PC Error

castor212

My Pc's xp has just been reinstalled a few days ago, but several problems occured. Occasionally my pc will shut down and restart by itself, without even asking for confirmation. In my external HDD, there was several folders with gibberish names, like 9ada414b9ca41e8be26839 and such. And when i was asked to update my microsoft, more of those gibberish folder came up. Can someone help me?

Thx in advance

Nemir976

14 years ago

what are you doing when it restarts itself?
can you recreate it doing specific things or is it just a random occurrence?

the gibberish folders are from the windows updates... you can delete them
they are used as temporary folders when installing the updates..

castor212

14 years ago

its a random occurence

the gibberish folders that came up before the updates can't be deleted...my friend said that it's a virus, could it be true?

DonkeyFace

14 years ago

Get a copy of Microsoft Security Essential. Download it off the net, run it and see if you got any viruses. If so then you can fix it yourself. If not then come back to us.

castor212

14 years ago

No virus. I'm glad for that, but i became more confused as well T.T

akuma2002

14 years ago

Maybe some of your disks are corrupted. You should verify their integrity with chkdsk. If your computer reboots randomly, and no virus detected, there's most likely a problem with drivers or dlls. (or maybe device conflict)

Wow my name is really lon

14 years ago

Are you booting from your external HDD? Although External HDDs don't usually get corrupted, I would suggest you buy a new one and transfer all your files if that is the case. You can get a 500Gb HDD these days for about $30.

Are you getting BSOD before the shutdown/restart? I recommend checking your RAM first. Burn Memtest86 onto a CD and boot your computer from that to check if your RAM is stable. http://www.memtest86.com/ > Free Download.

Any more information would help.

Epraizer Z

14 years ago

It's probably hardware problem or driver problem. Worse if its a compatibility problem.

My bro had problems with those too. He's using Windows 7 though..

castor212

14 years ago

akuma2002 wrote...

It's random, and no virus. How do I verify my comp's integrity?

Wow my name is really lon wrote...

Are you booting from your external HDD?

Don't really get what it means. Sorry, i'm pretty stupid when it comes to electronic stuff like this T.T

animefreak_usa Child of Samael

14 years ago

castor212 wrote...

akuma2002 wrote...

It's random, and no virus. How do I verify my comp's integrity?

Wow my name is really lon wrote...

Are you booting from your external HDD?

Don't really get what it means. Sorry, i'm pretty stupid when it comes to electronic stuff like this T.T

Start> run>chkdsk>scan.

and Booting from EXHHD is when your os is in a outside source like the old bootdisk linux.. if the windows program is inside the computer then this doesn't constern you.
Ot:
if the chkdsk checks out then maybe you should reformat and reinstall.

Nemir976

14 years ago

akuma2002 wrote...

disc corruption is unlikely.. and that would likely result in further data loss not random crashes (unless critical OS files are corrupt)..
if it is corrupted badly enough the os can crash and become unusable though you are likely to notice problems before it reaches that point
all the same it's a good thing to check every so often

Wow my name is really lon wrote...

Are you getting BSOD before the shutdown/restart?

Any more information would help.

while a bsod may be happening from the sounds of it it's just an immediate crash/reboot in which case no bsod(if it occured it's not being shown) but it would leave a log

Epraizer Z wrote...

It's probably hardware problem or driver problem. Worse if its a compatibility problem.

My bro had problems with those too. He's using Windows 7 though..

being xp that wouldn't supprise me one bit.. I've had numerous problems with xp & atapi32 when using a sata hdd

castor212 wrote...

It's random, and no virus. How do I verify my comp's integrity?
Don't really get what it means. Sorry, i'm pretty stupid when it comes to electronic stuff like this T.T

-----
HDD = Hard Disk Drive.. if you had an external hard drive I think you'd know even if your not familiar with the terms
they'll look similar to this: Forum Image: http://ethernetexternalharddrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ethernet-external-hard-drive-buying-tips.jpg

Forum Image: http://ethernetexternalharddrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/ethernet-external-hard-drive-buying-tips.jpg

there's many possible causes for it.. since you just reinstalled I wouldn't recommend doing that again as it probably won't be worthwhile
viruses don't require a format/reinstall..
bad OS install, I've had xp mess up during install more than a few times.. in this case depending on what it is you may just want to try and reinstall to save some time manually fixing..
drivers/conflicting devices.. this may or may not be solved by a reinstall.. and can be solved just as well manually

-----
anyways...
just because MSSE's reported no viruses doesn't mean you are clean but this likely isn't even your problem to begin with
It's better to have a few different scanners.. some may miss some things or give false positives
I'd run Malware Antibytes Anti Malware (free) it's pretty good at finding/removing malware

to check if you've had any BSOD's browse to "C:\Windows\Minidump" if there is no folder or it's empty you haven't gotten any
if you have any post them..

to check for other causes:
click on the start menu, right click my computer, select manage, expand event viewer
click on system.. browse through this and look for anything with a yellow ! or a red X..
if you find and double click them & copy the text for the description into a text file (if you have alot) or just as a reply, do the same for "applications"
if you'd prefer you can also right click on "System" or "Application" and save the entire log file(s) then post those

for drivers if they are causing the crash they should show up in the logs..
you can also check them via Device Manager.. you can get to it from the same window the event viewer is in or by typing "devmgmt.msc" into Run ( start menu > Run.. )

if you have time you may want to run a ram tester.. I'd use Memtest86+ and let it run for a while (perhaps while you sleep?)

castor212

14 years ago

NOpe, no minidump folder

here's the log (man, now that's long)

Spoiler:

Mod edit: Don't double post

Just discover something : Seems like for each shurdown there's an in 8 hours interval

Nemir976

14 years ago

well that's a bit odd.. I'll spend some time reading through the log & see if it turns up anything
do you by chance know when your last crash was?
from what I see a few of the crashes are 8hrs apart a few are less and a few are more..

your xp install had some non-fatal errors.. if you still have the "setuperr.log" file in the root of your hdd would you post it
------
few questions for you..
how many hard drives do you have? (start > right click "my computer" > manage > disk management)
have you been having connection problems? are you networked to anything or just connected to router/modem?
how about any messages on your post screen during boot?

castor212

14 years ago

I had a crash last night at 9 pm. I turn my pc this morning at 9am and had a crash at 12 am. How do you open hdd log?

ZKnoves

14 years ago

Does the system blue screen or just restart? Sorry I skimmed, but what is your motherboard? (Another edit: Okay, read more and saw the party about BSOD. Waiting on MB as I've had an issue that this sounds similar too but want to hold it as not the only answer for now)

Wow my name is really lon

14 years ago

8 hour intervals?

could be caused by task scheduler? (Administrative tools to check)
could be caused by a specific program/processor? (task manager>processor>check for any unusual ones)

Start>Run>type 'msconfig'>Selective startup>startup tab>uncheck all processors that are not vital to running your system. I recommend just unchecking everything. Then save, restart, and wait for 8 hours and see if it's still crashing.

castor212

14 years ago

not always 8 hours though. Sometimes it only need 3 hours to restart.

I've been thinking, perhaps i have problem with my AC/DC adapter?

Nemir976

14 years ago

if you're talking of one of an ac plug for a tower.. no
the psu can cause related issues but would probably bring up other issues instead of crashing
what makes you think it is that?

I haven't found anything in the log that seems to be causing the crashes.. alteast not specifically

what hdd log? the setuperr.log you should be able to open with a text editor
while they weren't fatal install errors they could be related to the problem you are having..

Hubs

14 years ago

Try fixing your drivers, or atleast just get windows 7. Download it off torrents. If you want i can send you the link i used to get windows 7 for my computer, up till now it works fine. No problems whatsoever.

Nemir976

14 years ago

dalester23 wrote...

having OS random crashing problems isn't really cause for upgrading or even changing the OS..
depending on the system upgrading may not even be a good option not all systems like the newer OS's..
if castor was planning to upgrade sometime might be a good time to do it though

==================================
as I said I can't find anything that's specifically causing the crash in that log..
what is in there could be related to what's causing the crash but I don't think they are either way this may still help some..
unfortunately this may end up being a hardware issue

run a disk check on your hdd if you haven't already.. post what it comes up with

click start right click "my computer" select properties, go to the advanced tab and click settings under performance
go to advanced tab again and click change under virtual memory set it to "system managed size" of your hdd(s)

for the hdd errors it seems your system has two duplicate entries for one drive.. (this and changing paging file for virtual memory to "system managed" should eliminate paging errors, but they may also be caused from bad connections)
to fix this you'll need to edit the registry.. you should backup the registry before making any changes just to be safe..
start > run, type "regedit", file > export, browse to a folder you want to backup the registry to, give it a name, click "all" under export range and save
once you've got the registry backed up navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
there may be two "PagingFiles" for your harddrive 'D:\pagefile.sys'.. if there is delete the second one(or both.. it should just recreate a correct one upon reboot) and close regedit then reboot
then check your connections inside your comp.. just unplug the cords and replug them make sure they are snug and not loose.. you might want to blow off the inside of the comp out some and remove excess dust..
defrag your hdd when you're all done (start >run >type 'Compmgmt.msc' and then select disk defragmenter & click defragment).. just let the defrag run on it's own while you're asleep or something it'll take a while especially if you have a large disk

one of the security updates(KB975558) is failing to install/apply
go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058 and run the fix. then try to install the update..
if that doesn't work go to start > Run > regedit. Click Ctrl+F. Type KB975558 and search
then delete the folder entry for KB975558..
you may want to search again to make sure there isn't two folders.. there shouldn't be unless it already installed even partially..
then try to install the updates again

just to make sure something hasn't snuck onto your system
install the Malwarebytes Anti Malware I linked before update it and let it run a full scan.. then go download HijackThis's executable, run it and post the log file it gives you..

I have no idea what the remote system entries for the scsi device "a1y3me8h1" not being found is referring to.. looks a bit random to be a name for anything you'd use.. though I can think of several possibilities for it, but does it ring a bell to you?

go back to the event viewer and clear both system & application logs.. then when you crash next upload both the logs again..
update your system drivers & reinstall direct X

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