Crashing computer

F

FTSE Beater

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Hi all

My computer is throwing a complete wobbler at the moment and I'm not sure why.

It keeps crashing for no apparent reason. Task manager shows nothing abnormal when it crashes. It even crashes when I haven't been using it. :eek:
I'm running windows XP pro, I installed the latest updates yesterday and that hasn't sorted it. Incidentally one of the updates duplicated my mouse. I have 2 monitors and when I move the mouse, a mouse on both monitors move :confused:

PC pitstop says there is nothing wrong, and I can't run adware because when it gets to a file called C:\found.014 it crashes. Not sure if that has anything to do with it

Any help would be much appreciated
 
Hello Mr Options Sir

That is a last resort at the moment, but if it's the only way to do it, then I will :cry:
 
Just pick a date to before you started geting problems. Simple excercise that might sort it out. You won't lose nothing apart from installed programs back to that date. And one of them may be the problem or any site you have been on recently.

If you get an error from Lavasoft/adware, the reset to an earlier time is the first thing I would do, as it's the easiest.
 
FB,

Yes a good idea you could try restoring to an earlier date. That said I was having a problem with my pc crashing but only occasionally. I consulted my fellow members on T2W and ended up getting a defragmenting program called diskeeper by executive. When I ran it it found that the paging file (which is part of the boot sequence) was fragmented. Windows is not able to defragment this and you need something like Diskeeper to do it. When I first ran the boot drefag it took overnight to complete.

Since then I have had no problems but it is noticeable that after trading the drive becomes fragmented everyday so I have set the program to run automatically at any time other than between 1pm and 9pm when I do most of my trading.

Of course it may have nothing to do with that but I didnt realise just how much the hard drive gets fragmented after trading.

Attached is a screenshot of my drive taken at 8.30pm the red sections are the fragmented files and this was defragmented only this morning.

I hope it helps


Paul
 

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Thank you kind sir.

I think I will do that. So if you don't hear from me for a few days, you know that I managed to make things worse :cheesy:

<hr>
Hi Rognvald

Sounds like your talking from experience. ;)
I'll trust you!

<hr>
Hi T333

Ah ha. That's what that error is on boot up!!
That's now my first point of call :p

I defraged the drives about a month ago and I know what you mean. Hard drives have worse filing systems than me :cheesy:


Thanks all
 
FB,

Bear in mind that Win XP cannot defrag the paging file. You need a program that can do a boot defrag to achieve this.



Paul
 
You can defrag a paging file by cheating..

Firstly set the paging file to 0..
then defarg the drive.
then reset the paging file again.. to a FIXED value .. thi stops XP continually allocating disk space and fragmenting the disk where page files are stored..
 
Hi Paul

I've done the defrag by executive. Will that have done the paging file as well?

Thanks all for your help. Much appreciated :cool:
 
FB,

As far as I am aware the paging file has to be defragmented as part of a boot up sequence and so will not have been defragmented if windows has already loaded.

You could try the option that madasafish suggested although I dont know how he does it. Is there not an option to set a "boot defrag" ?

There is on mine because I bought the professional version and should look like the attached screenshot as highlighted in red.



Paul
 

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FTSEB

To go back to your original post. MS Win XP upgrades are somewhat notorious for the trouble they can cause - i.e. they fix one thing and can cause other unintened probs. Downloading them as soon as they are available is sometimes a recipe for disaster as I have found out.

Its best to wait awhile (say a week) before downloading a "critical update" - let others find the probs and let MS fix them before you jump in. Its not a bad idea to read the detailed information MS provide before deciding whether to download. I don't use many of the features addressed so the "ordinary" downloads are pointless unless they have fairly obvious links with what I do.

System reset has saved me on several occasions when beset with problems I could not otherwise solve. These have invariably been linked to new or updated software downloads.

Updata's charting software in particular has caused me much grief in the past.

Win XP creates date and time markers in the system when software is changed (or you can do this manually). Its then merely a matter of going to the calendar and resetting to before the point where things started to go wrong.

I had a lot of problems with system crashes in Win 98 - sometimes I was rebooting 3/4 times daily but since XP have been comparatively stable. I did originally have troubles which boiled down to using an upgrade CD from 98 rather than making a clean upgrade. The latter is certainly a better optiion although it costs more and is more time consuming.

I have used Executive diskeeper for some time now and this has further improved things. The boot time defrag is an excellent feature. I find that my paging file rarely needs defragging but invariably directories which are not touched by the basic defrag do.

I carry out a basic and boot time defrag weekly on 5 hard drives. It is automated along with a full virus scan and virus definition download. I also run disc cleanup on each hard drive weekly to rid myself of unwanted temp internet files. These procedures may seem onerous but can usually be scheduled in such a way as not to interfere with use of the machine or be user timeconsuming.

I do not use the diskeeper "always on in the background" function as I find it tends to slow other things down.

Good luck
Here endeth the rant
 
FB

Ignore this if you are now up and running. There is a setting on DK called Frag Guard which defrags the Page File on the fly so manual defragging in operation is OK. Good idea to put your PF on a separate partition but maybe the PF is not the problem of course. Apropos of nothing in particular empty your prefetch folder - a lot of stuff builds up in that and you ought to clean it out from time to time anyway. Corrupt file? I use XP Home rather than Pro but I think they are virtually the same other than for Networking. I've had software hanging but never had XP crash or reboot. But then I switch things like prefetch and rollback off.

Good luck

ps Have you tried reinstalling the Adaware? The 'found' folder is often where the disk checker puts lost bits of files. Maybe Adaware has been corrupted somehow

Regards
 
Last edited:
Hi all

Thanks for all this great advice.

Rognvald - I know what you mean about the updates. This last one is was ok apart from my double mouse :devilish:
I'll go back now to that point in time, pre-update as it looks like the defrag has sorted everything :cool:

Touch wood!!
 
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