How can I find the cause of errorless crashes in windows XP?

[Infohawk]

I have a compaq presario laptop. I've been having crashes that give me no
blue-screen or other indicators of what's wrong. The crashes freeze the
screen and the mouse, but sometimes I still see my wireless network card
keep flashing for a bit afterwards. The computer doesn't shut down. No
blue screen comes up. I don't think it's a certain application because the
error occurs even if the login screen is the only thing that's up. I
thought it might be heat but it doesn't seem to be because of that because
sometimes it crashes in the morning after it's had time to cool down and I
haven't used it very long. Also, I know someone who had problems with
heating on this same computer and they said they're system just completely
turned off whereas mine doesn't power off, it just locks up.

Since this machine is a laptop, the hardware hasn't changed much. I use a
wireless card. I add speakers and a microsoft mouse. But this freezing
occured before I added the wireless card and the speakers. I've had driver
problems with the mousepad (on the laptop) but when that happened a
bluescreen came up and told me so. I downloaded newer drivers and I
haven't had that problem since. Anyway, this freezing problem started a
while back with the basic configuration. The problem has become worse over
time. I have the latest drivers. I've tried various video drivers. The
compaq user boards are useless and mostly talk about the problem that
deals with the sudden powering off.

I've run memtest86 for a couple days with no errors so I don't think the
RAM's a problem. Also, the system has never crashed under knoppix linux
(although I don't run it that much).

Suggestions for finding the root of the problem? Are there any logs or
applications that could monitor what's happening?

Thanks

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Start/run eventvwr.msc and see if the system logs hold any clues.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Infohawk" > wrote in message
. ..
> I have a compaq presario laptop. I've been having crashes that give me no
> blue-screen or other indicators of what's wrong. The crashes freeze the
> screen and the mouse, but sometimes I still see my wireless network card
> keep flashing for a bit afterwards. The computer doesn't shut down. No
> blue screen comes up. I don't think it's a certain application because the
> error occurs even if the login screen is the only thing that's up. I
> thought it might be heat but it doesn't seem to be because of that because
> sometimes it crashes in the morning after it's had time to cool down and I
> haven't used it very long. Also, I know someone who had problems with
> heating on this same computer and they said they're system just completely
> turned off whereas mine doesn't power off, it just locks up.
>
> Since this machine is a laptop, the hardware hasn't changed much. I use a
> wireless card. I add speakers and a microsoft mouse. But this freezing
> occured before I added the wireless card and the speakers. I've had driver
> problems with the mousepad (on the laptop) but when that happened a
> bluescreen came up and told me so. I downloaded newer drivers and I
> haven't had that problem since. Anyway, this freezing problem started a
> while back with the basic configuration. The problem has become worse over
> time. I have the latest drivers. I've tried various video drivers. The
> compaq user boards are useless and mostly talk about the problem that
> deals with the sudden powering off.
>
> I've run memtest86 for a couple days with no errors so I don't think the
> RAM's a problem. Also, the system has never crashed under knoppix linux
> (although I don't run it that much).
>
> Suggestions for finding the root of the problem? Are there any logs or
> applications that could monitor what's happening?
>
> Thanks

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Does this Presario have an AMD processor, by any chance? I've
seen the same exact behavior on other Compaq laptops, caused by
overheating. In one case, the laptop's case was partially melted.

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
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----
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH


"Infohawk" > wrote in message
. ..
> I have a compaq presario laptop. I've been having crashes that give
me no
> blue-screen or other indicators of what's wrong. The crashes freeze
the
> screen and the mouse, but sometimes I still see my wireless network
card
> keep flashing for a bit afterwards. The computer doesn't shut down.
No
> blue screen comes up. I don't think it's a certain application
because the
> error occurs even if the login screen is the only thing that's up. I
> thought it might be heat but it doesn't seem to be because of that
because
> sometimes it crashes in the morning after it's had time to cool down
and I
> haven't used it very long. Also, I know someone who had problems
with
> heating on this same computer and they said they're system just
completely
> turned off whereas mine doesn't power off, it just locks up.
>
> Since this machine is a laptop, the hardware hasn't changed much. I
use a
> wireless card. I add speakers and a microsoft mouse. But this
freezing
> occured before I added the wireless card and the speakers. I've had
driver
> problems with the mousepad (on the laptop) but when that happened a
> bluescreen came up and told me so. I downloaded newer drivers and I
> haven't had that problem since. Anyway, this freezing problem
started a
> while back with the basic configuration. The problem has become
worse over
> time. I have the latest drivers. I've tried various video drivers.
The
> compaq user boards are useless and mostly talk about the problem
that
> deals with the sudden powering off.
>
> I've run memtest86 for a couple days with no errors so I don't think
the
> RAM's a problem. Also, the system has never crashed under knoppix
linux
> (although I don't run it that much).
>
> Suggestions for finding the root of the problem? Are there any logs
or
> applications that could monitor what's happening?
>
> Thanks

[Infohawk]

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 11:59:32 -0400, Rick "Nutcase" Rogers wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Start/run eventvwr.msc and see if the system logs hold any clues.

The system log doesn't show any errors. (Well, there's only DHCP errors which
don't coincide with the crashes.)