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Frequent freezes - how to troubleshoot

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
My girlfriend's computer runs windows 7. It was going really nicely for about a year. Then she noticed firefox started crashing. I cannot tell if this was after a particular update or installation of recent software, sorry.

Firefox froze, said it was not responding after a while. The mouse still goes, but ctl+alt+del does nothing. Wait for a few minutes. Nothing to do but a hard reset.

Another time windows explorer itself crashed, for no particular reason. This is now regular. Microsoft office... Even this morning, the computer stopped working before she could even log-on. Same problem. The mouse works, but ctrl+alt+del does nothing. Just have to hard reboot.

No recent hardware additions. I've updated Windows 7 for her now (to SP1) and have updated virus software and run a full scan. No infection found.

Please advise. How can I work out the cause of these increasingly ubiquitous crashes?
 
cluberti

· Visiting BSOD Expert, Microsoft Support Team
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#2 ·
Do you have PS/2 ports (and a PS/2 keyboard handy to use) on that PC? If so, we can do a quick check to see if interrupts themselves are happening (which indicates if the hardware is hung, or just Windows).
 
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D

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#3 ·
what are you running
video card
cpu
m/board
ram
power supply
brand
model
wattage
check the listings in the bios for voltages and temperatures and post them

are you seeing any error messages on the reboot
 
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Discussion Starter · #4 ·
cluberti said:
Do you have PS/2 ports (and a PS/2 keyboard handy to use) on that PC? If so, we can do a quick check to see if interrupts themselves are happening (which indicates if the hardware is hung, or just Windows).
Click to expand...
Sorry, I only have USB keyboards/mice.

@dai. It's an acter aspire 2920z. Here is what I got from the bios:
Intel Pentium Dual CPU T2390 @ 1.86GHz
System memory: 640kb, extended memory 1014mb, video memory 8mb.

The graphics card is Intel mobile graphics accelerator X3100.

I don't think the problem is overheating, else why would it crash right after startup? No time to get hot.

On hard reboot it says windows didn't shut down properly, and asks whether I want safe mode or normal. It doesn't give any errors. This is the strange thing: not once have I received any error messages from any of these crashes. It just stops working.
 
cluberti

· Visiting BSOD Expert, Microsoft Support Team
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#6 ·
Actually, the keyboard on a laptop is technically connected via PS/2, so you can do this on a laptop with the keyboard:

1. Create or set the following registry value by running regedit:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters
Value: CrashOnCtrlScroll
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1

2. Right-Click on the "Computer" icon in the start menu and select "Properties", then click the "Advanced System Settings" link on the left-hand side of the window. Click the "Settings" button in the Performance section (the first Settings button), click "Advanced", then click "Change". Make sure the checkbox "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked, and then click "OK" twice.

3. Also in the "System Properties" window on the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" buttun under the "Startup and Recovery" header. Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected (see 3a if this option is not in the list).

3a. If the "Complete Memory Dump" option in step 3 is not available, you will need to manually set this registry value via regedit:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
Value: CrashDumpEnabled
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

4. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect.

5. The next time that the system is hanging, hold down the RIGHT CTRL key and press the SCROLL LOCK key twice. This will cause the machine to bugcheck/crash (with a bugcheck code of E2) and create a memory dump. After the box comes back up, you'll find the resulting memory dump file in %systemroot%\memory.dmp that can be analyzed.
 
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Discussion Starter · #7 · (Edited by Moderator)
cluberti said:
Actually, the keyboard on a laptop is technically connected via PS/2, so you can do this on a laptop with the keyboard:

1. Create or set the following registry value by running regedit:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters
Value: CrashOnCtrlScroll
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1

2. Right-Click on the "Computer" icon in the start menu and select "Properties", then click the "Advanced System Settings" link on the left-hand side of the window. Click the "Settings" button in the Performance section (the first Settings button), click "Advanced", then click "Change". Make sure the checkbox "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" is checked, and then click "OK" twice.

3. Also in the "System Properties" window on the "Advanced" tab, click the "Settings" buttun under the "Startup and Recovery" header. Make sure "Complete Memory Dump" is selected (see 3a if this option is not in the list).

3a. If the "Complete Memory Dump" option in step 3 is not available, you will need to manually set this registry value via regedit:
Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl
Value: CrashDumpEnabled
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

4. You will need to reboot for these changes to take effect.

5. The next time that the system is hanging, hold down the RIGHT CTRL key and press the SCROLL LOCK key twice. This will cause the machine to bugcheck/crash (with a bugcheck code of E2) and create a memory dump. After the box comes back up, you'll find the resulting memory dump file in %systemroot%\memory.dmp that can be analyzed.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. This is all new to me.
On the laptop keyboard there is no specific scroll lock button. Scroll lock is available by pressing fn+f12. Will this be an issue?

I have tried what you suggested and will post results when they become available. It is crashing every day so that shouldn't be long.

Just a note: I think that on number 2 of your instructions is should be "System Properties" instead of "Properties".

i gather it is a l/top

is there anything listed in the error logs at the time of the crash

d/load and run the h/drive makers diagnostic utility on the h/drive

Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.

you need 2g of ram for win7 was this upgraded to win7
Click to expand...
Yes, it is a laptop. I don't know how to check the error logs. Where are they please?

I will try what cluberti has suggested before downloading that utility.

It has been working OK with 1gb of ram so far, and it is not crashing during processor-intensive periods. It was fresh installed, not upgraded.

I just tried right ctrl twice followed by scr lk twice (using fn+f12). It did not do anything. I may have got something wrong. I am attaching a screenshot of the regedit key I did (I've never done one before). Please could you check it!
Thanks,
Kit

One final note. I checked c:\Windows and there was a file called MEMORY.DMP, but it was last modified several days ago. This means that what I tried today has had no effect.
 

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cluberti

· Visiting BSOD Expert, Microsoft Support Team
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#8 ·
No, if your FN+F12 key doesn't emulate the RIGHT CTRL key (it actually has to be the right one, not the left one), then it won't work. So, if you held down FN+F12, and then whilst holding those two keys down you pressed SCROLL LOCK twice (again, whilst holding down FN+F12 the whole time) and it didn't crash, then your keyboard doesn't emulate the right CTRL key with FN+F12.
 
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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
My apologies, it was working, I was just doing the wrong combination.

I did this successfully this morning and went to upload memory.dmp...1gb. I've deleted it and will wait for another crash and then upload it.

Thank you.
Kit
 
cluberti

· Visiting BSOD Expert, Microsoft Support Team
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782 Posts
#10 ·
You'll need to do two things next time - one, use 7zip or winrar to compress it, and two, you'll need to upload it to a fileshare site and link to that here.
 
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#16 ·
download windows debugger from microsoft website..then you need to open the minidump file in windows debugger..there would be analyse link..click on that link & it will give you details of the failure..cause of failure..
 
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Discussion Starter · #17 ·
[email protected] said:
download windows debugger from microsoft website..then you need to open the minidump file in windows debugger..there would be analyse link..click on that link & it will give you details of the failure..cause of failure..
Click to expand...
I have got the windows debugger, opened C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP, and it complained about symbols. I downloaded a very large file pertaining to symbols which I installed, and when I re-ran, it complained more about symbols. I am currently feeling slightly expasperated. My symbol source file is now:
Code: 
srv*C:\symbols\web*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
And it is finally doing something. I'm not sure what. It's certainly giving a lot of errors, which go something like this:
Code: 
 ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for seehcri.sys
I also can't find an 'analyse' link anywhere...where should I be looking?
 
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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
Ooooh, I got somewhere...

Code: 
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH (e2)
The user manually initiated this crash dump.
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000
Arg2: 00000000
Arg3: 00000000
Arg4: 00000000

Debugging Details:
------------------

SYMSRV:  ntkrpamp.exe from [URL]http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols:[/URL] 1682005 bytes - copied         
DBGHELP: C:\symbols\web\ntkrpamp.exe\4CE78A09412000\ntkrpamp.exe - OK
SYMSRV:  i8042prt.sys from [URL]http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols:[/URL] 36975 bytes - copied         
DBGHELP: C:\symbols\web\i8042prt.sys\4A5BBF1B18000\i8042prt.sys - OK

BUGCHECK_STR:  MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME:  System

CURRENT_IRQL:  9

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from 8dc85160 to 82b34f20

STACK_TEXT:  
82b7ec0c 8dc85160 000000e2 00000000 00000000 nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x1e
82b7ec3c 8dc85768 007afab8 000000c6 00000000 i8042prt!I8xProcessCrashDump+0x251
82b7ec88 82a907ad 85bc0500 857afa00 82b7ecb4 i8042prt!I8042KeyboardInterruptService+0x2ce
82b7ec88 82acde1a 85bc0500 857afa00 82b7ecb4 nt!KiInterruptDispatch+0x6d
82b7ed24 00000000 0000000e 00000000 00000000 nt!KiIdleLoop+0x1a


STACK_COMMAND:  kb

FOLLOWUP_IP: 
i8042prt!I8xProcessCrashDump+251
8dc85160 83fe01          cmp     esi,1

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX:  1

SYMBOL_NAME:  i8042prt!I8xProcessCrashDump+251

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: i8042prt

IMAGE_NAME:  i8042prt.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4a5bbf1b

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH_i8042prt!I8xProcessCrashDump+251

BUCKET_ID:  MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH_i8042prt!I8xProcessCrashDump+251

Followup: MachineOwner
---------
 
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