advanced, Startup and Recovery, and unchecking Automatically Reboot I can see Blue Screen of Death when it happens again. Well, I went to the bathroom and came back to stare at a BSOD. It leads me to believe it's not a driver problem because there's no driver listed. Must be a memory problem. It says: "Stop: 0x0000008e Beginning dump of physical memory. Physical memory dump complete." So I pulled out one chip for now and we'll see. I have a 512mb and 256mb DDR PC2100. I left the 512 in for now. I also ordered Corsair ValueRam 1GB PC3200 so I can finally run Dual Channel. $88 from ZipZoomFly.

08-09-2005, 06:35 PM	#5 (permalink)
yuppicide Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 100 OS: Windows XP Pro	No reference to any DLL. That leads me to believe it's not any type of software problem. I removed one stick of memory (256mb PC2100) and still have my 512 in there and the system has been stable for hours now. Guess I solved my problem. Man did that extra 256 help. System is slow now. I can't wait to get my 1 gig PC3200. The memory will be faster, plus it'll be in dual channel mode.

08-11-2005, 11:51 AM	#6 (permalink)
yuppicide Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 100 OS: Windows XP Pro	Just thought I'd yupdate the situation: It was a bad 256MB memory chip. The 1GB PC3200 should be here tommorow night and I can't wait.