Random Computer Crashes

[UncasMS]

well I forgot the Admin PW (lol), gotta try an crack the reg via boot CD.

maybe this thread can be of interest:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=65348&highlight=erd

I've never gotten into the BIOS. How do I do that and what do I look for?

when you start/reboot your machine you can enter the bios by pressing a certain key

in many cases DEL is what you will have to press but it may also be F1 or other keys - your pc should state something like: "press YXZ to enter bios"


inside your bios you can SOMETIMES (not every bios has this feature) find "temperatures"

[mens_sana]

some chips report the core temp for the cpu, it's a lot higher

del key when kb lights flash on some computers?

make sure your case is getting plenty of fresh cool air, stuck back in a desk acts like an oven

Maybe it is the cpu core temp. I don't understand the "del key when ..." line. The case is raised 28" off the floor with nothing obstructing any of the 4 case fans or vents. Of the 4 fans, 3 are in 3 1/2" mounts and the 4th is almost 5". The fans are mounted 1 on top, 1 front, 1 side and 1 rear. The room gets up to 80F in this summer weather, but there is a ceiling fan going most of the time for circulation.

[Chewy]

any dust accumulation inside? any signs of problems like reboots glitches?

when the computer first boots the keyboard light will flash, you have to hit a certain key then to access bios

[mens_sana]

No obvious dust; no reboot glitches. Aha, F1 or F8 during startup for the BIOS. I've been there to change boot sequence.

Side note on crashes — I was getting a number of BSODs, most often at the end of a DVD burn. Windows reasons were usually "unknown driver," but two were "bad_pool_caller." I downloaded a Windows Memory Diagnostic from MS Server 2003 Resources Kit and found I had a defective 1GB stick of memory. (The errors did not show until I disabled cache.) I juggled memory around and went back to 3GB (and sent the defective in for replacement). That took care of the bad_pool_caller. But I still got the Unknown Driver crashes. On a guess, I uninstalled Pinnacle Studio 10.5.1, leaving just Nero7 on the pc. No crashes since and that was 5 days ago.

[Chewy]

above 2 gigs is a can of worms with xp 32 bit

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;555223

[mens_sana]

above 2 gigs is a can of worms with xp 32 bit
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;555223

I have Media Center Edition 2005 which, I think, is equivalent to XP Pro. That link says XP Pro will handle 4GB. My motherboard is rated for up to 4GB, but HP Support says "HP does not recommend using over 3GB" (repeated several times in one contact). The CPU will support 64-bit. When VISTA comes out, my CPU, graphics card, and 4GB RAM can all have a party — after the patches slow down.

[Chewy]

That link says XP Pro will handle 4GB

that's a total figure for physical ram plus virtual memory, problem is
address maping everything to physical ram, windows(32) was not deisgned for that.

In your case I would want 2003 setup as a workstation or just limit physical ram to 3 gigs until I upgraded.

But then the new core intel duals are coming and that's gonna make a lot obsolete

[mens_sana]

But then the new core intel duals are coming and that's gonna make a lot obsolete

I'm not going to do more than look at duals until 2nd-3rd generation. And to remove temptation, I won't try one out until then either. Right now, if this one is "busy," I can go to the laptop and do other stuff there. The laptop is in the network with the SC101 and SC101 has My Docs from this pc backed up there.

An aside: I read through a thread on never shutting down the pc and couldn't figger out where the discussion ended up. I'm not so concerned about the pc as I am the SC101. Is there a potential problem with just leaving it on all the time as far as those hard drives are concerned? (The network is encrypted.)

[AlienX69]

maybe this thread can be of interest:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=65348&highlight=erd

THX UncasMS for the link, sure wish I had access to the ERD tool, but don't want to fork out a bunch of buck. Looks like it is much easier than the method I'm going to use (the one mentioned by Chewy) CLICK HERE

Hopefully it works as I never tried, it's the only one I found via google with regard to bypassing/resetting the Win NT4 password....


AX

[AlienX69]

@Chewy and UncasMS

Here is the Everrest Report, see attached.

Also here is a review on the mobo: CLICK HERE

BTW: The system seems to be back to normal since re-seating the CPU !

@Chewy

We discussed the usage of 4 SATA HD's a while back. I have these in a Non-RAID array. You mentioned having problems with 4 SATA's don't remember exactly the comment. But here is what is stated in the review and one the reasons I bought this mobo:

"Besides, the board supports two more SerialATA channels using the functions of the SiS964 south bridge. It also supports merging disks into a RAID array (levels 0 and 1). In the end, up to 12 hard disks altogether can be plugged in to the board: 8 disks through the Parallel-ATA, with 4 more through the SerialATA" (Page 3 - Expansion Options)

PS: I DL'd the D1008 from ASUS, along with Afudos BIOS update tool, will update BIOS this weekend. Also looked at http://www.sis.com/download for updating the chipsets but didn't see anything ..... let me know if you see anything that can be improved.

THX in Advance, AX