XP Lock-up x 2

[JimmyStephans]

First visit here, and it looks promising.....

Here is my issue that I can't figure out.

I have 2 Micron built AMD Athlon 1000 (1.0gig) systems.

Purchased both at the same time and they have been wondrfull machines until the last couple of months.

1.0 Gig Athlon

512mb RAM

40gb / 7200 RPM Western Digital hard drives.

Onboard USB and sound

Acer 10x CDRW

micronpc.com BIOS version 1.04

The only differnces betwen the two are the video cards. Origianlly both had ATI Rage 32mb AGP. As part of trying to solve this issue I have changed one system to NVideo 440MX 64mb.... No luck there.

One system is attached to an HP Laserjet 5p (serial cable) the other has no printer.

Both systems on small (5 system) inhouse network / DSL.

Both systems ran Windows 98se for years. They are used for image retouching, CD dupes, email, all pretty standard stuff. No problems out of the ordinary for 2+ years.

February 2004 we upgrade both systems to Windows XP Pro using the clean install option. All updates and service packs installed.

Both have MS Office 97, Photoshop CS, Eudora, PKZip for Windows, Homesite (for HTML), ACDSee (images viewer) and very little else.

Both systems lock-up 4-5 times per day. Just right in the middle of any task, or sometimes even sitting idle, they freeze.

Nothing short of pulling the cable from the wall helps. CTRL / ALT / DEL has no affect.

No one tack seems to cause the problem.

Thus far I have tried:

Changing all memory sticks

Changing Video Cards:

Changing Network Cards.

Changing CDRW to just CDrom

Changing drivers for things like monitor, video card, even MS Mouse...

Nothing seems to help.

So, anybody got any ideas?

Jimmy

[andyms18a]

hi JimmyStephans
welcom to the mech first thing to look at hear is the mother board drivers have you downloaded the latest from the mobo manufactures web site ?
next open device manager and see if every thing is working all so have a look at the section that says system devices dose it show microsoft ACPI compliant system ?
next press ctrl alt delete and bring up task manager and list the processes that are runing and post them hear all so do you have a firewall and are you runing any anty virus soft ware ?

[JimmyStephans]

Andyms18a,

Thanks for the help.

Yes, I appear to have latest drivers (2000)

Yes. ACPI compliant is there

Processes are:

svchost.exe
pctspk.exe
findfast.exe
acrotray.exe
explorer.exe
taskmgr
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe Local Service
svchost.exe Network Service
svchost.exe System
svchost.exe System
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
rundll32.exe
mmc.exe
system
system idle process

[andyms18a]

as both computers a locking up i wood look at a software problem first we will disable which programs run when windows starts if you click start run and type msconfig go to the startup tab and stop any programs except your anti virus from loading with windows all so if you have setup any scheduled tasks like defrag stop that as well then go to your screen saver and set it to none reboot and test till it locks up or runs OK post back with results

[JimmyStephans]

andyms18a,

I have no program that start that way. No anti-virus, no chat, no IM / AIM. They are just proiduction machines for employees to use, not games, no nothing like that.

One system has a program for the NVidia card, but that is it.

Jimmy

[andyms18a]

if you go to control panel power options what do you have yours set to ?
allso go to admin tools event vewer and look for any errors and post hear

[andyms18a]

affter that click start run and type dxdiag and run throu the tests then click start run and type cmd hit enter then in the dos box type sfc/scannow and hit enter you may need your xp cd

[JimmyStephans]

Originally posted by andyms18a if you go to control panel power options what do you have yours set to ? allso go to admin tools event vewer and look for any errors and post hear

Power Options

Always On

Never
Never
Never
Never

[JimmyStephans]

Originally posted by andyms18a affter that click start run and type dxdiag and run throu the tests then click start run and type cmd hit enter then in the dos box type sfc/scannow and hit enter you may need your xp cd

When trying to run SFC the program asks for my Service Pack 1 CD.

I only have the original CD and it rejects that saying it is wrong.

I don't recall ever having a second CD related to XP Pro. I get all the updates online.

During DirectDraw test I got this error.
-----------------------------------------------------
D3D7 Test Result: Failure at step 42 (Query for D3D): HRESULT = 0x80004002 (No interface)
-----------------------------------------------------

What can I try next?

Thanks

Jimmy

[andyms18a]

hi 2 things to do first download the latest version of direct x and instal it even if yours is the latest
then you need a winxp sp1 cd you can make one if you folow the instructions hear http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsX...p1-bootcd.html
then run sfc again

[andyms18a]

all so do you have the latest version of Homesite and Eudora, ?

[JimmyStephans]

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work.

I got the SP1 download (125mb), followed those directions, it boots, does everything -- excpet when SFC asks for the CD is says it is the wrong CD and stops at that point.

Yes, Homesite and Eudora are latest

[andyms18a]

ok lets try the other way boot with the xp sp1cd at the first screan hit enter to install windows then agree to the licence then hit R to do an over the top repair install that will replace any damaged files and still keep all your other programs and setings intact

[JimmyStephans]

I will try this in the morning. A friend is bring over a MS XP-SP1 CD to work with.

Thanks for everything... I will post more in the morning.

Jimmy

[andyms18a]

i have done some more research on the processes you posted and the pctspk.exe can make the CPU run at 100% which can look up the computer if you don't use the internal modem try ctrl alt delete and end task on it if the comps run OK you can disable it by removing this reg key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
PCTVOICE=pctspk.exe

[glc]

You should also see if Micronpc has an updated bios for those machines - installing XP on an old bios can do some strange things.

If you had no specific reason to upgrade from 98 to XP except to gain stability, seriously consider wiping them again and installing 2000 Pro instead - it's a lot leaner and gets along a lot better with older systems - and is every bit as stable as XP. If you have licenses for XP Pro, you can legally install 2000 Pro using any media you can get your hands on.