Help.

I am recently having problems with my PC. It powers off unexpectedly. It began two days ago by powering off a few minutes after it was up and running. I had time to get on line and that was about it. I was attempting to use a p2p and the system stopped responding on two occasions. Now I cannot boot the machine without it shutting off prior to a complete boot. The system will POST okay, however during the OS load it koncks out.

Note: I haven't changed any hardware in the recent past. The only application I've installed is Kazaa.

THANKS!!!

.....if this is a hardware failure, how can I determine which device is failing? ...is there some sort of log file?

Hello howarda2

During Boot, got to your "Startup Menu" [by blipping F8 or ctrl?] and select "Step-by-Step Confirmation" and press "Enter" at every step [to action each command] and study each step and watchto see if any problems are reported.

It will:
a. Make a "Bootlog.txt" file [this is the file you wish to study]
b. Process the "Config.sys" & "Autoexec.bat" files
c. Load the Registry
d. Load Windows and show series of files loaded as a part of that

You wil presumably see the point at which it fails to proceed and it may explain why.

BOOT INTO SAFE MODE
[select "Safe Mode" at the "Startup Menu"]
When in Safe Mode use the "Find" facility to find "Bootlog.txt".
Open it in Wordpad [do you have Wordpad in the "Send To" folder/Context Menu]. It's at c:\Bootlog.txt
Use the Find Facility within Wordpad to seek the text characters "Fail".

You will probably find parts of the Boot process which have failed but you will have difficulty interpreting the significance, if any, and meaning of what you find.

Here are examples of failures from my file on a PC which works ok:

[000BED13] Loading Vxd = ndis2sup.vxd
[000BED12] LoadFailed = ndis2sup.vxd
[000BED38] DEVICEINIT = MTRR
[000BED38] DEVICEINITFAILED = MTRR
[000BEE07] INITCOMPLETE = SDVXD
[000BEE07] INITCOMPLETEFAILED = SDVXD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A BETTER SOLUTION
------------------
I have much better [possible] solution for you.
[You were attempting to use a p2p. What's that?]
You had not made a change to your hardware and/or software and immediately tried to re-boot?
You were running an application and probably some configuration change was made [to the Registry] and the change was detected by Windows as "bad" so it shut down to protect your PC from damage.

So what you do then is to go to your Startup Menu and select "Command Prompt Only" and at the DOS Prompt [asuming that your Operating system uses DOS] type "scanreg_/restore" [but with a space not an underscore] and restore the latest backup you think may be "good". If the backup was taken [automatically by scanreg at the first boot of each new day] before the problem was introduced then your PC should behave as it did before the problem occurred.

This would not be the case, however, if the software had changed since then and so the two did not mate or match or meet.
For the software to control the hardware via the Operating system, the drivers and the bios, it must be frequently and rapidly asking the Registry what to do and where to go etc. If it is given the wrong info and the wrong addresses and the wrong instructions and the wrong configuration settings there is no way it will work well. Even one wrong registry setting can be disastrous.

AND BETTER STILL
Introduce a system of backup and restore for the future and use it to:
Re-Format your Hard-Drive and Re-Store one of your 2 or 3 backups taken at points when the system is to your satisfaction.

This allows you to recover from ALL software and configuration problems.

Thanks for the information. Your comment sparked my memory. I remember getting blue screened prior to the beginning of the problems. I don't remember the exact problem, I belive it was a General Protection Fault and do remember seeing "???.vxd". I am not familiar with the meaning of this. Should this tell me anything?

thanks again.

ARRGGHHH! I removed my case checked all connections and the computer ran fine for two days. I cleaned all the boards replaced the case and am having trouble again.

I followed the instructions listed above and still am having trouble. No devices are showing errors in device manager or on the command by command boot up.

I don't know if this will tell anyone something or not....I was also having trouble printing for some reason. I decided to remove my printer software and reinstall it. I have an HP and was using the original disk to remove the drivers and utilities. It removed a bunch of components but when it got to the "win.ini" the removal app froze. It did this on two separate occassions. When the PC attempts to boot it's powering off about 60% of the time.

Does this mean the problem is in my operating system? ...or could I have a few problems here? ---thanks for the help---

If it runs ok with the case removed, then there is an overheating problem.
Yo may want to consider installing an additional fan or two.
If the problem resurfaced even with the case removed, then reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows.

the problem is most likely Kazaa (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&q=kazaa%2C+spyware&btnG=Google+Search) spyware assortment of pages on how this insidious software really works.

of course if you don't mind brilliant spyware to use you computer whever they feel like it- turn it on, use your internet connection as a P2P server for their ad servers....... store files on your HDD without your permission......

most likely the source of your initial troubles.

follow the links page and read to find the removal tool -(beside adaware)-which is a MUST.

a FULL up to date virus scan would be in order as well.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/mad.gif


------------------
sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/index.html)

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 05-17-2002).]

Could it be Kazaa even if the system doesn't post sometimes? ...how about over heating? Am I correct in assuming that the system would post and run fine until the it over heated which wouldn't happen until after a boot up?

-thanks again- I'll remove the kazaa spyware components and let you guys know what comes of it!!!

I figured it out. There wasn't really a good indication of the problem. I finally got an error message upon boot up. There was a CMOS checksum error. I replaced the CMOS battery and am now up and running!!! yeah. Thanks for the help