I had a scary moment yesterday. TG froze while opening it from doubleclicking a tgd (no idea why). Everything was frozen, so I had no choice but to reboot. Then the boot stopped where the HD is being detected. Nothing moved... reboot again, stuck again. Tried getting into the BIOS... froze while trying to enter BIOS. At that time I had cold sweat running down my spine, especially since I have some speed work to do this week. Tried rebooting, hitting F8 and whatever possibilities where on the black starting screen.... to no avail.
Even cold reboot didn't work.
Opened the case, blew out some dust, fondled some wires, rebooted again........................... it's back :D :D :D pfff
I hope you have secured your backups :P Sounds to me like HD might have some issues
nice, i'm sure now i will have problems to get to sleep tonight... :D
scary stuff indeed.
this wasn't on a SSD was it?
earlier this year i had my own scary experience when i thought one of my own SSD's "died"
i checked the efi bios and the drive was'nt appearing.
powered down, opened up the case & i plugged the sata cable into a different connector, booted it up, and it was working again.
I've had a similar experience. Every now and then, my second SATA drive (D) would have a problem -- drive light always on and computer froze up. Reboots don't work. At first, I was convinced the drive was starting to fail. But that was over two years ago.
I found if I reseated the data cable (or swapped it) the drive would work fine again after a chkdsk d:/f for many months. Of course I back that drive up quite often. :)
I back up all the time, so that's no problem, to a loose drive and a second pc. But I'd hate having to get a new pc and get it all in again while I need to be working. Although a fresh installation is good now and again. And no, it wasn't an SSD. Having heard that they fail in the blink of an eye, I prefer the slow and agonizing death of the old drives 8)
It may have to do with the fact that I took the drive out while away for a few days, and failed to properly plug it in again. And all the dust...
Anyway, it's running fine now, but I never trust these machines 100%....
I bought a computer case which has a dust protector. Just open up the front every couple of weeks and wipe it off with a damp towel. My case is an Antec 300.
I have an antec 300 as well.
Just blew out loads of dust, but I still got a serious problem; both my online version and offline version of XP (on separate partitions) are suddenly much slower. Photoshop is reacting dangerously slow on anything I do, the cursor kind of trailing behind.... slow in updating display. Could it be a corrupt driver?
Starting up XP and some automatically starting progs is also suddenly slow. I set the BIOS back to default, checked for viruses, nothing helps. Any advice is badly needed!!
I find it strange that both XP versions are responding slow.. I'd think it has to do with the hard drive or BIOS. But I checked my HD with hddh(ealth) and it said 77% healthy.
Please help, as this is making me very insecure >:(
Dune, I have been experiencing the same symptoms with my Vista. It started about a week ago..............got me greatly concerned. I have done the same things that you have done without any success. It is not happening constantly, just at random times. If I find any information pertaining to this, I will let you know.
i like antec's cases... i have a both a P180 & a P182 for my for my machines.
like the separate chamber design and the removable dust filters.
Quote from: njeneb on March 27, 2012, 09:13:17 AM
I bought a computer case which has a dust protector. Just open up the front every couple of weeks and wipe it off with a damp towel. My case is an Antec 300.
Quote from: Dune on March 27, 2012, 03:52:05 AM
And no, it wasn't an SSD. Having heard that they fail in the blink of an eye, I prefer the slow and agonizing death of the old drives 8)
:D
i think it was Efflux who convinced me to go with SSD.
all my important files are a regular SATA drive.
I found that I might have some missing dll's (CCCleaner told me). Repaired the lot, but to no avail.
I also find that rundll.exe won't stop when shutting down. I have to Ctrl+Alt+Del it every time.
The mouse/wacom pen responds very slow, so I installed the latest graphic drivers. To no avail.
And I find that a program (Mailwasher) starts up twice, where it should start up only once (which it says in msconfig). Strange and annoying.
And just now rundll.exe asked for permission to enter the internet, which it didn't before.
I tend to do a fresh install of XP (or a repair(?), but I'm not sure whether I also have to reinstall all progs after that. That would be a lot of work.
Any advice, guys?
Try Advanced System Care from IObit. It has a great great set of utilities which can check all types of computer issues. You'll need the full version, not the limited free version.
My guess would be that your drivers are corrupted. Also there may be bad HD sectors. Back up and try a deep format if the ASC does not work, then re-install the OS and stuff. I would recommend clean installs of the program software, not backed up version. The data should be safe to use.
Did you tried a system restore Ulco?
Did you scanned the system full for viruses malware etc. ?
Scan disk for file system errors ?
Are your fans working ? Monitor the temperature of your system hardware.
Use the S.M.A.R.T. feature of your HD.
Try a tool like Seatools or other program and look if your HD has real damage or not.
Seatools is for Seagate drives but works on others too but be carefull .
Use other vendors software if they have maybe.
These are what comes to my mind at first to do before a more drastic format , reinstall etc.
I don't know HDD health but % 77 doesn't sound so good used along with a HD to me!
I hope this is a temporary loose cable etc. problem.
But there could be a serious problem lying before you Ulco (probably your HD dying).
Thanks guys. I tried several options, and Dr. Watson found some scratchdump (I believe) from TG. Probably remaining from the initial crash and forced reboot. So I deleted that, got rid of the virtual memory, defragged its drive, set it up again. Maybe that helps, as the memory may have been 'full'. I also did some HiJackThis scans, as well as a complete virusscan. I will also do memtest this evening.
Maybe some windows ini file is corrupted, as XP starts up very slow, and autostarting some apps takes much longer than usual and then start them up twice.
Good idea to try some other HD tester.
I wouldn't know what drivers to reinstall, if any might be corrupted. Sys info gives 'no problems'.
If all fails I'll pick a rainy day and do a clean install. Apps are all on a different partition anyway, so data is safe.
If you have a Windows Install disk, ask it to do a system repair. This will often find corrupted ini and dll's.
It's getting more complicated. I adviced autoruns, checked of some items that seemed unnecessary, and rebooted. Couldn't reboot it just became black all over :-[ So I tried the thing you adviced (before I read your message), but couldn't get further than a prompt saying /windows after pressing R for repair and selecting the drive to repair (I, which used to be D, but somehow XP changed that to I, due to some failure it detected). So repair didn't seem possible. Started in safe mode, opened autoruns again, checked the unchecked items, saved and rebooted. Pff, back in XP. But it still takes a long longtime and apps start up really slow.
But in the meantime I had done a chkdsk /p from the dos prompt, and it found that there were some mistakes. But I wouldn't know how to repair. I did, however download Seatools for windows, which should be able to check the HD and maybe repair it from a startup cd, which I will make soon. Will be continued... I hope.
I also don't know, and maybe someone can tell, if a repair install (if I manage) or a clean install will keep the other software and its shortcuts untouched or will it erase the whole partition?
Be careful Ulco. I would use the chkdsk or other tools before Seatools .
I don't remember all the settings in Seatools but i think it is more for Hardware errors.
For file system errors -windows errors etc. you are maybe better to use windows tools.
I do not remember others then chkdisk unfortunately .
If these are not sufficient then i would try Seatools. Some settings of Seatools are aggressive naturally.
http://www.modernstreet.com/windows/windows-chkdsk-utility/
http://help.isu.edu/index.php?action=faq&catid=31&docid=668
http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=5097
Be careful with the HD's . If you have more then one unplug the ones you don't need.
The problem could go away and-or it might be easier for troubleshooting .
Repair install should keep most of your settings.
But look at the options and help at the screen i think there are instructions along.
Clean install doesn't keep you software settings etc. but it should keep your partitions intact.
You have to install all your programs ones more.
But given your problems your partitions are probably in danger too Ulco .
These kind of procedures take a long time mostly.
If you are in hurry i would take a spare(!) HD or SSD install XP and the minimum of software to use and finish the job at first.
I don't know your urgency of course .
Maybe use your backups and install a fresh XP .
But Seatools , memtest etc. kind of test should be done anyway to be sure that there is not a hardware problem.
System restore is a nice feature i used more then ones . It was a real life saver to me.
I read some opposite things about this like in many windows users so your mileage may vary .
We use the same old XP os since 9 years without formating,install etc. because of this mostly.
This is probably no use of you now but just saying Ulco :)
Do you use the old settings in your Bios like it was before the problems or are they altered?
There could be other (PSU , Graphic card etc.) problems too. Looks not so much likely but...
Thanks very much, Kadri. You're real supportive, I appreciate that. I remember that I may also have done something wrong when defragging, by just clicking it off (X) instead of stopping it first. Sometimes one does silly things. I still have access to both XP partitions, and can work in them, but very slowly (in photoshop this is really awkward). I'll check out chkdsk possibilities some more.
I reset the BIOS to default, which it was anyway.
Maybe the MBR is corrupted, but I'm a bit anxious to repair that (fixmbr), as I have a dual boot, and I don't know if that will make my second XP unavailable. These under the hood things are scary...
This looks long but detailed Ulco :
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Yes it is scary especially between a job Ulco.
I wrote it somewhere here before ; i lost 3 months of 3D work because of a HD crash right for a job to be done years ago !
Just be sure to backup your important file on another media.
Please do not leave them on a partition or other HD only , as you do these test.
You will eventually find the way out anyhow :)
I found that link as well, but this time saved the pdf. Thanks. All is backed up!
Look at the post of "oasis54321"
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/170711-32-hard-disk-slow
Maybe disk caching is problematic Ulco :
http://www.recipester.org/Recipe:Enable_Hard_Drive_Cache_24563233
Edit: I mean , maybe this do not work because of corrupt files etc.
As it says it has a risk on its own anyway if you check all settings.
It's not the DMA or PIO problem, I checked that already. And the caching has always been like it was. I'm pretty sure the crash of TG has caused some serious damage somewhere (not blaming anyone ;)), as it's all happened (very suddenly) after that. It worked very well before.
I have a chkdsk running now................................................................
I have spent a couple of days now, checking hundreds of forums (fora?) to find out what could cause sluggish behavior in PS. And why my floppy disk wouldn't work anymore (I still have one, yes). Finally, I got a bright moment and restored the stuff I threw out with CCCleaner. And it's blazing fast again!!! :D :P Some 'missing dll's' were probably not missing at all, but badly needed.
So... warning for all; be careful what you do with CCCleaner, especially regarding the register, and at least save backups.
Back to work........
I've heard this before. Utilities aren't always so utilitarian.
Quote from: Dune on March 30, 2012, 08:40:38 AM
I have spent a couple of days now, checking hundreds of forums (fora?) to find out what could cause sluggish behavior in PS. And why my floppy disk wouldn't work anymore (I still have one, yes). Finally, I got a bright moment and restored the stuff I threw out with CCCleaner. And it's blazing fast again!!! :D :P Some 'missing dll's' were probably not missing at all, but badly needed.
So... warning for all; be careful what you do with CCCleaner, especially regarding the register, and at least save backups.
Back to work........
CCleaner did that to me years ago. I use IObit's Advance System Care Pro now. It is much better. AVG has a similar add-on for their licensed Anti-Virus.
Good that you have sorted out your problem Ulco.
Would be good to know which files did the problem just out of curiosity but never mind :)
I used to use these kind of programs very much in the past (Tuneup etc.)
But i had a problem ones too.
I have CCleaner installed ,but since then i use them only if really needed .
Well, I haven't sorted it out after all, it now seems. Photoshop is still extremely slow when opening a file, saving it and the cursor is trailing way behind if I try do any brushwork. I tested memory (memtest) and the HD (Seatools), but they seem ok. When opening some logfiles I do encounter things that gone wrong some time (crashes, unable to open COM files, or something). I also can't seem to repair Photoshop by a new install, and also my online XP is still very slow in opening and response. Viewing a mp4 file (Garden of Eternity, final release ;)) doesn't run smoothly and there's no sound, although I do have other sounds.
All in all, I think I'll do a clean format and reinstall.....
QuoteViewing a mp4 file (Garden of Eternity, final release )
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE THIS THING!!!!! Holy crap I have been waiting a long time ;)
Quote from: TheBadger on April 01, 2012, 06:01:40 PM
QuoteViewing a mp4 file (Garden of Eternity, final release )
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE THIS THING!!!!! Holy crap I have been waiting a long time ;)
+1
Ooops! I overlooked that :)
It'll be any day now, as soon as I answer Oshyan's last email. I've seen it and it's awesome, but I haven't heard the music yet (which may be awful ;)).
Got my pc working again, by the way. Just formatted both C and D partitions, set up new XP's and all fresh installs. It's like taking a shower and putting on cleans clothes after a long hike. I recommend it to everyone :D