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Ive had it with XP
- Thread starter Dave65
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2001
- Location
- St. Louis, MO
In my experiences (and I've used every windows OS) Win2000 has given me the least amount of trouble.
OP
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2001
- Thread Starter
- #6
Ok thanks guys I will give it a shot,I reloaded ME and I be damned it did it also just in a different way,ME just freezes up and then I reboot and errors messages come up,so I am going to just load them both and I am going to get a single copy of either XP Pro or 2000,I think the ME is the cause,but when I add the update XP it is picking up on the corrupt files,I shouln't of waisted the money on the update and just bought the full copy of Pro..
I have been experiencing a very similar problem. Although I have no proven resolution, I hope what follows may help.
I did a clean install of XP early last November. It ran great for 3 weeks before the mysterious crashes started. The crashes invariably occur with one or both of two characteristics. Sometimes, without warning, the machine will boot into the BSOD. There is usually some message about a corrupted registry or hive file. At other times, again without warning, the machine will simply lock up. While rebooting, chkdsk finds literally hundreds of crosslinked/orphan files. In both cases it is necessary to reload XP from scratch.
I now have a removable hard drive and regularly clone/Ghost my main HDD so I have a relatively easy and fast recovery path. Although the back up drive is physically removed from the machine when I am not backing up my main drive, on one occassion it too became corrupted beyond repair during the short period it was in its slot.
In an attempt to find the cause of the problem, I have changed out every piece of hardware (CPU, mobo, SCSI, modem,sound card, NIC, video capture card, graphics card, HDD, memory, and power supply). The only thing that remains is the CD-RW and DVD drives. Here is what I have learned.
If you search the user forums you will find a small number of reports of people having this identical problem. However, it is rare and most XP installations seem to run fine. No one, other than those few people experiencing this problem believe there is a problem with XP.
When the problem first became apparent it was occurring so frequently I used the Microsoft pay per incident support number. We discovered that my Adaptec 2910 SCSI card was not XP approved. Changing it out for an Adaptec 2930 immediately significantly reduced the frequency of these crashes but certainly did not eliminate them. Obviously XP has the capability of responding in a very unwelcome manner to unapproved hardware. The Microsoft tech acknowledge he had much circumstantial evidence from logs of other calls to support the claims of nasty behavior with some hardware.
Changing out all the hardware (after the SCSI card) did nothing to reduce the frequency of these events. I am now running an ABIT TH7-II, a 1.8 Gig Northwood, and Samsung RDRAM at 117 MHz FSB(2.1GIG). It now appears, but I am not yet 100% sure, that the crashes do not occur limiting the FSB to 117 MHz. It seems if I increase the FSB to 120 MHz these destructive crashes again become a problem, even though the machine seems to run completely stable at 100% CPU load (SETI) for days at this speed.
When the problem first occurred, the exact same hardware configuration and speed was being used that ran without any problem for well over a year under W98SE. This leads me to believe that XP is susceptible to something that did not effect 98SE. Some people have been quick to blame these crashes on overclocking. However, please note that for well over a year W98SE did not crash under exactly the same hardware configuration and speed. Only shortly after "upgrading" to XP did the problem begin.
If the problem continues my next step is to change out the CD-RW (TDK VeloCD) and DVD (Panasonic drives. It is strange that my wife and I have three machines running XP at our home and only one is susceptible to this problem.
I hope this might prove usefull.
I did a clean install of XP early last November. It ran great for 3 weeks before the mysterious crashes started. The crashes invariably occur with one or both of two characteristics. Sometimes, without warning, the machine will boot into the BSOD. There is usually some message about a corrupted registry or hive file. At other times, again without warning, the machine will simply lock up. While rebooting, chkdsk finds literally hundreds of crosslinked/orphan files. In both cases it is necessary to reload XP from scratch.
I now have a removable hard drive and regularly clone/Ghost my main HDD so I have a relatively easy and fast recovery path. Although the back up drive is physically removed from the machine when I am not backing up my main drive, on one occassion it too became corrupted beyond repair during the short period it was in its slot.
In an attempt to find the cause of the problem, I have changed out every piece of hardware (CPU, mobo, SCSI, modem,sound card, NIC, video capture card, graphics card, HDD, memory, and power supply). The only thing that remains is the CD-RW and DVD drives. Here is what I have learned.
If you search the user forums you will find a small number of reports of people having this identical problem. However, it is rare and most XP installations seem to run fine. No one, other than those few people experiencing this problem believe there is a problem with XP.
When the problem first became apparent it was occurring so frequently I used the Microsoft pay per incident support number. We discovered that my Adaptec 2910 SCSI card was not XP approved. Changing it out for an Adaptec 2930 immediately significantly reduced the frequency of these crashes but certainly did not eliminate them. Obviously XP has the capability of responding in a very unwelcome manner to unapproved hardware. The Microsoft tech acknowledge he had much circumstantial evidence from logs of other calls to support the claims of nasty behavior with some hardware.
Changing out all the hardware (after the SCSI card) did nothing to reduce the frequency of these events. I am now running an ABIT TH7-II, a 1.8 Gig Northwood, and Samsung RDRAM at 117 MHz FSB(2.1GIG). It now appears, but I am not yet 100% sure, that the crashes do not occur limiting the FSB to 117 MHz. It seems if I increase the FSB to 120 MHz these destructive crashes again become a problem, even though the machine seems to run completely stable at 100% CPU load (SETI) for days at this speed.
When the problem first occurred, the exact same hardware configuration and speed was being used that ran without any problem for well over a year under W98SE. This leads me to believe that XP is susceptible to something that did not effect 98SE. Some people have been quick to blame these crashes on overclocking. However, please note that for well over a year W98SE did not crash under exactly the same hardware configuration and speed. Only shortly after "upgrading" to XP did the problem begin.
If the problem continues my next step is to change out the CD-RW (TDK VeloCD) and DVD (Panasonic drives. It is strange that my wife and I have three machines running XP at our home and only one is susceptible to this problem.
I hope this might prove usefull.
you guys arent listening. YOUR MEMORY IS GENERATING ERRORS!!!!!
its not XP's fault, Xp manages memory much better than the 9x kernel, and any errors are amplified. back off to "failsafe defaults" at default bus speed and youll be fine.
TRUST ME!
heres memtest86 for ya, itll make a bootable floppy:
its not XP's fault, Xp manages memory much better than the 9x kernel, and any errors are amplified. back off to "failsafe defaults" at default bus speed and youll be fine.
TRUST ME!
heres memtest86 for ya, itll make a bootable floppy:
Malakai, you may be right but I changed out my memory twice since the problem first started.
Originally I was running an ASUS P3V4X with 256 Meg Mushkin Rev 2 SDRAM. I changed out that original stick to a new Mushkin stick. The mobo was changed to an Abit ST6/1.2Gig tualatin and it is now an Abit TH7II with Samsung RDDRAM. I doubt that three generations and two types of memory are all defective.
Originally I was running an ASUS P3V4X with 256 Meg Mushkin Rev 2 SDRAM. I changed out that original stick to a new Mushkin stick. The mobo was changed to an Abit ST6/1.2Gig tualatin and it is now an Abit TH7II with Samsung RDDRAM. I doubt that three generations and two types of memory are all defective.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2001
ok...a couple of things for you to look at right now...first off, do a clean install, not an upgrade. You will see half of your problems disappear...second, are you trying to install o/c'ed? Bad idea...back off to default settings for any OS install...third, yes you should back off to default settings on your RAM AND your FSB...see if you get the errors. If not, then your o/c is the problem. XP does not o/c as well as 9X, because of several reasons, one of which being memory management, as Malakai stated. So just because you are stable at Xmhz w/ Me does not mean you will be stable at that speed in XP...
RhoXS said:
I have a v similar rig (look below at signiture).
Ok, i can tell you this - IT IS THE SCSI CONTROLLER FOR SURE. This is not a problem with the RAM (as that guy thinks). Without overclocking everything is fine. I have a Adaptec SCSI 29160, if i pump up my FSB over 110 it does this crashes with the corrupted file message and doesn't load Windows XP some of the time.
Scsi Controllers are not overclockable much, what can we do, i don't think this is a Windows XP problem, more like a problem when these cards run at slightly high FSB.
Nothing can be done, i've tried everything, just gotta live with a small overclock.
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2001
- Location
- Corner of No and Where
I run XP Pro on a work laptop and it causes me nothing but problems: software won't run correctly, network keeps changing parameters all by itself and losing connection, etc. This is a BRAND NEW laptop, shipped with XP from Toshiba! A 1 ghz Mobile Celeron with 256mb of ram that is almost as fast as an AMD K6-2 450 with 128 mb of pc100 and Windows 2000!!!!!!
XP is still beta software in my book, and that is being nice!
Sorry for the rant, but for the umpteenth time I have to reinstall XP tonight just to keep this thing running- I can't even install MS Office right now!
XP is still beta software in my book, and that is being nice!
Sorry for the rant, but for the umpteenth time I have to reinstall XP tonight just to keep this thing running- I can't even install MS Office right now!
dave] do a clean install(u can use the upgrade disk 4 this, if 1 xp is already there or 2 u have a cd of an older windows(yes "backup" copies work as well) use all default settings and speeds and see if still probs, and run that memtest, im willing to bet its the ram
cooler666] he doesnt use scsi(check his siggy)
takiwa] its not that XP doesnt o/c as well, just that the older 9x windows didnt mind errors as much (but if XP wont run, than your sys isnt SATBLE!!) for a sys to be stable u should be able to install without a prob)
and rodgerdugans] Thats what u get for not immediately formatting and reinstalling windows ona storebaught pc. they cram so much "usefull software"(crap) onto oem's they never work till a nice fresh format to clean her up
keep the comments coming, and dave, please use that proggie, itll help me help u a lot
-Malakai
cooler666] he doesnt use scsi(check his siggy)
takiwa] its not that XP doesnt o/c as well, just that the older 9x windows didnt mind errors as much (but if XP wont run, than your sys isnt SATBLE!!) for a sys to be stable u should be able to install without a prob)
and rodgerdugans] Thats what u get for not immediately formatting and reinstalling windows ona storebaught pc. they cram so much "usefull software"(crap) onto oem's they never work till a nice fresh format to clean her up
keep the comments coming, and dave, please use that proggie, itll help me help u a lot
-Malakai
The culprit could possibly be your IBM HDD I had the same thing happen and thought it was my ram. I had to reinstall my OS 10 times! Almost every time I raised my FSB the data got corrupt to the point were the computer couldn't even recognize the partition type . I switched the memory out of another rig I was building and encountered the same problem. Then I ran the IBM HDD test and got a error code and needless to say 2 days later It happened again this time the drive completely died. Since I got my new drive everything is smooth as butter.Dave65 said:I keep getting corrupted files with XP,I can't figure it out,so I reformated AGAIN and just loaded ME and I won't load the XP
I never had any of this with ME
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2001
- Location
- Corner of No and Where
Malakai said:
Not for nothing, but while I did not do a clean install immediately after receiving the laptop, I have done about 14 or 15 since then!
Including fdisk from a boot floppy to completeley eradicate the previous install.
I am thoroughly convinced at this point that there are two operating systems that MS should never have released: Windows ME (More Errors) and Windows XP (eXtra Problems.)
I've heard all kinds of opinions on this subject, and I don't expect to change anyones mind, but if anyone is considering actually BUYING XP, please consider carefully! Windows 95a has proven itself to me as a better os, and it was pretty bad!
sorry man, i meant to put a next to that post. A lot of people dont have any probs w/ XP, like myself, usually probs with it are bad hardware or a "unnoficial" copy of it.
dave, it could also very possibly be your HDD. youll know after the memtest
-Malakai
next to that post. A lot of people dont have any probs w/ XP, like myself, usually probs with it are bad hardware or a "unnoficial" copy of it. dave, it could also very possibly be your HDD. youll know after the memtest
-Malakai
rogerdugans said:
OP
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2001
- Thread Starter
- #20
First off,I do lower everything to default before I formatted.And maybe I am not clarifying myself to you guys
Here is what I have.First I load the Win ME full version,and I DID NOT buy the full $199 XP Home,I bought the $99 Upgrade,it is a clean install,brand new HD,and yes it is an IBM,and everything works great for about 2 weeks,and then I either get @ bootup that my personal settings cannot be loaded because files maybe corrupt or missing.
So everytime I reboot it is just like I started XP for the first time,if I change settings it goes right back to starting XP for the first time,none of the changes work it goes right back to a clean desktop all settings lost so if I add something to personalize the settings like adding SETI,it will not be there on startup.I can do a search and it is still in the computer and I can shortcut it back to my desktop,but when I reboot it will say all personal settings are corrupt or missing and cannot be loaded.
So I have done another clean install with ME and lole and behold it still not correct,I get system busy blue screen and freezing up,I have wrote zeros to the HD and it is fine,so maybe it is the ME that is having the problems,I am going to get 2000 as soon as I can.
So right know I have reloaded ME and XP and is working great so far,I am going to keep it running @ default levels for a while and see what happens
But I will say this,as far as overclocking I ran it @ 157X10,and it runs great,but then I try to run it @ Cas 2 and it runs fine for a while,burn it is ok Prime 95 and SETI runs and no problems and then all of the sudden it will restart like after 2 or 3 days,and once I get the Blue screen it goes down hill from there,I hate running @ defaut levels I want to get the most out of my system
I am willing to try anything to fix this..
Thanks guys
PS I am up to FOUR STARS
YAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Here is what I have.First I load the Win ME full version,and I DID NOT buy the full $199 XP Home,I bought the $99 Upgrade,it is a clean install,brand new HD,and yes it is an IBM,and everything works great for about 2 weeks,and then I either get @ bootup that my personal settings cannot be loaded because files maybe corrupt or missing.
So everytime I reboot it is just like I started XP for the first time,if I change settings it goes right back to starting XP for the first time,none of the changes work it goes right back to a clean desktop all settings lost so if I add something to personalize the settings like adding SETI,it will not be there on startup.I can do a search and it is still in the computer and I can shortcut it back to my desktop,but when I reboot it will say all personal settings are corrupt or missing and cannot be loaded.
So I have done another clean install with ME and lole and behold it still not correct,I get system busy blue screen and freezing up,I have wrote zeros to the HD and it is fine,so maybe it is the ME that is having the problems,I am going to get 2000 as soon as I can.
So right know I have reloaded ME and XP and is working great so far,I am going to keep it running @ default levels for a while and see what happens
But I will say this,as far as overclocking I ran it @ 157X10,and it runs great,but then I try to run it @ Cas 2 and it runs fine for a while,burn it is ok Prime 95 and SETI runs and no problems and then all of the sudden it will restart like after 2 or 3 days,and once I get the Blue screen it goes down hill from there,I hate running @ defaut levels I want to get the most out of my system
I am willing to try anything to fix this..
Thanks guys
PS I am up to FOUR STARS
YAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
