Windows Video Error

Hey all

Couldnt find another section to put this in , if its not in the right place would a moderator be so kind as to move it for me.

I have a PC here in the office which just dies. Instead of a blue screen, the PC just "black" screens and restarts.

XP SP2

I followed these steps.

Turned off "automatically restart" in startup and recovery options. I turned off the memory dump. <-- Dont know if I should have done that, can someone advise me on that.

I checked event viewer and found the error.

One more thing is that when the PC restarted the windows recovered from a system error blah blah came up, do you want to send this info to M$. The person on the computer went through it and came to a page with M$ saying a device driver is bad.

I checked the drivers, nothing wrong there.

See attachment for the event viewer info. Just unzip it.

Thanks in advance.

Always figured those to be either power supply or motherboard. Got an extra power supply?

OK mate,

My money is on the video chipset/card going to vote in Zimbabwe.

What are your hardware specs? In particular do you have onboard video?

I have a couple of old AGP and PCI cards that I generally use to troubleshoot those sort of problems ;)

I guess we are going back to our previous discussion about whether you use diagnostics or known good components?

EDIT:

I will move this into "hardware" as it is hardware that isn't working, no matter what the cause?

Another thought is that it might be a RAM issue if you have "shared" RAM with the video.

Sigh. This is the PC that I got back. They replaced the memory.

Yes it is all onboard. Since I changed the startup and recovery options, it hasnt happened. Ram is obvoiusly shard with the video as it is onboard. What should my next step be? Should I just put in an external Video card and use that?

Nihil: The voting in Zim is getting quite hectic. Alot of the construction sector workers here in SA went back to ZIM to vote. Now they wont even release the votes which Mr Robby lost :/

Well, if that is the case, then I would say that the fault is with the power supply.

Unfortunately a faulty power supply tends to take other components with it, so the perceived symptoms can be quite variable.

I don't think that changing the settings is your answer............ all you have done is stopped the warnings. I would turn off quick boot and leave the restart on error off and look at what you are getting in the event logs. I would expect that the logs are still being recorded?

I agree with brokencrow in that I would try a new power supply, but, as I mentioned, the damage may already have been done.

Are the components under warranty?

I had a similar problem a few years back. The pc would just shut down when ever it felt like it. I replaced the power supply, with out any change. In the end it was the motherboard.

Good luck

You might take a look at the caps (capacitors) on the board to see if there's any that are bulging and/or leaking (stains on the MB or the top of the cap). Bad caps are indicative of a board gone bad.

Yep, that is a possibility:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195

However, I can't say that I have seen the problem with MoBos made in the last couple of years.

Cider did say he had just built the box (in his other thread about it) but he didn't say if he had used new components or not, or who made them.

Seen bad caps on a few inverter bars in LCD's recently. They were 15"er's,
so they were 3 or 4 years old at least. Supposedly there's still some bad
electrolyte fluid making the rounds, so it wouldn't surprise me. But certainly
caps aren't the issue they were five years ago. I always reflexively check
though.

Hey all. The components are all brand spanking new. Intel mobo. They are all under guarantee. Its just such a mission to take the PC back and forth to the supplier.


EDIT WoW. Never knew there were such problems with blown capacitors. That particular machine blue screened this morning again. I dont have anything spare to swop out though. Guess I will have to take it back.
Its brand new though. :drink:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MadBeaver

I had a similar problem a few years back. The pc would just shut down when ever it felt like it. I replaced the power supply, with out any change. In the end it was the motherboard.

Good luck

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I'm currently having that problem. It doesn't restart like the OP's does. It just shuts down. Nothing in the logs. No messages about there being an error after I reboot. It acts perfectly normal. The only times it happens is when I'm playing a graphically intense game or trying to encode avi's to DVD. At first I thought it was a power problem, since I was using a weak supply (350W), but after exchanging that for a 550W it still happens.

Looks like I'll have to pony up the dough for a new MB. I need one anyways, since my current is limited to 4GB RAM.

Hi there delstar, sorry to hear about your problem mate :(

My first thoughts were that it sounds like a video card problem but now I have my doubts.

My thinking is that your machine cuts off totally without attempting a reboot, and does not give an error log.

Please take a look in your BIOS setup and see if restart on error is disabled. If it isn't then I think that the total shutdown may have another significance? perhaps it is deliberate?

Scenario 1:

I have come across this sort of thing before where the system had "hardware protection" and the threshold temperature was set too low. What happened was that when the system was stressed it heated up and the protection shut it down. In the short time it takes to reboot, it would have cooled below this threshold........ then the user messes around trying to figure what happened and it cools some more.............

Please take a look if your BIOS supports temperature thresholds ;)

Scenario 2:

The system has a variable fan, with either software settings or a bloody big knob at the back............. that is turned down to reduce noise............. stress the system and the cut-off cuts in?

Scenario 3:

You have overclocked your videocard such that it becomes unstable at higher work rates.

Well, I googled the crap out of that error message and quite a few sites I came across suggest the 0000004E, parameter 1 error is due to some kind of memory error. They suggest testing your system memory and then re-seating your RAM sticks and/or moving your RAM sticks to different slots.

I'll keep checking to see what I can find.

Hi SD~ how's it goin?

Yeah, "some sort of memory error"? well, he took it back and they replaced the memory, and it worked for a while..............

So what is killing the memory?.......... my guess is the PSU, but if the MoBo is stiffed then that could do it also. My thinking there is that the PSU is more likely to random events than the MoBo (capacitors excluded:D), and a dud PSU will kill the MoBo?

Quote:

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Hi SD~ how's it goin?

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I'd love to say good but, in the current economic crunch... :verypisse

Anyway. The one thing I did notice as a solution was physically moving the RAM to a different slot. I don't know how many slots he has but, it did resolve the issue in one other forum.

Probably wouldn't hurt to get some internal temps. Try Speedfan. It's a good little free product that I like. Nihil may be on to something in regards to the heat issue.

Nihil, thanks for your suggestions, but :
1) I've been through all the BIOS settings, and know them inside and out. The settings of which you speak are disabled.
2)The system actually has 5 fans, including the one on the vid card, none of which are variable. The CPU fan is freakin' HUGE, and the CPU stays at a reasonable temp under heavy-load conditions.
3) No overclocking whatsoever on the vid card nor the BIOS.

You have to understand, this PC is my 'baby'. I've built this thing from the ground up. There isn't a single area in the software side that I'm not fully aware of, and most of the hardware has been replaced/upgraded since I've encountered this problem. The only 2 things that haven't changed are the MB and the video card. It should be noted that this started occuring after I installed a secondary OS (the first was installed before I got a dual-core CPU), and this was never a problem on the first OS. It didn't start happening immediately, but I can't recall the last thing that changed before it did (this was a couple of years ago). Though, I seem to recall it being right after I installed Ubuntu as a third OS. It has since been removed.

Oh, and most games, after they've shut the computer down once and I've rebooted, won't do it again until after the next time I reboot.

This has got to be the oddest problem I have ever run across, including other people's PCs (I'm a tech for a living, so that's saying alot).

On my side I will check the BIOS settings.

I built another machine 2 days ago. Same parts as the first one. Blue screens as I attempted to install server 2k3. Had enough , took it back.

They came back with faulty Mobo.

So im thinking the machine with the video problem and just randomly rebooting. No errors in event log, must be the mobo?

USB version compatibility is what immediately comes to mind for both of you guys. I am probably preaching to the choir here, but your BIOS has to support your devices. Give it a flash.

Alternately, unplug any foreign USB devices (those without signed drivers) and tinker around on that side of things and see what you can see.

I strongly doubt that Mobos are at fault here...

O

Ouro : Good guess, but doesn't apply in my case. One of the first things I did when I got this MB is flash the BIOS with the latest stable version. Also, I don't have any USB devices that are plugged in at all times. The only things I do use them for are my phone, my mp3 player, and a gamepad. All of which are usually disconnected unless I'm actually doing something with them.


Cider : Sorry, didn't mean to jack your thread.

Hmmmmm,

Quote:

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I built another machine 2 days ago. Same parts as the first one. Blue screens as I attempted to install server 2k3. Had enough , took it back.

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And the same supplier, I would imagine? I am afraid that sounds like a "bad batch". Unfortunately this is becoming more common because manufacturers' margins cannot support the same level of QA that they used to.

@delstar,

Sorry I couldn't help mate. All I can think of at this stage is that you are getting some sort of "deadly embrace" between your sound and video drivers. Yes, a long shot I know, but it does happen.............. try re-installing the latest versions?

Another possibility is "Bad Karma" try doing something good, like helping an old lady across the street. :p

lol :) Haha. That machine of mines doesnt seem to blue screen. The only USB in there is the mouse :/ However I will check it out.

Thanks guys.

Hey guys

This machine went back in to the dealership whom i made check it out fully!

Came back no probs. Two weeks later it blue screens. Here is what I get from MS.

And I did reformat!

Sigh. What else can i try?

Cider,

I May be beating a dead horse here, but do you have sharepoint on your computer and/or server? I dont know for sure, but that may be whats causing the issue.

Gillis

Hi there Gillis57

What do you mean by a sharepoint?

That Pc does have mapped network drives on teh server? Could you explain what you mean.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cider

What do you mean by a sharepoint?

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http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sh...r/default.aspx


I haven't read the whole thread but try and update all drivers for all the hardware you have.
The error you're getting is usually (999 of 1000 times) driver related.

If possible remove some hardware you don't really need as it could also be caused by a conflict between 2 or more hardware devices/drivers.

Hi there

There isnt anything in there except the basics. Ive updated all the drivers.

And no i am not running a sharepoint server.

Cider,
Only reason I ask is because that error id number was coming up with sharepoint... so if that's not it, im going to go drown your sorrows :drink:

Gillis.

Right.. If you get a blue screen try to get some info into which DLL caused the STOP error to happen.
There should be a lot more info in there eventhough it might look a bit cryptic..

Might want to check your eventlog too, it's probably also logged there..
Knowing what caused the STOP will help in pinning down the problem.

Hi there everyone.

I am going to give as much information as possible here.

On the 29th of May the user came to me saying the PC jsut shutdown unexpectedly. I then went to the workstation and went through the event log. First of all it stated that it is corrupt when trying to look through the security logs. So couldn't do that.

I then went through the system logs and found an error around the time the PC crashed. I went through it. Sirdice said I must look for a DLL, the only one I could find was faultrep.dll which I think is the fauly reporting in windows which crashed not the actual DLL that is causing the problems.

I did a ccleaner run on the requested machine, cleaned up the registry, emptied the temp folder. I also did a sfc /scannow. All went through fine, no problems.

This morning the user called me telling me they have a blue screen, I went there. It stated MEMORY MANAGEMT. I noted it down and restarted the machine. When blue screen appear it says deveice driver and other similar ones but not the exact sameone everytime.

I rebooted into windows and went through the event log. PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENTS, THEY ARE JPG FORMAT I zipped them to keep the resolution.

I am now exhausted with this PC as it has gone back twice to the dealer and has been checked numerous times. Then said the hardware was fine.

So I reformatted and redid windows. However this situation still appears.

I have tried all the guidance that you guys have given me.

Can anyone please give me some guidance as to where to go from here. I have run into a dead end.

I dont have alternative hardware to play around with.

Any help would be apprecited.

Thank you

Right.. First a tip.. Press <alt><print scrn> to get a snapshot of just the active window. I can't read any of the full desktop screenshots :(

In the error message There's a
"To view technical information about the error report Click here"
Click on that.. That's the info I really would like to see.

Hi there Sirdice.

Rofl im abit noob :) Ill get that info for you asap. As soon as the next error occurs.

Ok here we go , see attached.

Got to blue screens in the process.

1 - netflydi.sys error
2 - ws2_32.dll error

I have now uninstalled my corporate AV solution.

Hmmm,

The first one is Panda and the second is WinSock2.

Check that Winsock hasn't become corrupted:

http://www.bloganything.net/223/repair-damaged-winsock2

Thats Nihil

Just running over to the bank then I will troubleshoot it.

EDIT: However Nihil the errors are different each time.

Regards,

If the errors are different each time I'm leaning towards faulty memory....

Yes that was one of the possibilities I thought of, but I understand that the RAM has been replaced. But it could be a defective batch?

It might be worth verifying the drivers?

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=244617&sd=RMVP

And running MemTest 86

I would also disable the sound if it is enabled.

My next move would be to go to another machine in the office and "borrow" the memory, PSU, VDU and video card and all the cables then try those.

If that doesn't work then I would suspect the MoBo.