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Any computer whizzes available?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Earthling, Apr 4, 2007.

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  1. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Apr 5 2007, 10:40 AM) [snapback]418204[/snapback]</div>
    While i tend to agree with you that Mac's are less prone to problems, they do still happen, so don't get too smug :p. One of the biggest Mac-related problems currently is some issues with the 10.4.9 update they sent out a month ago - apparently it introduced some bugs in the USB controller... specifically, if you're using multiple USB devices at once, they'll randomly stop working, or only work partially.

    Plus all of these hardware related problems that have been discussed here could just as easily happen to a Mac as a PC - they both run on essentially the same stuff.
     
    #21 eagle33199, Apr 5, 2007
  2. Walker1

    Walker1 Empire

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Apr 5 2007, 11:40 AM) [snapback]418204[/snapback]</div>
    In my case I did that 1st and no good. I will admit that I didn't know a HD would slow everything down to molasses. I understand now that all the parts work as a team. I'm just glad I have a spiffy 2nd computer and it only cost me $83.
     
    #22 Walker1, Apr 5, 2007
  3. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Apr 5 2007, 10:55 AM) [snapback]418213[/snapback]</div>
    The Mac vs. PC OS quality is like Toyota vs. GM. It can still have problems, but less often. Memory leaks are much rarer, as are any viruses - my system has been up for weeks (since a big thunderstorm rolled through and we unplugged everything to be safe), mostly in sleep mode, but is used several times a day. The first option on any PC problem is to reinstall the OS and try again. That is rarely due to a hardware problem, generally an OS problem of some kind. (Occasionally, due to the defrag of the disk you might get around a HW problem on the HD inadvertently that way, but that's about it.) Granted it's a big help when the OS maker also controls the hardware, so they know what kind of fans and placement of cooling vents and the make and model of built-in components. Limits the options for the user, but makes it easier on the manufacturer to ensure proper operation and compatibility.

    It's not for everybody, and some owners don't make the distinction between being a "fan" and a "fanatic", so I don't get on the soapbox too often. But for what most people do - web browsing, e-mail, maybe playing some online Flash games, and A/V (iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, etc.) it's a very good option that shouldn't be overlooked.

    But I've said my piece now, I won't pester you with my opinions, at least not in this thread :D
     
    #23 nerfer, Apr 5, 2007
  4. Alrobot

    Alrobot Junior Member

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    Try downloading CCleaner from www.CCleaner.com and loading it up. Just like most registry cleaners/scanners, I like it and my system stays pretty stable

    Al...
     
    #24 Alrobot, Apr 5, 2007
  5. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    nerfer, you're preaching to the choir buddy... the only reason i have a windows box at home is for software development, which unfortunately is still mostly done on PC's... But i also have a macbook and a linux box, so it's not that big of a deal :)
     
    #25 eagle33199, Apr 5, 2007
  6. Earthling

    Earthling New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Walker1 @ Apr 5 2007, 11:15 AM) [snapback]418183[/snapback]</div>
    No, this is my first computer that I designed and built from scratch.

    It's my baby :(

    I picked out a CPU, picked out a mother board for it, then RAM, a power supply, a hardrive & DVD-ROM, and a case, a video and sound card, and lots of cooling fans. It has been a good, fast, reliable computer for 3 years or so.

    Thanks for all the replies. I now have links to some more tools to use to check things out.

    Harry
     
    #26 Earthling, Apr 5, 2007
  7. desynch

    desynch Die-Hard Conservative

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    If you'd like professional advise from.. well.. a professional, just PM me.
     
    #27 desynch, Apr 5, 2007
  8. Fibb222

    Fibb222 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 5 2007, 01:23 PM) [snapback]418396[/snapback]</div>
    I'd say three years is long enough - time to get a new drive start over with a fresh install of windows.

    If there is a hardware problem consider getting a new machine with Vista on it. Vista is real pretty!

    Then again it might not be good for software development yet.
     
    #28 Fibb222, Apr 5, 2007
  9. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 5 2007, 06:17 AM) [snapback]418124[/snapback]</div>
    You looked in your Event Viewer for those disk errors? Disk errors can also be recorded as "paging errors" or "delayed write failure". The console mentioned above is a Linux console, not Windows.

    Here's what "smartctl -a /dev/hda" outputs on my Windows laptop. You can see that it recorded five errors I had about 2000 power-on hours ago (about eight months ago, at my current usage). The parts to pay attention to are the "overall self assessment" and then the SMART attribute table of values, which will show any early signs of failure in the "WHEN_FAILED" column.

    Code:
    bash-3.2$ /cygdrive/c/cygwin/usr/sbin/smartctl -a /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.37 [i686-cygwin-xp-sp2] Copyright (C) 2002-6 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Fujitsu MHT series
Device Model:     FUJITSU MHT2080AH
Serial Number:    NP00T4925UC5
Firmware Version: 006C
User Capacity:    80,026,361,856 bytes
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   6
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
Local Time is:    Thu Apr  5 17:32:52 2007 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
                  Enabled status cached by OS, trying SMART RETURN STATUS cmd.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:                 ( 587) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        No General Purpose Logging support.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (  80) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   100   100   046    Pre-fail  Always       -       221584
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0005   100   100   030    Pre-fail  Offline      -       23855104
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3979
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   024    Pre-fail  Always       -       8589934592000
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   100   100   047    Pre-fail  Always       -       3351
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0005   100   100   019    Pre-fail  Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Seconds        0x0032   086   086   000    Old_age   Always       -       7376h+37m+00s
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   020    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3045
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       47
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   087   087   000    Old_age   Always       -       134243
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       38 (Lifetime M
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2856
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       283901952
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   199   000    Old_age   Always       -       8
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x000f   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always       -       13498
203 Run_Out_Cancel          0x0002   100   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3732302986460

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 8 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
        CR = Command Register [HEX]
        FR = Features Register [HEX]
        SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
        SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
        CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
        CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
        DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
        DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
        ER = Error register [HEX]
        ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 8 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5643 hours (235 days + 3 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.989  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.976  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.535  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.523  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.082  READ DMA

Error 7 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5643 hours (235 days + 3 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.535  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.523  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.082  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.070  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:14.468  READ DMA

Error 6 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5643 hours (235 days + 3 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.082  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:15.070  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:14.468  READ DMA
  f5 ff 00 00 00 00 e0 02      00:00:14.435  SECURITY FREEZE LOCK
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:13.928  READ SECTOR(S)

Error 5 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5643 hours (235 days + 3 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:14.468  READ DMA
  f5 ff 00 00 00 00 e0 02      00:00:14.435  SECURITY FREEZE LOCK
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:13.928  READ SECTOR(S)
  e3 03 24 80 ff 00 e0 02      00:00:13.913  IDLE
  e5 03 00 ff ff 00 e0 02      00:00:13.913  CHECK POWER MODE

Error 4 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 5643 hours (235 days + 3 hours)
  When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

  After command completion occurred, registers were:
  ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
  -- -- -- -- -- -- --
  84 51 00 00 00 00 e0  Error: ICRC, ABRT at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0

  Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
  CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC   Powered_Up_Time  Command/Feature_Name
  -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ----------------  --------------------
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:18.107  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:18.095  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:17.654  READ DMA
  20 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:17.642  READ SECTOR(S)
  c8 ff 01 00 00 00 e0 00      00:00:17.201  READ DMA

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]


SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
     
    #29 priusenvy, Apr 5, 2007
  10. Earthling

    Earthling New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Apr 5 2007, 09:46 PM) [snapback]418561[/snapback]</div>
    I looked through the Event Viewer. There were no disk errors or paging errors.

    I got lots of "Service Control Manager" errors of this type: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328213/en-us

    I reinstalled DirectX 9.0c drivers, uninstalled my video card drivers, and reinstalled video card drivers directly from the card manufacturer, making very sure my anti-virus and any other software was turned off.

    There may have been an issue with drivers. The hard drive is run by VIA SATA drivers.

    The system seems more stable, and seems better by the day.

    I did notice a problem with Adobe Acrobat reader. I can't uninstall it, and when a web page uses Adobe, it causes problems. It says there is a patch file missing, so the uninstall stops. I've tried disabling the Adobe start up files, but I still get the "patch file missing" error message.

    Harry

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alrobot @ Apr 5 2007, 02:50 PM) [snapback]418338[/snapback]</div>
    Al, thanks, that's a nice program. I've been looking for a clean-up program. I wasn't afraid to try it on my computer, since I may wind up doing a complete Windows install anyway.

    Harry
     
    #30 Earthling, Apr 5, 2007
  11. Earthling

    Earthling New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Apr 5 2007, 11:21 PM) [snapback]418592[/snapback]</div>
    FWIW, the problems are back, worse than ever.

    A new hard drive is on the way from newegg, with a fresh install of Windows XP planned as soon as it gets here. If I can, I'll do a low-level format of the old drive and try to salvage it as a second drive.

    Two hours of memory testing, including CPU caches, show no errors at all.

    All the random BSOD's seem to indicate a thoroughly hosed version of Windows as the most likely culprit, followed closely by a possible divot or two on the old hard drive.

    Harry
     
    #31 Earthling, Apr 9, 2007
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