Storage·2,102 discussions

Lockups?

Locked

I’ve been working with a customer who owns a CTX Model: SIP350-CC

I’ve finally been able to narrow down the freezes to instances only when the pc’s screensaver (just a Win98 screensaver MS supplies) has activated. I.e. No freezing occurrs when the screensaver is disabled. My co-workers have been telling me this is strictly a software issue. The customer refuses to believe this is software because she’s used the pc flawlessly for 2 years and has never had lockups until now. We’ve wiped the hard drive and run a complete restore from her recovery cds and the lockups still only occurr when the screensaver kicks in. She also doesn’t like my suggestions to 1) turn the pc off when she’s finished with it and 2) never use the screensaver. She insists this is a hardware problem, not software (note: this is likely due to the fact that her extended warranty only covers hardware failure, not software problems).

My question is this – is there EVER an instance where freezing activity such as this can be due to a hardware problem even if it never manifests except during a specific program?

Topic

Not what you want to hear….

In reply to Lockups?

I ran into a problem last week of a program Blue screening everytime you tried to run 1 certain report. Every other report worked fine. We updated reinstalled re-configured etc… Ended up changing the video card and haven’t blue screened since.
In your case I would get a copy of the screen saver from another computer and delete the one that is causing the problem. Try the one from another computer and see if it still freezes. I would also scan for a virus….

Video Driver and Heap Size

In reply to Lockups?

First, make sure your video driver is the correct one and up-to-date. Even if you think it is the right one, check the card (e.g., NVIDIA TNT2 drivers will work fine with other models of NVIDIA TNT cards, but if the driver is not spot on, some appswill have problems.) Go to Microsoft’s website and find the place in the registry to increase the desktop heap size. It is prob set at 256 and could be doubled or trippled.

screen saver

In reply to Video Driver and Heap Size

I’ve found that the wrong video driver can be a real pain in cases like this. Some mfrs. recommend removing the device from Device Manager and specifying a standard driver, rebooting the machine, and then installing the correct driver. Also, if you can read the chipset or the FCC ID on the card it will help you greatly. The FCC website, http://www.fcc.gov, has added a download link in response to the many hits they receive re: this issue. Also, the mfr. sometimes supplies a chipset ID utility that you can run in DOS mode.

A very simple thing to try first

In reply to screen saver

Check to see if there is a possible conflict that only manifests itsself during the use of that screensaver. Is that in fact the only program on the computer that initializes all the same devices in that manner? also what module is causing the blue screen? it will almost always tell you which can give clues. Try changing plug&play settings in bios and if it is there enable reset configuration data (not the same as bios defaults option) This causes all PMP recources to be reassigned and will often solve mystery crashes.

Hardware Acceleration or Monitor

In reply to Lockups?

I have seen this as well. I found it to be the Hardware Acceleration for the Video Card or the Monitor Selected in the Setting for Video.
Probably fixed this by now. If not try this out.

[Author]

Replies