Random PC Crashes

[deeloughran]

The last few weeks i have been getting these random crashes, where the computer automatically closes all programs and restarts, first of all i thought it was due to heat as the CPU was running at 80-85C...so i installed a Zalmann 9500 and got it dwn to 55-60C, mobo running at 40C. I have run all of the below programs which have found absolutely no faults in my PC...

BitDefender 9 Professional Plus
Registry Mechanic
ZoneAlarm Professional Internet Security

Can anyone help? Is there any other programs would help to determine the problem?

Thanks!

[Paul Adams]

Check the system event log - when your computer starts up you should see an "Event Log" entry 6005 - check the other Event Log entries around this time and see if there is a "Save Dump" event in there also which would imply it's an undhandled exception.

Ensure your page file is at least as big as physical memory on the C: drive, and configure your PC to produce kernel memory dumps:
- Right-click My Computer, click Properties
- Click Advanced tab
- Click Settings button under "Performance"
- Click Advanced tab
- Click Change button
- Check C: is in the list with the correct size, click OK
- Click OK
- Click Settings button under "Startup and Recovery"
- Under "Write debugging information", select "Kernel memory dump" and check the location is "%SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP" and the "Overwrite any existing file" box is ticked
- Click OK
- Click OK

(Restart if you had to change the swap file option.)

Now when you restart you should definitely get a memory dump, and it should create a "Save Dump" event in the event log with some details.
The brief description itself might be enough to give you a clue as to what is casuing the problem, but most often it doesn't - we can sort out you uploading the MEMORY.DMP file to me later if needed.

[deeloughran]

I cannot change the page file size to anymore than 4096MB!...and my physical memory on the C: drive is 87907MB! I also cannot find any MEMORY.DMP files after restarting, but i could save the event viewer and send you that?
There seems to be alot of 'DCOM' and 'Service Control Manger' errors and a few 'nv' 'Tcpip' and 'USER32' errors, if that is any help, as i cannot work out what the problem is by that.

Thanks for your help!

[FatalSaviour]

Does it just reset itself immediately, or do programs actually shut down correctly first?
If the latter, it could be a virus, dodgy power button...something like that..

[deeloughran]

It happens in about a second...everything seems to close e.g music stops, and the screen goes to screensaver before restarting.
I just ran the Trend Micro Housecall and it sayed i had no viruses, and bitdefender also said, is there any virus program you would recommend to replace bitdefender and i'll download it to check?

[Paul Adams]

I cannot change the page file size to anymore than 4096MB!...and my physical memory on the C: drive is 87907MB!

That's 4GB (and free space on C: is 87GB), you don't have more than 4GB of RAM do you?

I also cannot find any MEMORY.DMP files after restarting, but i could save the event viewer and send you that?
There seems to be alot of 'DCOM' and 'Service Control Manger' errors and a few 'nv' 'Tcpip' and 'USER32' errors, if that is any help, as i cannot work out what the problem is by that.

No "Save Dump" events present after the computer comes back up?

Turn off the automatic restart option:
- Right-click My Computer, click Properties
- Click Advanced tab
- Click Settings button under "Startup and Recovery"
- Un-tick "Automatically restart"
- Click OK
- Click OK

If Windows is having a bugcheck, now it will stop at a blue screen instead of just restarting.
The MEMORY.DMP file will be in C:\WINDOWS by default, if the problem is a software one and not hardware/heat related.

[deeloughran]

No just the 1GB...i changed the minimum page file size to 1024 instead of the 2048 it was on, as that's all i have!

The file is still not in C:\WINDOWS, and i typed it in and searched the whole PC, but it could not find it, you think it's a hardware related issue?

Will i just wait until it happens again and report back what it says when the blue screen appears?

[Paul Adams]

If the computer is spontaenously resetting itself then there will be no blue screen and no memory dump created.

Bugchecks/blue screens in Windows only occur when an unhandled (software) exception has occurred in kernel mode (the root of the exception can be hardware still).
When a bugcheck happens your PC should (now) create a dump file of kernel memory in the Windows folder, and when the dump is complete it should stick on the blue screen to show you the STOP code.

Of course if the problem was that the hard disk was suddenly inaccessible then you won't get a dump file, and the OS has no way to know what the previous "unexpected shutdown" was caused by.

Let us know when it next occurs if there is a blue screen, and what it says if there is one - then check for the MEMORY.DMP and a "Save Dump" event in the system event log.

[scrandman]

I think the issue maybe more likely to be hardware than software related. IIRC, deeloughran had quite a few issues when he put the PC together.

[deeloughran]

Well of course it had to happen when my uncle was on the PC, he said 'there was a blue screen with lots of write writing' lol! I think instead of making 'MEMORY.DMP' files, mine are files named like 'KB918439' as in each one it tells of the PC restarting, here is the last bit of the last file....

5.844: Source:C:\WINDOWS\system32\SET93.tmp (5.1.2600.2908)
5.844: Destination:C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasmans.dll (5.1.2600.2180)
5.844: Source:C:\WINDOWS\system32\SET9B.tmp (5.6.0.8831)
5.844: Destination:C:\WINDOWS\system32\jscript.dll (5.6.0.8820)
10.750: UpdateSpUpdSvcInf: Source [ProcessesToRunAfterReboot] section is empty; nothing to do.
10.828: RebootNecessary = 0,WizardInput = 1 , DontReboot = 1, ForceRestart = 0

Does that number it down?

EDIT: Well it has just happened to me aswell, it jus closes down normally and restarts like it would if you hit restart. There is no blue screen, maybe my uncle jus meant the blue XP screen when shutting down? lol! BUT...when the PC switched on 'Scheduled Agent' has popped up and it says 'Scheduled agent setting file is corrupt'

[scrandman]

Have you run memtest?

[deeloughran]

Seem to be having a bit of trouble getting memtest up and running, i've created a bootable floppy with all the info on it, and when it restarts all seems to be o.k then it comes up 'A:' what do i hit after this? i have tried the commands like c:2) which is supposedly test selection? I have also tried A:memtest.bin and A:memtest which is the location of memtest on the floppy! Can anyone help please?

[Hottentot]

Should start automatically from what I remember. Maybe a dodgy floppy or floppy drive. Try a different floppy. Or make a CD version.

[SourceQuench]

Seem to be having a bit of trouble getting memtest up and running, i've created a bootable floppy with all the info on it, and when it restarts all seems to be o.k then it comes up 'A:' what do i hit after this? i have tried the commands like c:2) which is supposedly test selection? I have also tried A:memtest.bin and A:memtest which is the location of memtest on the floppy! Can anyone help please?

Sounds like you just copied the files straight to the floppy itself. What you need to do is run the file install.bat that's supplied in the zip file that you downloaded - this will guide you in creating a memtest floppy. Either that or burn the ISO version as Hottentot mentioned.

[scrandman]

If you use the floppy method, bear in mind it will not be accessible in Windows once the install is complete - this is normal.

[deeloughran]

Does memtest automatically fix the errors as i could not seem to do anything manually? I found:
Test 3 - Errors: 2
Test 4 - Errors: 3
Test 5 - Erorrs: 4
Test 6 - Errors: 5
All the other tests were fine. I ran it for 4hrs.