Problem with system?

[Guest]

Problem: I keep getting a corrupted display occassionaly when I boot into Windows.
Also, almost all of my applications( like Visual C++,IE),etc. keep
freezing and crashing.Repeated re-installations of my Win 2K Pro O/S
have not really helped much either, and Explorer still keeps crashing.
The computer also couldn't startup a couple of times and after that,
it started immediately into the Bios with some warning about CPU frequency problem
(can't remember,sorry).
At that time, my system was as such:

Asus P3v4x
Creative Geforce 2 GTS 32 Mb
256 mb ram(2 sticks Kingston memory and 1 stick Oem memory)
Sound Blaster Live Value
Samsung SyncMaster 750s
Maxtor 5 4610H6
NIC card is a REaltek RTL8029(AS)
Aopen 52x cdrom drive
Sony crx 140e
(oh yeah,forgot to add this: processor is p3667eb slot 1)


What I have done so far:
a)Checked all hardware connections.

b)scanned for viruses, scanned the system for problems using
Disk Keeper 6, Norton Utilities, and Evidence Eliminator with
RegClean from the Microsoft site.

c)reinstalled the O/S a couple of times. At that time, I was running on
my creative Geforce 2 GTS 32 mb and I used the official nVivia drivers,
a version of reference nvidia drivers and even the drivers supplied by Creative.
And each time I installed the video drivers, I reinstalled the O/S.
I also disabled FastWrite and even set the bios AGP capability to 2x.
d)ran 3d mark and the whole system froze.

e)ran Spinrite and there seems to be nothing wrong with my hard disk.

f)I disconnected my cdrom drive and cd rw , sound card(SB live value) one by one
and also letting my system run with each of them individually.

g)I tested all my 3 sticks of memory by letting the system run on each stick.
I also checked to see if they were burnt by cleaning the sticks with rubbing alcohol.
The contacts were shiny after that so they couldn't have been burnt,I think.

h)I removed my Geforce 2 GTS 32 Mb card and installed my 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 card and reinstalled my O/S
a few times,using a few different sets of drivers each reinstallation.
Ran system without NIC card and after that, even updated the drivers for my NIC card
with the ones from the manufacturer website.

i)At this point, only my hard disk, floppy drive, graphics card and NIC card are attached to the motherboard.
and I have only 1 memory stick : 64 mb by Kingston installed right now.
'Cos I did not know how to test my motherboard, I sent it to some computer repair shop twice and they keep saying
that there's nothing wrong with the system.

I have no idea what exactly is wrong right now so I would appreciate some help.
Or is it just that my system is unstable by default?

Thanks
Angelina

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Huijun2001 on 06/06/01 09:32 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

when did this problem start? had you recently installed a new peice of hardware, upgraded to win2k, etc? did this occur out of the blue on a previously stable system? little bit of history would help to isolate the possible problem......

ignore everything i say

 

[Guest]

Hmmm...I have no idea when exactly this problem started.
But it started after I changed my mobos and graphics card.
My previous mobos was of some unknown brand(bad mistake, long story) and gave me lotsa problems.

I wonder if it could be the damn processor. = /

 

[Guest]

yeah, thats what i thought.....did you do a complete reformat of the hard drive when you got the new mobo and graphics card?

ignore everything i say

 

[Guest]

Well, I didn't know how to screw the mobos in so I sent it to some shop for them to put it in.
Oh and what do u mean by complete reformat?

 

[Guest]

im asking if you reformated your hard drive when you installed the new hardware because it sounds like you have a driver conflict.you need to make sure the drivers from your old video card are completely removed from windows. a complete reformat is not necessary to do this, but probably a good idea since you also replaced the motherboard.

ignore everything i say

 

[Guest]

Hmmmm...you mean I should have reformatted all the partitions on my hard drive? I can't remember if I wiped clean just the partition win 2K Pro was on or all of the partitions on my hard drive. And oh yeah, I only have had 1 O/S installed so far.

I'll go and reformat the other partitions now.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Huijun2001 on 06/07/01 06:30 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jlanka]

I think you're getting a little confused. All thats being suggested here is that you do a fresh install of Win2K. This usually implies reformatting your hard drive so as to have a nice clean slate to do the fresh install.

BTW - it sounds like you're using FAT16 on your old Win2k installation (when you mentioned multiple partitions) which is all the more reason to wipe the disk clean (after saving anything you might want to keep of course) and use either FAT32 (better) or NTFS V5 (best for Win2K) file systems. This way you have one big C drive.

Good luck!

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

Errr...no, I just did the re-installation of Windows about 2 to 3 days ago and I clearly remembered choosing Fat32 for the partition I installed Windows on.
A check in Computer Management shows that all my partitions are in Fat32 format.

 

[jlanka]

A check in Computer Management shows that all my partitions are in Fat32 format.

oh - OK. I just thought that when you said multiple partitions it was because of FAT16.

Why then did you make multiple partitions?

Anyway, you should still do the reinstall.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Guest]

I made multiple partitions so I could store all my important files on another partition as I have had trouble getting my programs(including Nero) to run without crashing.
Hence, I could not burn my files.

Well, I already reinstalled Win 2K Pro about 2 to 3 days ago. I have found that even after installing SP 2, the system only becomes slightly more stable for just a few days before Windows Explorer, IE, and other programs start to freeze.

So, is there anything else I can do besides re-installing the O/S? I've been doing this at least 2 times a week for 2 weeks already and the condition of my pc has not improved. <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Huijun2001 on 06/07/01 12:07 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Have you tried updating win2k to service pack 2

 

[Guest]

There's also something I failed to mention earlier on and that is I keep getting a message from Windows about increasing my virtual memory.

This keeps happening regardless of the amount of times I have re-installed Win 2K Pro and regardless of the amount of memory in my system. Before I took out my other sticks of memory, I had 256 mb of memory and I also got this message from Windows.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I already did that as mentioned in my first post.

 

[Guest]

"Virtual memory" is the space set aside on the hard drive for memory swapping. You may not have given Win 2k enough room to breathe. Someone hereabouts can tell you how to increase the virtual memory under Win 2k.

 

[Guest]

About increasing the virtual memory, I actually have done that already and have done that before. The system only becomes more stable for a couple of days before crashing,freezing,etc.

Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Guest]

Your problem is very familiar to mine..but I don't think it si right what I'm saying, I'm not a professional, but same things happened to me, I had this crappy memory pc133, that didn't work at pc133, I set it to pc100 and it sudenly worked FINE!

 

[Guest]

Well, I finally sent the computer to a technician, who re-aligned all the cards in my system and who replaced 2 sticks of my memory(were burnt it seems).

Also, I recently replaced my HD as it was making all kinda clicking noises.