Constant Crashes

[Big_C]

It seems my computer is crashing alot since I reformatted it 5 weeks ago. It was a complete format and reinstall of win98 but when i would surf the net it would just crash or sometimes when i startup it crashes as well. It would just jam as a second window would pop up. I don't think it's the hard drive as it's recently new (6 months old) i defragged the HD with norton speed disk, though i am suspecting the video card which is an old 3dfx vodoo3 2000. any suggestions if my problems may be something with windows or perhaps an application i installed is causing the problems, such as Dues Ex, MS office, etc.

AMD RULEZ!

 

[hammerhead]

Need more information.

Complete hardware specs for a start. Hit ctrl-alt-del and post a list of the processes running too.

Also, define 'crash'. BSOD, freezing, spontaneous rebooting?

I doubt it's the hard drive either. If you didn't have these problems before formatting/reinstalling then it's almost certainly an O/S issue.

 

[btvillarin]

List what's in your computer: Motherboard, Processor, Memory, Hard Drive, Sound Card, NIC, Power Supply, Case Fans

I'd post back right away, but I have to go now. I'll check back later, or hopefully someone else can help ya out.

Bryan

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[btvillarin]

Right at the exact same time... :lol:

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[hammerhead]

And now you're leaving me here alone, BT :frown:

 

[Big_C]

i appriciate all the help people, sorry i didn't include this in my firts post didin't know how well of a responce i would get. i'll do this in parts as the PC froze as i typed this before.

The "crash" that I have is that the screene freezes and poof nothing happens. no BSCD or reboots, though i get the PC freezing usually if i open another window or i get a java window popup. this leads me to think of a my vid card.


PC SPcs:

AMD 1.33 ghz 266mhz front side bus, T-Bird
DFI AK76-SN motherboards (no onboard sound or video)
256mb micron 266mhz DDR memory Cl2.5 CAS 2.5
Soundblaster live
3dfxvodoo 3 2000 AGP
HSP Micromodem (56k modem)
no netowrk cards
1 iomega zip disk
1 3.5 floppy
1 50x CD-rom
1 24x16x12x burner
250 watt power supply by Value Line ATX/2.01
2 case fans 80x80 mm (1 inflow 1 outflow)
1 case fan (those rectangle ones- it takes up a PCI slot though it doesn't connect to the motherboard)
1 cpu fan and heatsink
1 mini fan for the motherboard chipset


Current processes runnning at startup

VIATray - nifty patch that flashescpu and mobo temp in sys tray)
Viahm - montiors temp and such and can shutdonw pc if needed
Explorer - explorer
Updatemgr - earthlink updater
Mrtmngr
Monwow
Csinm32
Conmgr
Navapw32 - norton antivirus
systray -sys tray
Ptsnoop
Csinject
Winamp - winamp tray icon
Qttask
Blaceice defender - will be added soon whenever i feel like it

i also have norton cleansweep runnign which is some of those other programs running<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Big_C on 06/15/02 03:15 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[btvillarin]

Sorry man, I didn't mean to ditch.

I just had CPR class, cuz it's likely that I'll be taking these group of boys that I coach swimming sometimes this summer. Also, I wasn't aware I was going to watch a movie tonight. "Windtalkers" wasn't too bad. A lot of gore, though...

Okay, I'm going to work on this guy now.

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[btvillarin]

Well, I'll try my hardest to help. I haven't been in Windows 98 for a long time, ever since I turned to NT-based stuff like Win2K and XP.

First of all, I don't think you can be stable with a 250 Watt PSU...by <i>Value Line</i>. Ugh. I'd first bump that up to a 350W Enermax. If you want to try the rest of the stuff before making a purchase, it's your choice.

If it's possible, do a clean install of Win98. It should take long, especially with your system's speed. Do everything in this order:
<font color=red>Run a Low Level Format overnight, with your manufacturer's utility</font color=red>
<font color=green>Partition your hard drive and format</font color=green>
<font color=red>copy the Win98 directory to your hard drive, then run the install from those files (<b>not from the CD</b>)</font color=red>

<i>Post Windows 98 install:</i>
<font color=green>Optimize settings - this stuff has literally a ton of info!</font color=green>
<font color=red>Install Via 4-in-1 drivers (latest can be downloaded <A HREF="http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2" target="_new">here</A>)</font color=red>
<font color=green>Windows Update site downloads</font color=green>
<font color=red>Printer drivers</font color=red>
<font color=green>Sound drivers - latest <A HREF="http://www.americas.creative.com/support/files/download.asp?Centric=107&OS=4" target="_new">here</A></font color=green>
<font color=red>Modem drivers</font color=red>
<b><font color=green>Graphics card drivers</font color=green></b> (that's right, this is one of the last things, not something that's first)
<font color=red>Via 4-in-1 drivers (again)</font color=red>
<font color=green>If possible, <A HREF="http://www.langa.com/downloads.htm" target="_new">clean</A> and defragment your system. Plus, run a virus scan from some of the sites <A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/links/security.html" target="_new">here</A>.</font color=green>
<font color=red>Optional: if you have Norton Ghost or Drive Image, create an image. This is and should be your perfect Windows 98 operating system. In case you screw anything up, you can go back to this in 10 minutes.</font color=red>

I think I was in over my head trying to type this before even knowing if you can do this, but I hope you can. Post back and tell me whatcha think. I'll hopefully get a chance to check back tomorrow, cuz I wouldn't want you to be a sitting duck.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't use stuff like cleansweep, when you can scrub your hard drive clean with <A HREF="http://www.langa.com/cleanup_bat.htm" target="_new">this</A>.

(I can't believe I typed for 22 minutes on this! Yikes!!!)

Bryan

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[Big_C]

btvillarin -thanks I really appriciate your help.


i alreayd have a ghost but i had the problem on that too though not as often as i have it now. so at least i have somehting to fall back on.


i never thought of coping the win98 from the cd to my HDD before, i'll have to remember that from now on. Also thanks for all the links, i really appriciate this Bryan. i'll let you know hpow it turns out

AMD RULEZ!

 

[btvillarin]

Hey, you never listed your hard drive! What kind do you have?

If you ever get the chance, I would recommend upgrading to Windows 2000 or XP. If you see my system, running Windows 98 is like a 900HP engine in a motorcycle. (No, that's just dumb... :lol: ) Anyway, get another stick of memory if you gots the money, because it's really cheap right now. I'm never gonna go back to Windows 98...

Alright, we'll be waiting!

Bryan

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[hammerhead]

No worries BT

Big C, I agree with BT's advice, especially regarding the power supply.

However, I still think it's most likely down to a running process. Don't use Win '98 either, anymore (Win 2K and XP really are vastly superior to any 9x product).

Possibly....

Mrtmngr

This from <A HREF="http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_m.htm " target="_new">http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_m.htm </A>

Maintenance Release Task Manager for Intuit’s QuickBooks or Quicken. Many of Intuit’s background downloading tasks can sometimes create serious conflicts, from illegal operations and invalid page faults which mention the MRTMNGR, MRTRATE, MRTPROC, or QAGENT programs, to the modem attempting to dial on boot-up, inability to print after going online, or the printer being activated when going online. For all these reasons we strongly recommend disabling all Intuit background downloading tasks.

Recommendation :
Disable from within Quicken/QuickBooks – choose the "Edit \ Options \ Internet Options" menu option. Press Alt+Shift+4. Click "Yes" on the window asking you if you want to disable the Quicken Background Download Manager. Click OK. Close Quicken. Restart your PC.

Also try disabling Updatemge and Conmgr, see if that helps.

 

[btvillarin]

Nice job hammer! I almost forgot about that resource. If you're short on time, see if disabling fixes your problem. If you already clean installed Windows, then just make sure that's disabled from running in the background.

Bryan

<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com" target="_new">btvillarin.com</A> - Host fixed network problems; I'm back up

 

[lemonlemon]

Win98 shouldn't be the cause of those problems anyway though, and a lot of ppl are still icky with going nt route. If anything, I do agree that chances are it is the power supply, with current amd setups, its recommended that u at least use a compatible 300w power supply, Enermax is good. I've run into a similar problem before, where the screen freeze with no bsod or anything, but it ended up being that the cpu was overheating...but that seems to be ruled out...

 

[hammerhead]

Fair point lemon.

My reasoning for focussing on the O/S and processes is that, BIG C orginally stated the machine has been crashing <i><b>since</b></i> reformatting and reinstallation of Windows. Given that this procedure is unlikely, in itself, to cause a hardware fault... Seems reasonable to assume software is the issue.

 

[lemonlemon]

Thats true...
Assuming that BigC used the same OS previous to his formatting, I wonder if any new hardware has been added?

 

[Big_C]

heh, i forgot that. it's the same oS and same version of the OS.
My hard dirve is a westerndigital WD Caviar (60 GB 7200 rpm)

It seems that is wasn't a windows 98 problem, though i am going to upgrade to windows XP because i heard it's more stable (is that correct?)

I recently had a neighbor come over who worked for IBM for 30 years or so and my PC problems stumped him though he though it was the mainboard. I'll explain a bit what happens to me in addition that problem listed in ym first post.

Sometimes when i would boot ym PC it would show the typical starting screen wheer it would show the processor and the memory check but then the PC would have trouble finding the IDE drives, in fact it wouldn't even say that it wasn't even "Searching for IDE drives", my PC would just hang there in limbo.

usually resting the PC wouldn't help and I'd have to power down and then up again. It could been a problem witht he hard drive platter not starting but after some fiddling with changing what wa splugged in and what wasn't it looks liek one of the IDE channels was bad.

Before, my setup was HDD as master and Iomega zip as slave and on the other channel was a burner and a 50x CD rom. So then I switched it to a basic setup of HDD as master and a 50x as a slave so i could install windows 98 without any problems as when i tried before the process jammed on all 10 attempts.

With that new configuration (HDD master and 50x slave aand nothing on the other channel) I could get around that hang in limbo that i discussed above, the PC owuld boot every time. Yet, i couldn't install windows 98 as it would freeze in the process. It sounds like my motherboard might be going bad.

Also I had a previous mainboard a ECS though that one got fried as it's chipset temp was usually around 40-50 degrees celcius no matter what i did, so i got the AK-76. Unfortunatly DFI told me they can't help me, so now i am going to buy motherbaord #3 and a new powersupply (your recommendation) to be sure it's not a faulty power supply fring my boards.

there haven't been any new hardware added to my PC, so i am confident that, that's not the problem.

BTW- I could use new board recommendations. I'd prefer a company that has a nice long warrenty on their boards provided by the manufacturer if possible.

And can you tell me how to copy a CD to the HDD in dos, i haven't played with dos in 10+ years and i forgot the exact command, i think it's copyor x copy but is it like
x copy d: to C:
as you can see i'm rusty.

AMD RULEZ!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Big_C on 06/21/02 02:10 PM.</EM></FONT></P>