Weird Windows XP Problem

[Almighty1]

I am running WinXP Pro on a PIII 1Ghz on a ABIT BE6II v2.0 motherboard which is Intel 440BX chipset based with 768 Megs (3x256MB) of DIMMs. The problem I'm having is while WinXP runs fine with Windows manages the virtual memory, what seems to happen is that after the system has been up for so long, the HDD will have lots of activity and the following will happen:

1) I can't open programs because it will say Application Error
2) In Programs, clicking on the menus will seem like there is nothing listed in the menus at all
3) In IE6 itself, text and graphics are missing

It seems like the system ran out of resources or something.

 

[El_Matador]

It looks like that's the problem, but with your configuration it is impossible. My XP does this sometimes, the background of Files, Edit etc. becomes white (going out of resources, but I have 256MB, more than enough, P4 1.6G and plenty of free space). It started after I Installed some programs like I-mesh, KazAa and others. Some of the drivers are too demanding and maybe that's your problem too.

I really don't see any why it acts that way.

Cheers,

El_Matador

 

[moe]

Almighty1, you might want to pull 2 of your ram modules and see if problem remains. If so, swap out the existing ram stick with one you removed. Could be defective ram. That will cause problem you mention. Also, is it correct ram? Should it be PC133 but 1 or more is PC100?

El_Matador, 256 Mb is borderline with XP. Add another 256 mb to clear up your problems. My sons pc had same problem with P4 until I added extra 256 mb ram. Kazaa was a resource hog. Plus you probably have antivirus, firewall, etc, sucking up your resources. You're starving XP.

Moe

 

[El_Matador]

It looks like that maybe the problem Moe, but as I mentioned before it started after I Installed KazAa and I-mesh. Specially when I start KazAa and I-mesh together then it is hell (they are always desconected and I only connect them when I need them), If they are offline every thing is ok, but after starting, using them and closing the programs it stays with this problem and XP becomes a little slower. The problem is solved with a reboot. You are right, another 256 would be great. Specially if i get my wireless connection to surf.

If it is flawless memory, finding the one will be a pain, because if the problem aren't on the adresses windows uses it can take very long to have a hangup and identify the buggy one. Using Sisoft and alikes don't save the day, unfortunately, at least in my case,

Thanx Moe for the input .

Cheers,

El_Matador

 

[swampy]

Almighty1, what software do you have running in the background? Any Norton/Symantec? I have never had a problem like that, not even on XP betas, and I am only running a PII 400 with 192 mb ram. Does this only happen after a period of inactivity?

 

[happy1]

It sounds like XP is building up it's system restore file

 

[Almighty1]

Almighty1, you might want to pull 2 of your ram modules and see if problem remains. If so, swap out the existing ram stick with one you removed. Could be defective ram. That will cause problem you mention. Also, is it correct ram? Should it be PC133 but 1 or more is PC100?

El_Matador, 256 Mb is borderline with XP. Add another 256 mb to clear up your problems. My sons pc had same problem with P4 until I added extra 256 mb ram. Kazaa was a resource hog. Plus you probably have antivirus, firewall, etc, sucking up your resources. You're starving XP.

Moe

Not sure if it's defective RAM or not but I remember the manual originally only supported 128MB modules but everyone has been using 256MB modules without problems. These are all Crucial PC133 CAS2 modules. Is there a way to find out what is actually loaded in memory since the taskmanager doesn't list everything since maybe there is just something running I need to get rid of. Wouldn't pulling out two of the modules still have the same problem since I'll end up with the El_Matador problem then?

 

[Almighty1]

Almighty1, what software do you have running in the background? Any Norton/Symantec? I have never had a problem like that, not even on XP betas, and I am only running a PII 400 with 192 mb ram. Does this only happen after a period of inactivity?

I do have Norton/Symantec SystemWorks 2002 with just the
AntiVirus 2002 and the Protected Recycle Bin loaded. I never had the problem with XP Beta even when I was running SystemWorks 2001 under WinXP. It seems to have started when XP went Gold.
The problem seems to happen only if I login to the machine so obviously it has to do with my profile since other logins don't have the problem at all. It seems to be either if I left myself logged on or if I logged on use the machine for 1-2 hours and then come back 10 hours later and use it, after a short while, the problem will happen. I mean I can get rid of the HDD activity if I killed the snmp.exe process either through the manager or doing a stop/start for that service in Services and then it will work for awhile. Also, none of my tasks are executed for some reason and this is a Administrator account.

 

[Almighty1]

It sounds like XP is building up it's system restore file

Hmm, that might be it but I have system restore set at 200 megs and the problem seems to be more related to the snmp.exe since as soon as I axe the snmp.exe from task by either killing it there or stop/start in services manager, it works again.

 

[Almighty1]

Re: Almighty No Double Posting

Please read the Rulez no double posting >>>> the other one is history >>> joripe.

Sorry about that. I realized I posted in the wrong forum and then I was trying to post in the correct forum as I know this would be moved there but the problem is that it doesn't show it's updated with the last post info when moved even when someone posts to the thread.

 

[shadoe_phantom]

256MB is not borderline for winXP. 128MB is borderline. 256MB is enough & there is no benefit using 384MB over 256. Will only see difference if going to 512MB & then another difference when going to 1Gig.
Several things can affect the odd problems discribed:
-bad RAM
-system restore backups
-peer2peer software
-some beta software
-3rd party system programs in background (like norton *so you have to manually fix some of them. Keep NAV running if wanted, but all other services from Norton you should shut down.)
-lost LAN file transfer resulting in corrupted data which makes lost clusters on HDD
-probs a bunch others lol

But I suspect it has to do with a few mentioned only.
Incidently I have no problems with mine (& don't install SP1)

 

[woody]

Another thing to try is hitting control -alt-delete.This will bring up the task manager and you can see what is using your resources.Shadoe's post is right on,he mentions many potential problems .

I have disabled system restore(resource hog).I will use the original XP cd to repair if required(see News and info).I have also disabled hibernation.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[El_Matador]

Good ideas Shadoe,

About SP1 I have only one thing to say: Stay Away from it. I installed it on a Compaq Portable PII 366MHZ and 64 RAM (I know the configuration is not ideal, but XP Home Edition and Professional worked just fine. A bit slow but still afordable speed, but without exagerating on resources consumption) and after rebouting my system has become a turtle. The startup time almoust doubled. I admit it may be because of the configuration, but it really eats resources. As I said, I always used 2k during almost 2 years without installing any SP. I installed the Final SP1 of 2k and the system became unstable. From that day on, I never installed any other SP version (I reinstalled my system from scratch).

The only way to find the problem would be making a format and installing everything again and test it before the next software instalation. It's a pain you know where, but you know how it is with Billy boy; you have to suffer.

Cheers,

El_Matador

PS: If the system becomes stable make a backup of it with Ghost or Drive Image and you will for ever happy.

 

[Almighty1]

256MB is not borderline for winXP. 128MB is borderline. 256MB is enough & there is no benefit using 384MB over 256. Will only see difference if going to 512MB & then another difference when going to 1Gig.
Several things can affect the odd problems discribed:
-bad RAM
-system restore backups
-peer2peer software
-some beta software
-3rd party system programs in background (like norton *so you have to manually fix some of them. Keep NAV running if wanted, but all other services from Norton you should shut down.)
-lost LAN file transfer resulting in corrupted data which makes lost clusters on HDD
-probs a bunch others lol

But I suspect it has to do with a few mentioned only.
Incidently I have no problems with mine (& don't install SP1)

Thanks shadoe_phantom... I don't have any peer to peer software on the machine at all. system restore backups couldn't be the issue because the HPT 370 RAID broke system restores from working. Not running anything beta right now... As for 3rd party system programs, I already tried looking in the registry to delete unneeded startup stuff in both HKLM and HKCU under Current User\Run. How do you determine the lost LAN file transfer problem and find the lost clusters on HDD since no software has been able to find any lost clusters on the HDD. Another thing was when I either kill snmp.exe or kill and restart the snmp service, the problem disappears immediately so couldn't it be the snmp logfiles or something getting too big? Anyone know where snmp stores it's files?

 

[Almighty1]

Another thing to try is hitting control -alt-delete.This will bring up the task manager and you can see what is using your resources.Shadoe's post is right on,he mentions many potential problems .

I have disabled system restore(resource hog).I will use the original XP cd to repair if required(see News and info).I have also disabled hibernation.

Hope that helps a bit.

Already done the ctrl-alt-delete. Nothing looks out of the ordinary except when the problem happens, snmp.exe is using lots of resources so I axe that and then start it again and the system is back to normal. Any chance like I mentioned in a message before of the snmp database or whatever actually being messed up or getting too large?

 

[swampy]

Are you sure you need SNMP running? The SNMP service is neither installed nor running by default in any version of Windows. Is it running on the working logins? If you don't need it, disable it immediately & permanently. It is also a very unsafe service to have running, from Microsoft:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-006


Unchecked Buffer in SNMP Service Could Enable Arbitrary Code to be Run
Originally posted: February 12, 2002


Updated: April 26, 2002


Summary
Who should read this bulletin: System administrators who use Simple Network Management Protocol to manage Microsoft® Windows® 95, 98, 98SE, Windows NT® 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP systems

Impact of vulnerability: Denial of Service, potentially run code of attacker’s choice

Maximum Severity Rating: Moderate

Recommendation: Customers using SNMP on Windows 2000 and Windows XP should apply the patch. All other customers should disable SNMP service if running.

 

[Almighty1]

Are you sure you need SNMP running? The SNMP service is neither installed nor running by default in any version of Windows. Is it running on the working logins? If you don't need it, disable it immediately & permanently. It is also a very unsafe service to have running, from Microsoft:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-006


Unchecked Buffer in SNMP Service Could Enable Arbitrary Code to be Run
Originally posted: February 12, 2002


Updated: April 26, 2002


Summary
Who should read this bulletin: System administrators who use Simple Network Management Protocol to manage Microsoft® Windows® 95, 98, 98SE, Windows NT® 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP systems

Impact of vulnerability: Denial of Service, potentially run code of attacker’s choice

Maximum Severity Rating: Moderate

Recommendation: Customers using SNMP on Windows 2000 and Windows XP should apply the patch. All other customers should disable SNMP service if running.

The snmp.exe I have is the patch version and I do need it since I'm using snmp with mrtg on my FreeBSD box to monitor how much incoming/outgoing traffic each of my Windows boxes as well as the HP ProCurve 100Mbps switch is using.

 

[swampy]

cool

 

[Almighty1]

So I have no idea what's actually causing it unless snmp has logs somewhere that are getting too large and I need to delete it since I know on Unix machines, the snmp logs do grow in size by the minute and one time it reached 300 megs... hehe but I wonder where the heck is the file in WinXP.

 

[ipdave]

Almighty1, don't know why your RAID controller would stop a system restore, unless you have not made another restore point since adding the HPT drivers. I have used Abit m/bs with the 370 and 374 chips with no probs whatsoever.

If you have created a restore point after loading the drivers and it still will not restore, you might have a corrupted drive structure (MFT or partition corruption possibly leftover custom partition). You ARE using NTFS, I hope. That is self-healing and really one of the reasons to use NT/XP in the first place.

KaZaa or MiRc will use so much of the 16-bit subsystem that you cannot even run installers for other software at some point - a good reason to reboot after using MiRC especially.