Windows XP driving me insane!

[kiosk]

As you might have guessed, I'm having trouble with windows XP! :D I'm running out of ideas here - already tried pretty much everything but to no avail.

The problem is, windows like to randomly hard-lock the system - I'm getting about ten to fifteen minutes of uptime before everything stops. Now, lockups don't seem to be triggered by a particular event; even windows installation program (which uses the same kernel like the GUI I guess) froze while I was busy typing in the key string! :eek:
Once installed, windows GUI behaves the same - it freezes after a few minutes, even when computer is left completely idle.

Mind you, hardware in this computer is absolutely flawless - I'm a huge nerd when it comes to system reliability... so far Win98 had no complaints (and me neither). There are absolutely no viruses or trojans in the system.


Now, Windows upgrade advisor reported no fishy hardware.

-I did a barebones boot and WinXP froze after a few minutes.

-I swapped out the video card with a known good one (XP froze), and then swapped out that card with yet another known goon one (guess, XP froze again). :D

-Swapped out memory, XP froze. :rolleyes:

-Ran extended tests in Memtest, it took 27 hours to complete, no errors were found.

-All disks were checked and they are flawless (took two days to complete!)

-Tried very conservative SDRAM memory settings, underclocked the system, turned off system cache (ouch! :D ), turned off USB controller in bios... XP froze again.


I'm beginning to think that this is an intimate kernel/chipset issue... any other ideas maybe? I'd really appreciate any help.



System specs:

Mainboard: Kaimei 643el-at, Intel440LX chipset, Bios-Award 4.51pgm
CPU: PII-433 (FSB 66 Mhz)
Memory: Sdram 128MB (PC133)
Video: Ati rage 128 GL (AGP 2x)

other gubbins..
SM56 PCI modem, BT878 compatible tv tuner card, SB16 ISA audio card.

[Quantax]

And have you checked the mobo for any leaking or bulging capacitors?

[CuratoR]

Your system spec is less than enough to handle Window$ XP.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

You've got 1/4th the megabytes RAM than what I'd recommend and you are borderline on the processor also, IMO.

With 98SE at the moment, and an 850mhzDuron with 348 (edit: sorry, :o dislexia again, it's 384) megs of pc133mhz and I really don't want to use XP on this machine. It would probably handle it, but the FSB of the Duron is 100mhz and IMO would be a bottleneck...

I never said it was a gaming machine though, either...

[kiosk]

You've got 1/4th the megabytes RAM than what I'd recommend and you are borderline on the processor also, IMO.

Well sure, but this doesn't really explain the lockups. :)

With 98SE at the moment, and an 850mhzDuron with 348 (edit: sorry, :o dislexia again, it's 384) megs of pc133mhz and I really don't want to use XP on this machine.
Heck, I ran 98 for years on a machine with 32 megabytes of system RAM - by now I'm pretty much used to the incredible performance of my computers (or better, the lack thereof). :D

[bassman]

Well sure, but this doesn't really explain the lockups.

Well of course it does. If your processor is unable to process the instruction sets, it will lock. If you FSB is unable to accomodate the input, it will jamb. If your memory is not up to the data capacity, it will freeze.
I am running XP pro on a PIII650 with 188Mgb RAM. It hangs in there, but I don't think I would want anything less. If this machine runs good on 98, I would leave it at that. Even a bit light for ME in my book and I like ME ;)

[sean69]

System specs:

Mainboard: Kaimei 643el-at, Intel440LX chipset, Bios-Award 4.51pgm
CPU: PII-433 (FSB 66 Mhz)
Memory: Sdram 128MB (PC133)
Video: Ati rage 128 GL (AGP 2x)


as mentioned and I must agree, your system is not capable of running winXP.

On the other hand I think Ted could run it with his specs, just turn off all the bells & whistles and run it in windows clasic form, also choose "Best performance" which will eliminate most of the strain on memory and componenets- would however suggest at least 512 RAM

[Paleo Pete]

Yep, you've got minimum system capability for XP, I wouldn't expect it to run well at all. But it shouldn't outright lock up, I think if you don't have Bad Capacitors (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25482) it could be heat related.

I won't install XP at all on less than a 1GHz CPU with 256MB RAM. It will run on a 400 with 128 but not well, you'd spend half your time waiting for programs to load and probably would have trouble running more than one program at a time. If you've put your machine on the INternet much, chances are you have some spyware applications hogging system resources, which would very easily cause the symptoms you describe. Check the "sticy" posts in Applications and Security (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=34) and run Adaware, Spybot then post a Hijack This log here and let us look at it.

And consider going back to win98 on that machine, it really isn't enough to handle XP. Or you could try win2000, it would run well, it was designed to run on the P-166-233 range and 32-64MB RAM, I've run win2000 on a P-II 300 w/ 128MB and it ran well.

[pop pop]

I might as well chime in. I have an old P2 300 dual booting XP/Mandrake Linux. It has 384MB RAM and runs a bit better than three legged dog when XP is up, but it runs. The HDD is also new and has never been infected with anything. It's not used often right now for XP, and then only for basics like email and FireFox.

You can't really compare Win98 and XP performance on a machine configured like that, it's apples and oranges. Check the caps, spend the money on more RAM, do all the scans that Pete recommended, defrag the HDD, and download/install/run Motherboard Monitor 5.0 (free) to check for heat problems. You might also check the Event Viewer logs under Control Panel/Administrative Tools to see if there are any tell tale clues.

[kiosk]

Yep, you've got minimum system capability for XP, I wouldn't expect it to run well at all. But it shouldn't outright lock up, I think if you don't have Bad Capacitors (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25482) it could be heat related.

Hello,

It's not capacitor or heat related - CPU heatsink and fan are massive enough to handle quite a bit of overclocking (though, system was not overclocked during the XP escapade).

System reliability under 98 is definitely NOT an issue - I can leave 98 running literally for days without a single error. By the way, we're talking about the computer I'm using right now to write this message (SETI@home cruncher and Internet box). I fell back to 98 in the meantime.

Viruses and trojans are not an issue either, last time I had a virus was in 1994. XP was installed directly from a CD onto a zeroed disk drive, and it started freezing during windows setup. I never bothered installing network and modem drivers after seeing that the system was so incredibly reliable, so there was zero chance that system could've contracted a trojan or a virus.

So, what could've possibly caused Windows XP setup program (booted from CD) to freeze while it waits for user to input the cd-key string? :confused:

Setup doesn't hog memory, doesn't access any special hardware while it waits for the damn cd-key string, does not hog CPU resources, and yet, SOMETHING caused it to freeze, much like actual windows GUI did when it was finally installed... :mad:

[jlreich]

I have to say I don't think it is a matter of specs. At work they had an AMD K6 450MHz with 96MB ram, running XP pro. :eek: It ran slower than a two legged dog, but it ran.

[flapflap]

I'm new here,and I basically have the same problem. I have a Sony Vaio PC,and it is approximately 8 years old,with a Pentium 2 processor,and 128 mb ram,and I have windows XP pro.I've been running it for about a year with no problems,but just about a month ago ,I started having a reboot problem after a shutdown restart, it would take several tries. Now,not only am I having the reboot problem,it has started to freeze up on a regular basis,I'm surprised it's lasted long enough for this post. Please,if you can help,I would greatly appreciate it.

[jlreich]

Hi flapflap, and welcome to the http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif forums. :)

It would be best if you started your own thread. That way there will be no confusion to which problems are being addressed. ;)

[flapflap]

I was going to start a new thread, but the other message boards I use always said to try and keep it in the same thread so there wouldn't be so many about the same subject,but I will start a new thread,thanks for the advice.

[Dinosaur]

I had some peculiar problems with XP Home Edition until I discovered that I had 2-3 Firewall programs running. I did not intentionally install any, and do not know how I got them.

When I turned off all but one, a lot of weird problems went away.