System Freezes in XPh SP2

[JohnO]

I'm having massive issues with unannounced system freezes. When looking in
Event Viewer I get around 8 "Application Pop Up: : Machine Check: Regs"
events just before the freeze takes place. I had MS Anti Pop Up Software
installed but removed it in case this was the issue - it wasn't. Also tried
removing my other Anti Pop Up software but this still hasn't helped.

Driving me round the twist. Any help appreciated. The fact I've now bought
an External HDD which I can't get to work to back up my data and do a clean
install of XP is also frustrating me no end.

[Harlin Seritt]

Hi JohnO,

Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
motherboard-battery-related.

It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
would normally clue me to such a thing.

I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
the battery starts to barely falter.

As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
kind of weird trick to it. :-)

Regards,

Harlin Seritt

[JohnO]

Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.

Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the device
doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware Profile as a
second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written to as
planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm spending
even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.

"Harlin Seritt" wrote:

> Hi JohnO,
>
> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
> motherboard-battery-related.
>
> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
> would normally clue me to such a thing.
>
> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
> the battery starts to barely falter.
>
> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
>
> Regards,
>
> Harlin Seritt
>
>

[Richard Urban]

Have you gat a partition on the external drive? Is it formatted? The drive
will not be given a drive letter by the O/S until it has been done.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

If you knew half as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!


"JohnO" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.
>
> Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the device
> doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware Profile
> as a
> second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written to
> as
> planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm
> spending
> even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.
>
> "Harlin Seritt" wrote:
>
>> Hi JohnO,
>>
>> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
>> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
>> motherboard-battery-related.
>>
>> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
>> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
>> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
>> would normally clue me to such a thing.
>>
>> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
>> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
>> the battery starts to barely falter.
>>
>> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
>> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
>> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
>> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Harlin Seritt
>>
>>

[JohnO]

Thanks Richard.

How can I format it if I can't access it? Should I firstly set it up as a
second IDE hard drive and format it?

Thanks

JohnO

"Richard Urban" wrote:

> Have you gat a partition on the external drive? Is it formatted? The drive
> will not be given a drive letter by the O/S until it has been done.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
>
> aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
>
> If you knew half as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
>
> "JohnO" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.
> >
> > Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the device
> > doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware Profile
> > as a
> > second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written to
> > as
> > planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm
> > spending
> > even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.
> >
> > "Harlin Seritt" wrote:
> >
> >> Hi JohnO,
> >>
> >> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
> >> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
> >> motherboard-battery-related.
> >>
> >> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
> >> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
> >> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
> >> would normally clue me to such a thing.
> >>
> >> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
> >> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
> >> the battery starts to barely falter.
> >>
> >> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
> >> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
> >> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
> >> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Harlin Seritt
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

[Richard Urban]

You can't access it because it is not formatted. Right click on My Computer
| Manage | Disk Management. Find the drive. Click on the drive in the bottom
window. Do you see any partitions or is it displayed as RAW or unallocated?
If it is Raw or unallocated you have to create a partition and format the
partition. Then the computer will give it a drive letter designation upon a
reboot.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)

If you knew half as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!


"JohnO" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks Richard.
>
> How can I format it if I can't access it? Should I firstly set it up as a
> second IDE hard drive and format it?
>
> Thanks
>
> JohnO
>
> "Richard Urban" wrote:
>
>> Have you gat a partition on the external drive? Is it formatted? The
>> drive
>> will not be given a drive letter by the O/S until it has been done.
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>>
>> aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
>>
>> If you knew half as much as you think you know,
>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>
>>
>> "JohnO" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.
>> >
>> > Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the
>> > device
>> > doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware
>> > Profile
>> > as a
>> > second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written
>> > to
>> > as
>> > planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm
>> > spending
>> > even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.
>> >
>> > "Harlin Seritt" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi JohnO,
>> >>
>> >> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
>> >> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
>> >> motherboard-battery-related.
>> >>
>> >> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system
>> >> is
>> >> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
>> >> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
>> >> would normally clue me to such a thing.
>> >>
>> >> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
>> >> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
>> >> the battery starts to barely falter.
>> >>
>> >> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
>> >> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
>> >> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
>> >> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>
>> >> Harlin Seritt
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>

[Leif Nordmand Andersen]

Hi John,

People says it should be visible in manage, Disk Management.

I've experienced it wasn't. But doing as you suggested, taking out the
drive and puting on a IDE cable and then format it, reinstall it in
the external box, then it worked.

Regards Leif


On Tue, 5 Apr 2005 04:11:02 -0700, "JohnO"
> wrote:

>Thanks Richard.
>
>How can I format it if I can't access it? Should I firstly set it up as a
>second IDE hard drive and format it?
>
>Thanks
>
>JohnO
>
>"Richard Urban" wrote:
>
>> Have you gat a partition on the external drive? Is it formatted? The drive
>> will not be given a drive letter by the O/S until it has been done.
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>>
>> Richard Urban
>>
>> aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
>>
>> If you knew half as much as you think you know,
>> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>>
>>
>> "JohnO" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.
>> >
>> > Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the device
>> > doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware Profile
>> > as a
>> > second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written to
>> > as
>> > planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm
>> > spending
>> > even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.
>> >
>> > "Harlin Seritt" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi JohnO,
>> >>
>> >> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
>> >> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
>> >> motherboard-battery-related.
>> >>
>> >> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
>> >> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
>> >> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
>> >> would normally clue me to such a thing.
>> >>
>> >> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
>> >> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
>> >> the battery starts to barely falter.
>> >>
>> >> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
>> >> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
>> >> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
>> >> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
>> >>
>> >> Regards,
>> >>
>> >> Harlin Seritt
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>

[JohnO]

Leif

Many thanks - did this and it worked no problem at all. Now have a great
back up solution, even if, after a clean format and reinstall of XPh, the
Crash problem has reoccurred. However, looks far more stable.

Many thanks for all the help.

JohnO

"Leif Nordmand Andersen" wrote:

> Hi John,
>
> People says it should be visible in manage, Disk Management.
>
> I've experienced it wasn't. But doing as you suggested, taking out the
> drive and puting on a IDE cable and then format it, reinstall it in
> the external box, then it worked.
>
> Regards Leif
>
>
> On Tue, 5 Apr 2005 04:11:02 -0700, "JohnO"
> > wrote:
>
> >Thanks Richard.
> >
> >How can I format it if I can't access it? Should I firstly set it up as a
> >second IDE hard drive and format it?
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >JohnO
> >
> >"Richard Urban" wrote:
> >
> >> Have you gat a partition on the external drive? Is it formatted? The drive
> >> will not be given a drive letter by the O/S until it has been done.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Richard Urban
> >>
> >> aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard :-)
> >>
> >> If you knew half as much as you think you know,
> >> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
> >>
> >>
> >> "JohnO" > wrote in message
> >> ...
> >> > Thanks for the Battery advice - will try it out.
> >> >
> >> > Hard drive is a Maxtor, with an external case. Problem is that the device
> >> > doesn't show itself as a mapped drive, but is in System Hardware Profile
> >> > as a
> >> > second hard drive. This means it cannot be formatted or indeed written to
> >> > as
> >> > planned. I'm buying Ghost to try and do this, but I feel as if I'm
> >> > spending
> >> > even more money with absolutely no guarantee of it working.
> >> >
> >> > "Harlin Seritt" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Hi JohnO,
> >> >>
> >> >> Did you install any new applications or add any other hardware besides
> >> >> the external hard drive? If not, you may want to consider this freeze
> >> >> motherboard-battery-related.
> >> >>
> >> >> It may sound very strange but I had many of the symptoms your system is
> >> >> showing and a new motherboard battery took care of everything -- It's
> >> >> at least a shot. Also, I was not having any system time issues that
> >> >> would normally clue me to such a thing.
> >> >>
> >> >> I've found that some systems can run forever (although the timing will
> >> >> be off) with a bad mb battery and other systems completely freeze when
> >> >> the battery starts to barely falter.
> >> >>
> >> >> As far as your hard drive is concerned, what make and model is it? We
> >> >> probaby can figure out the problem with that one relatively easy since
> >> >> XP can support anything that's made these days. There might be some
> >> >> kind of weird trick to it. :-)
> >> >>
> >> >> Regards,
> >> >>
> >> >> Harlin Seritt
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>