Freezing and other anomalies.

[Vodoun]

Starting today my computer has begun freezing in Normal Mode;

After about fifteen minutes my computer would freeze up within a minute.


I started up my computer in Safe Mode and no freezing occured;

I ran spybot and AVG scan and nothing came up,

I ran Registry Repair and fixed many errors.


After I rebooted into normal mode, my computer didn't freeze for about an hour;

then when I rebooted, it continued to freeze every fifteen minutes or so.


I've run Registry Repair tool again, and all of the Registry Errors keep occuring.


Other clues:

Recently when I restart my computer the desktop background will disappear;

I lost one RAM card awhile ago and had Virtual Memory errors,

but I gained two new RAM cards of the same type

and my Virtual Memory notifications persist.


This problem seems to have a higher chance of occuring during intensive activity,

but it continues to freeze even while doing something passive like watching a video.


I thought that it might be a Graphic Driver issue,

so I'm downloading drivers from the nVidia Website;

I'm not sure if I already have them or not.


I'm prepared to completely reformat,

but the techIMO community has always done me a great service,

so I was wondering how I might begin to diagnose this problem,

if not for anything except for the purpose of learning.


Oh yeah; I didn't use System Restore.

I never really used it before so it didn't cross my mind.

I might give it a try though and see what it does.

[paul9]

It is possible part of your PC is sensitive to overheating. Is it summer where you are, with a higher ambient temperature than normal? Maybe the inside of your PC could do with a bit of a clean and dust removal?
The driver update is a good idea, especially the graphics drivers, but it might be worthwhile to update other drivers too. Network and sound included.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Memtest86.com - Memory Diagnostic (Free download is available, or buy a CD)
Check your memory with this or similar.

[Vodoun]

I thought it might have been over-heating too,

but I monitored the heat, gave it time to rest, ect.


Thanks for the links; I've had trouble finding a free driver diagnostic.

Actually I think that was the one and I couldn't use it without paying.

I can't even figure out how to get this one to work though.


I simply cannot understand how drivers could be the source

of these freezes that came all of the sudden out of the blue.


I'm backing up my files with plans on reformatting anyhow.


It must just be another one of those unfathomable and strange computer errors.

[paul9]

In that case, try Downloads » Freeware Tools » Page 1 » www.hiren.info
You can download Hiren's Boot CD from Download Hiren’s BootCD 15.1 | HBCD Fan & Discussion Platform and other places.

[Vodoun]

What you speak of is all new to me.

[RicheemxX]

Well starting with some background on the PC would help with troubleshooting. Full specs always help so we know what you are dealing with! For instance if you have a weak PSU that can cause loads of issues.

Is this a new build, old build or what?
Installed anything new lately? Occasionally that narrows down what might be the culprit.

Do you get any errors? Have you checked the error logs?
Try running whocrashed

Re-formating should be a last ditch effort, you should try all the basic troubleshooting steps first then if it still doesn't help you might go with a reformat.

[Vodoun]

I built this computer about five years ago,

made sure everything was of the right specifications.


The new RAM that I put in is of the exact model as the old RAM.


I have no idea how to use Boot CD or what I should use it for,

I can't figure out how to boot Memtest86 from a virtual drive;

every time I open up the iso with a virtual drive it just opens a folder

and in the read-me it says "nothing to do here, just boot from cd."


I just don't understand any of the stuff that's being brought up;

how does an updated driver cause such a sudden problem?


I tried using WhoCrashed, but it refused to download windbg from the web,

and it won't let me locate it from the folder where I assume it is in.

(asking for x86 version, all the file says is windbg?)

It allowed me to download this from the web in Normal Mode.


I'm back in Normal Mode for the first time since installing an nVidia Driver;

I still don't know if I had it before or not, but I'll scout for more crashing.

Edit: I blue-screened instead of freezing after forty minutes in.


On a side note, how do I get my "show desktop" button back in the mini-tray? (Windows XP)

[paul9]

Use [ spoiler ] hidden text here [ /spoiler ] for spoiler tags, but without spaces in the square brackets.
Just like this. You can use the Quote button to examine a post and see how effects work on this forum.
Memtest would need to be burned to a CD. I use Imgburn from The Official ImgBurn Website for this.
Put the burned CD in the drive and restart your PC. You might need to set your BIOS to boot from CD first, or sometimes there is a key you can keep pressing during the POST at restart to select the boot device. Mine is F11.

[Vodoun]

I wrote the file to a CD, then I restarted my computer,

changed my boot priority to CD-Rom, and it loaded Windows;

then I ended up at some Boot screen with three options,

Removable, Hard Disk and CD-Rom, I selected CD-Rom,

and it loaded Windows; so I can't get Memtest to work.

The spoiler tags didn't seem to work; here's the crash logs.

It advised me to searches for terms like, "nv4_disp.dll NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42" in Google, which brings up results that are mostly threads.

On Sat 8/11/2012 9:00:28 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini081112-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nv4_disp.dll (nv4_disp+0xDDFAD)
Bugcheck code: 0x10000050 (0xFFFFFFFFAB42F4C4, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFFBD0EFFAD, 0x0)
Error: CUSTOM_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\nv4_disp.dll
product: NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nv4_disp.dll (NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nv4_disp.dll NVIDIA Corporation CUSTOM_ERROR




On Mon 7/30/2012 8:56:34 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini073012-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nvata.sys (nvata+0x1F17)
Bugcheck code: 0x10000050 (0xFFFFFFFFBB407000, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFF8053A933, 0x0)
Error: CUSTOM_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nvata.sys
product: NVIDIA nForce(TM) IDE Driver
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA® nForce(TM) IDE Performance Driver
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvata.sys (NVIDIA® nForce(TM) IDE Performance Driver, NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvata.sys NVIDIA Corporation CUSTOM_ERROR




On Sat 7/7/2012 1:41:28 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini070612-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aeaudio.sys (AEAudio+0x6FA4)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFFB1EBFFA4, 0xFFFFFFFFB7DB5AC0, 0xFFFFFFFFB7DB57BC)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\aeaudio.sys
product: Andrea Audio Driver
company: Andrea Electronics Corporation
description: Audio Noise Filtering Driver (32-bit)
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aeaudio.sys (Audio Noise Filtering Driver (32-bit), Andrea Electronics Corporation).
Google query: aeaudio.sys Andrea Electronics Corporation SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M




On Fri 6/29/2012 5:18:20 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini062912-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nv4_disp.dll (nv4_disp+0x1BA279)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFFBD1CC279, 0xFFFFFFFF8AFF4AEC, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\nv4_disp.dll
product: NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nv4_disp.dll (NVIDIA Windows XP Display driver, Version 301.42 , NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nv4_disp.dll NVIDIA Corporation KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M




On Tue 2/21/2012 12:30:44 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini022012-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: nvnrm.sys (NVNRM+0x1015A)
Bugcheck code: 0x100000D1 (0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF8, 0x9, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFFB7C0D15A)
Error: CUSTOM_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\nvnrm.sys
product: NVNRM
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Network Resource Manager.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: nvnrm.sys (NVIDIA Network Resource Manager., NVIDIA Corporation).
Google query: nvnrm.sys NVIDIA Corporation CUSTOM_ERROR




On Fri 2/10/2012 12:48:18 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini021012-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2A025)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF80501025, 0xFFFFFFFFB1115B68, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Mon 2/6/2012 10:50:09 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020612-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: win32k.sys (win32k+0x60FE3)
Bugcheck code: 0x10000050 (0xFFFFFFFFAFA08BA4, 0x0, 0xFFFFFFFFBF860FE3, 0x3)
Error: CUSTOM_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


On Mon 2/6/2012 6:54:03 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-07.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2A025)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF80501025, 0xFFFFFFFFB020CB68, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Mon 2/6/2012 5:04:43 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-06.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: aeaudio.sys (AEAudio+0x6FA4)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFFB23CDFA4, 0xFFFFFFFFB7DD5AC0, 0xFFFFFFFFB7DD57BC)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\aeaudio.sys
product: Andrea Audio Driver
company: Andrea Electronics Corporation
description: Audio Noise Filtering Driver (32-bit)
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: aeaudio.sys (Audio Noise Filtering Driver (32-bit), Andrea Electronics Corporation).
Google query: aeaudio.sys Andrea Electronics Corporation SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M




On Sun 2/5/2012 6:51:03 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-05.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: Unknown (0x74001C7D)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007F (0x8, 0xFFFFFFFFB8340D70, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP_M
Bug check description: This indicates that a trap was generated by the Intel CPU and the kernel failed to catch this trap.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: Unknown .
Google query: Unknown UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP_M




On Sun 2/5/2012 5:41:14 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-04.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2A025)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF80501025, 0xFFFFFFFF8AA56B68, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sun 2/5/2012 3:12:17 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-03.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: win32k.sys (win32k+0x112121)
Bugcheck code: 0xF7 (0xFFFFFFFFE34955A8, 0x9D69, 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF6296, 0x0)
Error: DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a driver has overrun a stack-based buffer.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sun 2/5/2012 2:40:40 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-02.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2A025)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF80501025, 0xFFFFFFFFB0588B68, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sun 2/5/2012 12:21:33 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020512-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: win32k.sys (win32k+0x112121)
Bugcheck code: 0xF7 (0xFFFFFFFF88D1BCCC, 0x9D26, 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF62D9, 0x0)
Error: DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\win32k.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Multi-User Win32 Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a driver has overrun a stack-based buffer.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.


On Sat 2/4/2012 2:41:06 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini020412-05.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x2A025)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000008E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFFFFF80501025, 0xFFFFFFFFAFAC7B68, 0x0)
Error: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that a kernel-mode program generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

[paul9]

I would update/reinstall your motherboard chipset drivers.
Although you might be right that it is about time for a fresh format and reinstall of your operating system.

[Vodoun]

I'm leaning towards a reformat because every webpage I encounter has five fake download links.

[RicheemxX]

I'm leaning towards a reformat because every webpage I encounter has five fake download links.

If that is the case then you more than just drivers issues but likely a virus or malware

[Vodoun]

No, I mean, whenever I'm searching around for solutions I find websites with "faldksf.jla fix" or whatever it is, and there's like five different "download" buttons leading to some ridiculous .exe program that I don't want.

I reinstalled my chip-set drivers, so I'll let the test of time tell how that worked out; after what I've done so far my problem is far less significant. I'll reformat if it isn't 100%.

Edit: Well, I did crash again, so I'm gonna go with the practical solution and reformat.

[JEROY]

Freezing screens is a typical symptom of bad VGA or a wrong driver . The best thing to start with is replacing the nvidia assuming that it's an external one ...since there are no specifics mentioned ...But , if it's integrated and the driver is compatible , then the Mobo is to be replaced ...