CAN ANYONE PLEASE ADVISE! URGENT

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Thanks ~ Stradee, sumac, and Helen of Troy

Never seen anything like this before. Wish it were a question of simple
maintenance issues but it is not.

Computer assembled, Chinese menu style, in spring of 2000 by company called
Computer Direct Outlet in Greenville, South Carolina. Part of the deal was
that as long as I bought parts from them, they would assist with technical
support, forever. They may be regretting that now, particularly as I am now
over a 5 hour drive away [..]

Purchased new hard drive from them a couple of months ago when old one
failed. Did install of Windows XP Professional, and then redownloaded XP
SP2. Had problems develop, which I can't remember now. Not drive issue. When
I could not resolve them, I decided to do clean install. Ordered SP2 disc
from Microsoft. Did clean install of everything else while I was at it.
Configuration issue was apparent as Windows would not shut down. Windows XP
Troubleshooting routines didn't reveal anything. CHK DSK revealed nothing.

Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition 2002 (but up to date), Spyware
Doctor revealed nothing. Trend Micro virus check revealed nothing.

System started to crash left and right. Revealed blue screen Stop error
messages were varied, and I started to communicate with SC techies.
Reluctantly, after both begging and threats, they started to respond to me.
I no longer have a complete listing of the varied Stop error message
headings received, or the suggestions Microsoft sent back when error logs
were sent to them. Will list below what I can find.

The techies said that I had incompatible or bad RAM, and that I should
remove (one at a time) each of the 3 RAM cards until I discovered the
culprit. Incompatible was highly unlikely. Before doing this I tried to
verify their thoughts by downloading and running various diagnostics, but
crashes prevented most of them from running. Then the techies said that
their server had revealed that I had a virus. Thought I had better take care
of that first, but have been unable to do that.

System crashed while scanning for virus with Norton. Then I went to Trend
Micro, twice, but got nowhere. ACTIVEX engine downloaded and I think scan
began, and suddenly, without restart, I find myself back on the desktop.

Control, alt, delete, (often as many as 1-2 dozen clickings before I can get
to Task Manager) always shows many open programs after crashes, which I end.
System relatively OK for a while, particularly if I download and then go
offline. But always problems clicking on links or doing anything on the web.

Just got on with Symantec twice to check Live Update. Had only one small
(170 KB) anti=virus definition to download, which had not been automatically
downloaded, as it should have been. Downloaded it, installed, finished
decompressing, installed, complete....hourglass icon....crash. Blue screen
Stop message had not header ID. Microsoft oca says hardware failure reported
by CPU.

Went back to Symantec to try it again, and it had to redownload same
anti-virus definition, got to same point, and crashed. This time blue screen
error message had header 'PFN_LIST_CORRUPT'. This has been the most common
header message. Didn't bother sending error log to Microsoft. The most
common response from Microsoft has been the general 'Bad Device Driver'.

Incomplete listing of error messages received (either through my system or
as a result of error log sent to Microsoft after crash and recovery): IRQ
Not Less Than or Equal, change video adapter, bad graphics driver (sometimes
specific to SiS manufacturer), No More IRP Stack Locations, Kernel Data
Inpage Error, "A thread tried to release a resource it did not own",bad
spool header, Windows Logon Process system process terminated with status
of......, error caused by device driver, etc.

The blue screen Stop error messages have had content that has varied
slightly, but usually states to check recent hardware and software
installation, verify that you have all updated device drivers (including
firewall and anti-virus), check for BIOS update, disable memory caching and
shadowing in BIOS, etc.

I have American Megatrend's AMIBIOS (release 1/10/2000S) BIOS and my techies
have steadfastly refused my suggestion that I flash my BIOS. There is a more
recent version of Sept or Oct 2000, I believe. I tried disabling memory
options in BIOS but don't remember the consequences.

The systemboard is a relatively simple kitchen sink variety, PCChips PC-100
Super Socket 7 (M598LMR) with a processor of about 450. RAM is about 446,
three PC-100 units. Modem is year and a half old Best Data Internal PCI
Modem Model: 56HP92-PCT, although Microsoft is not real thrilled with its
driver. Have not been able to install downloaded updated driver through bad
communication with Best Data techie people.

Have CD-ROM and CD-RW drives, fan is working, and only one (at the moment)
drive installed. Have two more in my desk, one of which may not be any good.

[...] Another clue:

I have had two or three clues that something was wrong with my Norton
SystemWorks package, particularly in the Anti-Virus program. Although I was
supposed to be up to date, and with a subscription good through 2006, the
auto-protect feature was not enabled after logon. I had to manually right
click on the icon in the system tray to enable it. That, plus finding out
that a small virus definition had not been sent to me through automatic
update, led me to Symantec's site this morning to see if I could possibly
find a download for a new or updated driver. While there, the system
crashed. When it came back up, Microsoft's online crash analysis said that
it was due to a bad graphics device driver.

However, earlier this morning, while running the SystemWorks' One Button
Checkup, it also crashed.

In addition, while doing something else (can't remember what now), the
system shutdown and restarted itself because the Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
service terminated.

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That final clue sounded somewhat similar to the old msblaster worm I had for a while. Try this. It won't hurt, I promise. Can't be sure it will help. You may need to borrow a second computer to read and download the solutions.

I agree. I think your support is out to lunch. I do hope someone with a more certain solution comes along. Believe me, I can relate to your frustrations.

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Thanks Roger. I'll pass the information along to sumac via e mail.

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I would have thought HofT would have an answer off the top of her head. Anyway, I hope it's the right problem. If it is, it's a great solution. Worms get in if you don't have a firewall, and I don't believe antivirus can protect you.

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Roger, I apologize for my quick response. I'm transfering information to sumac by e mail in hopes she receives the info before the computer crashes again. yikes

Hoft is still traveling I believe, plus she can't post at forums because of the computers security system <if I understood correctly> Something to do with firewall protection.

Hoft tried advising sumac, but of course with sumac computer crashing right and left, it was difficult, so i offered to post here at a2k in hopes of finding solutions.

I haven't heard from sumac since the last e mail, but I know she appreciates your advice. So do I! Smile

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Ihe symptoms do correspond to a RAM problem, but also could result from a corrupt diver or faulty adapter. If the RAM sticks all have been tried each in turn one by one in memory slot one with only the stick bein' tested in place and appear not to be the problem, I would rule out a video adapter problem - either software or hardware - before lookin' at anything else. In fact, the nature of the reported errors and stop messages, along with the described failure pattern, strongly indicate involvement of the video adapter.

How does the machine behave in safe mode?

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Timber, I'll have to wait till sumac can connect to the internet for an answer to your question.

I'll also send your resonse to her by e mail. Thanks Smile

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Hi Timber and Roger,

News from sumac yesterday

"You all are amazing, and so is everyone who has responded to my entreaties
for assistance. Today was a tiring day and I have done nothing on the
computer except read some emails. Tomorrow is another day

I will answer everyone's response, individually, tomorrow, and try to stay
on line long enough to post them."

****

Thanks again for the good advice! You guys are great!!! Hopefully you'll be seeing a posting from sumac today.

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From sumac who's still working with computer

Yes, your reminder is well taken. Checking hardware does come first,
and I have gotten over a lot of my fears about having my fingers inside the
innards of the box.

Recently, but if memory serves, just before all of these crashings, I did go
to pcpitstop and everything checked out. Also did Pathmark's BurnInTest,
which tests all hardware components simultaneously, and everything checked
out. Recently reran it with just testing RAM and CPU and everything was OK.
Couldn't do the Advanced RAM testing though because even though I made the
necessary changes in XP to give me memory unlock page rights as the
administrator, BurnInTest does not seem to recognize that in XP. This, in
itself, is probably another indication of a RAM hardware stick failure.

The reason I was going to take all of the Norton processes off first was so
that when I started to remove, systematically, one at a time, the three RAM
sticks, the resulting running of the XP would not be hindered by the
possibility of the secondary problem of the Norton, particularly its'
anti-virus element. I think that this might be especially relevant as the
system came with Trend Micro's PC-cillin, which I have never used, and
disabled in BIOS. But if there is a RAM problem, XP might not know that and
there may be conflict between Trend Micro and Symantec suddenly occurring.

Timber knows his stuff, and I was planning on pretty much following his
sequence of suggestions. But I do have SpyDoctor 3.1 installed and it has
never found anything. I did, however, uninstall ZoneAlarm when all of this
began to eliminate that driver from the "mix".

I would be pleased if someone would post this in response to Timber's
response. Don't remember whether he put it on A2k or the Roost.

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Hi all,

I literally CRAWLED on my hands and knees to get here, but glad that I was able to do so.

Thanks, Roger and Timber, and the wonderful intermediaries of Stradee and HoFt, for all of your assistance and ideas.

This just in:

Removed entire Symantec bundled Norton SystemWorks; then ran msconfig,regedit, checked Add/Remove Programs, Control Panel, Programs, etc., to make sure everything was gone. It is.

Went to pcpitstop. While not a strong utility, it found nothing wrong with the RAM or Windows. Did find a couple of minor things with my browser cache size and internet connection settings (both bandwidths too low and ping latency too high), and now I needed to defrag.

Started on do that through the XP System Tools, and it crashed. THis was the blue screen Stop error message heading: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Address: F7607ECE base at F75CE000.

Microsoft's online crash analysis came back with the usual, non-specific 'bad device driver'.

Meant to go look up that error message before coming here, but forgot to. Will do that now, but it takes forever to get in here.

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Not so slow to get in this time.

Ran CHKDSK again, but couldn't correctly remember how to add the F parameter information so it did it in read-only mode. The results flashed so flash that I just got a glimpse, but didn't see anything indicative of a need to do something.

Can anyone remember the F parameter add on?

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chkdsk c: /f (space between ":" and "/"), assumin' c: is the volume (in this case drive) you want.

You can also run chkdsk from within Explorer. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click the volume you want to check, then click "Properties". On the "Tools" tab, click "Check Now". You have the following 3 options:

Chkdsk in read-only mode, click "Start".

Chkdsk using the "/f" parameter, select the "Automatically fix file system errors" box, then "Start".

Chkdsk using the "/r" parameter, select the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box, then "Start". Note: the "/r" parameter implies the "/f" parameter.

Also, chkdsk will lock the volume to be checked - that volume, in your case your root drive - your entire machine, in effect, will be unavailable durin' the procedure. Once started, no option to exit chkdsk is available, and that really wouldn't be somethin' you'd wanna do anyway. If interupted, like by a power shutdown, chkdsk will run on next boot before Windows loads.

All that said, first I'd still remove the existin' video adapter and swap in a known-good one of different manufacture, and the appropriate drivers/software, just to see what happens (if it were me, I'd likely also try the suspect adapter in an otherwise known-good machine, usin' freshly downloaded drivers/software, as a double check). Might very well be the solution, and it'll sure take a lot less time.

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timbersaid:

All that said, first I'd still remove the existin' video adapter and swap in a known-good one of different manufacture, and the appropriate drivers/software, just to see what happens (if it were me, I'd likely also try the suspect

Can't do the latter as I have no other machine available to me.

Now, how do I find/recognize the video adapter in device manager or hardware stuff? I don't think I was ever able to find anything with those specific words. Would download.com have another one to try? Don't know what specs are used for those things. Need some basic introduction here, timber.

Did run defrag in safe mode, as well as Spyware Doctor. Nothing on either. Ran new Registry First Aid and it claims to have found some 153 entries that needed fixing, and they'll only do 14 unless I buy it. Won't buy it.

Does anyone know a good registry utility to download? There are tons of them available, as I recall.

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Sorry sumac - look in Device Manager for "Display Adapter"

Its hardware - either an actual card or a motherboard-embedded chip. If the latter, and if there's somethin physically wrong with, thats prolly very bad news. If its just a driver issue, thats prolly easily fixable. If its an actual separate card, decent video cards can be found pretty cheaply. No sense gettin' a real sophisticated high-buck one unless you're really into serious gamin', video editin', or really serious image manipulation. $50 or less will do ya well.

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verrry interesting clue:

Background tidbit: Back at the beginning of this sleuthing sage, shortly after I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro, and clean install from disc or redownload of programs I commonly use, I all of a sudden couldn't shut down Windows. It would say it was shutting down, but never would.

I figured that I had screwed up configuration somehow, and started to research that through the troubleshooting tips in the Help and Support Center. Unless I did something wrong during the selective unchecking of startup processes/services as seen through misconfig, I couldn't find anything to troubleshoot further.

When I ran the system through pcpitstop earlier today, it highlighted background apps running as I had a CPU load of 32%. I have not gotten around to looking in Task Manager, but when I checked the startup menu through msconfig after taking off the Symantec programs, I had not seen anything out of the ordinary.

Just now, when running chkdsk c: /f, received a message that the volume couldn't be locked because it is in use by another process, and did I want to schedule it to run on the next startup? I say yes, shut down the system as far as it will go, reset it, comes back up, and no chkdsk. So I shut it down again as far as it will go, and turn off the box completely. Wait 15 seconds, and turn it back on. Reboots up, and still, chkdsk doesn't run.

Another interesting clue which again points to possible RAM problem. When I first came onto a2k today through the front door, I wasn't recognized and had to log in. Also, when I ran Spyware Doctor, it said that it had never been scanned before, even though the logs were in place. Huh?????

Still haven't remembered to go research that PAGE_FAULT error message. Will do now, but I bet I know what it says.

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http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=335

Timber,
Would you go scan this? I either read this specific article or one very similar to it from that site as I saved the site to my desktop and asked my techie (who never responded) if he knew where I could get the referenced Device Verifier.

All of these command options are over my head and I would need some guidance in going through the various suggested possibilities.

As to the video adapter, I am experiencing a sinking feeling. If you will go back to the original summary, as posted by Stradee, and if my memory serves, it is probably a part of my integrated kitchen sink.

But shouldn't I be able to test all of this stuff independently?

Back again to my original summary. Why doesn't the BurnInTest recognize the fact that I have followed its instructions and gone in and given the administrator (me) the right to lock pages in the security settings section of Administrative blah blah in Control Panel, so that I can run the more advanced memory tests?

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Thats a great website for folks who develop and write drivers, but not likely to do anything other than confuse helloutta folks who don't have lotsa programmin' experience.

Anyhow, I really don't think any sorta software approach is gonna be likely help ya much in your current case.

But lemme ask - how are you tryin' to start chkdsk? From a fully booted state? Have ya tried runnin' it from Safe Mode, Command Prompt only?

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Yes, I did it from a fully booted state. Will try it from safe mode with command prompts tomorrow. But my bedtime nears as my level of frustration has been surpassed.

Meanwhile, I did just now go to Device Manager and now I remember doing that before, when Microsoft online crash analysis specifically fingered Silicon Integrated System drivers as the problem. Said that SiS was aware of the problem, and go 'here' for the fix. I went and started to click on something that looked familiar, then not, then decided I had better go check first. Went to Device Manager and saw that I had an earlier series of hardware, worried that it might not be supported any longer, and asked the people who assembled it if they had anything for me that I could use. They didn't respond and I forgot about it - amidst all of the other error messages I was seeing after crashes.

Anyhow - and I am running on at the mouth here - I went in, tried to update the driver in case it had become corrupt. The wizard said that I had the most current driver, so I deleted it and shut the system down. Came back up, the system found the hardware, I had them look for the driver, shut down the system, came back, and it is the same driver as I had before. But if the old one had become corrupt.....just maybe......

But too tired to test it further tonight, or to run chkdsk in safe mode. Will do in the morning and see what happens.

Thanks, Timber.

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Roger,

Just read the entirety of that 2003 thread but don't think that is my problem. But it could be.

I have always been on automatic, and have received security warnings too. If the exploit seemed to apply, I have gone for the patch.

I think I have learned that the exact wording of error messages, whether from within Windows O/S, or from Microsoft's online crash analysis, can be misleading in that they can be too general, or generic.

They are clues, as is the pattern of what I was asking the system to do when the crash occurs.

Other clues: 32% CPU load, apps not 'seeing' O/S settings, not being able to shutdown Windows completely, etc.

Will run chkdsk one more time from safe mode with command prompt.

BUT, it is finally going to be nice weather here (high maybe at 70), and I ain't gonna fool with this all that much today.

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Stradee wrote:

Roger, I apologize for my quick response. I'm transfering information to sumac by e mail in hopes she receives the info before the computer crashes again. yikes

Hoft is still traveling I believe, plus she can't post at forums because of the computers security system <if I understood correctly> Something to do with firewall protection.

Hoft tried advising sumac, but of course with sumac computer crashing right and left, it was difficult, so i offered to post here at a2k in hopes of finding solutions.

I haven't heard from sumac since the last e mail, but I know she appreciates your advice. So do I!

Since my machine is now 5 years old, I'm about to replace it soon!
I have had crashes right and left and can't download a lot of features because it says I'm missing a .dll file called MFC42.DLL:6883. Did a search and downloaded the file but it doesn't have the :6883 extension. Anyone have a problem with this? This is after I reloaded my software for the umpteenth time. Lost a lot of info and a word processing package. Any help would be appreciated. Haven't replaced any drives or cards.

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CAN ANYONE PLEASE ADVISE! URGENT

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