Re: Application Errors - Tried EVERYTHING - PLEASE HELP!!!!

From: at (Peter)
Date: 09/27/04


Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:51:05 +0100

I have seen problems like this developing after a substantial period
(months) of normal use and apparently resulting from marginal memory
which produced errors when the system got hot when maximally
exercised. The memory in this case passed Memtest-like diagnostics
(probably because the video card was not also being stressed/producing
heat while the memory was being tested in this way), though I did not
test it as exhaustively as you appear to have tested yours.

The only other hardware causes of tis sort of behaviour which spring
to mind are processor overheating (has the goo between your processor
and its heat sink dried up?) and a flaky power supply - but I think
that the latter is unlikely.

I would use an appropriate utility to check your CPU temperature when
you are doing the things that cause your system to crash. If it is too
high, remove, clean, and replace (with new thermal "goo") your CPU
heatsink, and see if that helps. If it is not the CPU, I would replace
the memory with 512 MB of top of the line (e.g. Crucial) SDRAM.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:29:12 -0700, "ROBERTO - IN DESPERATE NEED OF
HELP" <THEREBELMINDat-HOTMAIL-DOT-COM@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

>
>HELP ME PLEASE!!!
>
>
>
>I DESPERATELY NEED HELP WITH THESE CONSTANT CRASHES I HAVE
>BEEN HAVING. I HAVE DONE SO MUCH TO TRY AND TROUBLESHOOT
>IT ALREADY AND HAVENT MADE A BIT OF PROGRESS. IF ANYONE
>COULD HELP ME, I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT.
>
>I WILL OUTLINE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CRASHES AND EVERYTHING
>THAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR...SO THIS WILL BE KINDA LONG, BUT
>PLEASE TRY TO READ THE WHOLE THING SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT I
>HAVE ALREADY TRIED AND RULED OUT AS BEING THE CULPRIT.
>
>I WILL TRY TO MAKE THE DESCRIPTION AS CLEAR AND DETAILED
>AS POSSIBLE BROKEN DOWN INTO SEGMENTS. I WILL TRY TO
>INCLUDE EVERY PIECE OF INFO THAT ANYONE COULD NEED IN
>TRYING TO HELP ME.
>
>IT WILL BE A LONG POST BUT IT WILL AVOID US HAVING TO GO
>BACK & FORTH WITH QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT MY SYSTEM
>AND WHAT I HAVE TRIED SO FAR...WHICH IS INFO YOU NEED
>ANYWAY IN ORDER TO HELP ME....SO I MIGHT AS WELL PUT IT
>ALL DOWN RIGHT NOW AT THE START.
>
>I APPRECIATE ANY SUGGESTIONS.
>
>THANKS,
>ROB
>
>__________________________________
>
>
>*PROBLEM*
>----------
>
>Any Multimedia program used for ENCODING or RENDERING
>audio & video files crashes EVERY time that it is encoding
>or rendering. I was able to encode multimedia on this
>machine several months ago, but at some point (since i
>went months without even trying to encode anything) the
>crashes started happening 100% of the time.
>
>__________________________________
>
>
>*DETAILS*
>----------
>
>-I USED TO BE ABLE TO ENCODE VIDEO AND AUDIO ON THIS SAME
>HARDWARE until a few months back...I couldnt answer the
>all-important troubleshooting question "Well, what changed
>right before the failures started?" since I am re-imaging
>my operating system every month or so and constantly
>downloading & installing new applications...but my
>hardware has not changed exept for MAYBE one new Hard
>Drive which I cannot recal whether it was installed before
>the crashes started or after...but I eliminated this as
>the culprit in my troubleshooting steps (Described in
>detail far below)
>
>-My system is COMPLETELY free of any virus', adware,
>spyware, worms, trojans, or otehr malware...aside from
>being completely obsessive about this and running an array
>of redundant protection & avoiding exposure in many many
>effective ways, my troubleshooting liminated any kind of
>malware as being a possible culprit in my troubleshooting
>steps (Described in detail far below)
>
>-These crashes go for ANY Multimedia program and ONLY
>Multimedia programs (non-audio/video programs seem to work
>fine).
>
>-The crash happens at some point DURING the encoding
>process, not upon starting the encoding...it will complete
>anywhere between 10% to 90% of the process and then crash,
>sometimes even further in.
>
>-Occasionally, the same application errors happen during
>simply playing of multimedia files, but this is much more
>seldom and not something i can replicate at will like when
>encoding, which crashes 100% of the time faithfully.
>
>-The crashes happen no matter the format, source, codec,
>speed, quality, process priority level nor application
>used.
>
>-As for DVD RIPPING, these crashes DO NOT occur when
>ripping a DVD to ISO/BIN,CUE/NRG/MDS,MDF/ or FOLDER or
>similar....(I GUESS SINCE THOSE DO NOT INVOLVE ENCODING OF
>THE VIDEO/AUDIO)....they DO happen if I rip a DVD to
>another format (re-encode the video)...even if its Mpeg2
>with DVD standards....the key is whether or not i am
>encoding
>
>____________________________________
>
>
>*ERROR DESCRIPTIONS* (divided by "@@@@", my footnotes are
>surrounded by "****")
>--------------------
>
>@@@@
>
>Program Name.exe - Application Error
>
>The instruction at "0x044a0e06" referenced memory
>at "0x03fc5000". The memory could not be "read".
>
>Click on OK to terminate the program
>Click on CANCEL to debug the program
>
>****BY THE WAY--The memory address change each time, the
>above addresses are one example of a million. Also,
>several times the 1st or 2nd address is 0x00000000)****
>
>****Also, some times, the error appears as "...memory
>could not be "written"." as opposed to "could not
>be "read"."....it really depends on what the application
>is doing at the moment....I have found that usually
>the "could not be "read"." happen during ENCODING while
>the "could not be "written"." happen more during scanning
>or preperation of multimedia files....but there are so
>many exceptions to this rule that its barely worth
>noting.****
>
>****Here is the above error's entry in the Event Log.****
>
>
>Event Type: Information
>Event Source: Application Popup
>Event Category: None
>Event ID: 26
>Date: 8/20/2004
>Time: 6:10:52 PM
>User: N/A
>Computer: 020MAIN
>Description:
>Application popup: Media Player Classic.exe - Application
>Error : The instruction at "0x044a0e06" referenced memory
>at "0x03fc5000". The memory could not be "read".
>
>Click on OK to terminate the program
>Click on CANCEL to debug the program
>
>For more information, see Help and Support Center at
>http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
>
>
>@@@@
>
>Program Name.exe - Application Error
>
>The exception Breakpoint
>A breakpoint has been reached.
>(0x80000003) occurred in the application at location
>0x07be078e
>
>Click on OK to terminate the program
>Click on CANCEL to debug the program
>
>
>****This error only happened once or twice in place of the
>first error...I havent been able to reproduce this error
>ever again, but it must be somehow related since it
>occured in the same situation that otherwise brought upon
>the other error. I figured it was worth mentioning since
>someone might recognize it and not the other error thereby
>giving me the answer to both.****
>
>@@@@
>
>Program Name.exe - Application Error
>
>
>The exception unknown software exception (0xc000001e)
>occurred in the application at location 0x053307a0
>
>Click on OK to terminate the program
>Click on CANCEL to debug the program
>
>
>****This is another one that only happened once or twice
>and never again since.****
>
>
>@@@@
>
>Event Type: Information
>Event Source: Application Popup
>Event Category: None
>Event ID: 26
>Date: 8/20/2004
>Time: 6:08:04 PM
>User: N/A
>Computer: 020MAIN
>Description:
>Application popup: Recode.exe - Application Error : The
>exception Privileged instruction.
> (0xc0000096) occurred in the application at location
>0x042e0780.
>
>Click on OK to terminate the program
>Click on CANCEL to debug the program
>
>For more information, see Help and Support Center at
>http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
>
>
>****Here is another error which only happened once or
>twice. As you can see, I didnt get a chance to copy the
>exact dialog box, but this was the Event Log entry for it.
>
>
>______________________________________
>-------------END OF ERRORS---------------
>______________________________________
>
>
>*HARDWARE DESCRIPTION*
>-----------------------
>
>MOBO Gigabyte GA-7VAXP (ATA 133, AGP 8, more...)
>CPU Athlon XP 2000 (1674 mhz, Socket A, MMX, EMMX,
>SSE, 3DNOW, Extended 3DNOW)
>BIOS Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG, OEM version F14
>09/03/2003
>CHIPSET VIA Apollo KT400
>RAM 256MB DDR PC3200 400MHz (1 Stick)
>VGA ATI Radeon 7000 32MB AGP 1,2,4 (currently set to
>AGP 4)
>SOUND Hercules GameTheaterXP 6.1 External (Onboard sound
>disabled)
>RAID Onboard Promise 20276 ATA133 or IDE RAID
>PRINT Lexmark All-In-One x5150 USB
>OPTICAL NEC DVD +/- R/RW ND-2500a - IDE 2, Device 0 (alone
>on IDE channel 2)
>WEBCAM Concord Eye-Q Duo LCD (Web cam / Digital Camera +
>Storage driver)
>NIC Onboard Realtek 10-100 Fast Ethernet PCI
>NET Cable modem, over 3.5 megabit per second
>
>---
>
>DRIVES:
>
>*20gb Maxtor - 1 20gb NTFS Partition (C:\, Windows Drive) -
> IDE 1, Device 0
>*250gb Western Digital - 1 250gb Partition (D:\, Storage +
>my only Pagefile) - IDE 1, Device 1
>
>*80gb Maxtor - 1 80gb NTFS Partition (E:\, Storage) - IDE
>3, Device 0 (Promise Controller)
>*30gb Seagate - 1 30gb NTFS Partition (F:\, Storage) -
>IDE 3, Device 1 (Promise Controller)
>
>*10gb Western Digital - 1 10gb NTFS Partition (G:\,
>Storage) - IDE4, Device 0 (Promise Controller)
>*8gb Western Digital - 1 10gb NTFS Partition (H:\,
>Storage) - IDE4, Device 1 (Promise Controller)
>
>______________________________________
>
>
>*SYSTEM DESCRIPTION* (Changed many times during
>troubleshooting)
>---------------------
>
>Windows XP Pro (no Service pack, then SP1, Now
>SP2...crashed with all)
>500 mb Pagefile on D:\ (crashed with pagefile in various
>sizes and locations)
>
>______________________________________
>
>
>*SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION*
>----------------------
>
>Norton Internet Security 2004, updated daily (crashed with
>or without)
>Norton Antivirus 2004, updated daily (crashed with or
>without)
>Many applications of various types. (crashed with all or
>without any)
>Many applications for multimedia editing, encoding, and
>playing (crashed with all or without any)
>ACE Mega Codec pack full install (crashed with or without)
>K-Lite Codec Pack Full Install (crashed with or without)
>
>_______________________________________
>_______________________________________
>_______________________________________
>
>*TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS TAKEN SO FAR*
>------------------------------------
>
>(I duplicated the crashes under all of the following
>conditions and after performing all of the following steps)
>
>-Changed settings for pagefile size and locations in every
>possible way
>-Disabled all non-critical background services one at a
>time
>-Disabled all non-critical hardware one at a time (both in
>Windows and in BIOS) like IDE controller 2, Promise IDE
>RAID controller, on board hardware, etc etc
>-Disabled all non-critical drivers one at a time
>-Uninstalled all non-critical hardware & drivers one at a
>time (both in Windows and by physically removing)
>-Uninstalled (physically) all hard drives one at a time
>-Uninstalled all codecs and software one at a time
>-Uninstalled Anti-Virus & Firewall one at a time, tried
>different brands (Avast, Black Ice, Panda, McAfee, etc)
>-RE-IMAGED PC WITH FRESH WINDOWS XP PRO INSTALLATION, NO
>SOFTWARE (other than test program), NO UPDATES (at first),
>NO NON-CRITICAL DRIVERS
>-RE-IMAGED PC WITH FRESH WINDOWS 2000 INSTALLATION, NO
>SOFTWARE (other than test program), NO UPDATES (at first),
>NO NON-CRITICAL DRIVERS
>-Incrementally installed different services, programs,
>security apps, drivers, codecs, and windows updates to
>both FRESH Windows (XP & 2000) Installations...testing
>after each change
>-Tested each system configuration with every multimedia
>encoding application at my disposal (over 30 programs from
>different vendors)
>-Reverted back to old versions of all hardware drivers one
>at a time
>-Updated to newest versions of all hardware drivers one at
>a time
>-Re-seated my only 256MB RAM stick into each of the 3
>slots one at a time
>-Ran 2 different RAM testers OUTSIDE of windows (Microsoft
>and MemTest86) for over 24 hours each...passed all tests
>(both set to thorough testing)
>-Ran MEMTEST (Windows memory testing app) from within
>windows for 8 hours....passed all thorough tests
>-Ran Performance Test (from Norton System Works) using
>various tests for Memory, Bus, hard drives, page files,
>AGP, and CPU (multimedia & math)...passed all
>-Ran burn-in tests using SiSoft Sandra 2004 on Memory,
>drives, CPU Multimedia, CPU math, page file, AGP, SCSI,
>and File system....passed all intense benchmarking tests
>with expected results for each model hardware
>-verified all IRQ, IO, and DMA for conflicts
>-Tuned write caching off and on
>-installed windows (XP & Pro) on different hard drives,
>using only that hard drive on the system
>-Defragged all hard drives using O&O Defrag will they were
>down to less than 1%-3% fragmented
>-Reverted BIOS to safe settings, high-performance
>settings, default settings, custom sensible settings and
>every other possible config...making changes one at a time
>-Flashed BIOS to newer version (F14 up from F4)...despite
>encoding had worked in the passed on the old version
>
>etc etc etc.....whew!
>
>______________________________
>
>
>*CONCLUSION*
>------------
>
>I seriously have done more than even what I listed above,
>but that is all that comes to my mind right now as I type
>this....and this post is already long enough for you guys
>to not wanna bother reading
>
>
>>From looking at all the troubleshooting that I have done,
>you can imagine how frustated I am already...I have run
>out of things to try...
>
>the most confusing things are the fact that I USED TO BE
>ABLE TO ENCODE VIDEO AND AUDIO on this machine....so when
>you consider all of my different troubleshooting, it leads
>you to blame some piece of hardware having gone bad at
>some point after my last successfull video/audio encoding
>several months ago (since the hardware is the only thing
>that I couldnt swap for testing in my troubleshooting
>steps)....but then all of the hardware passes all of the
>stress tests and benchmarking that i throw at it...
>
>
>ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED....
>
>THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!!
>
>
>

Please respond to the Newsgroup, so that others may benefit from the exchange.
Peter R. Fletcher



Relevant Pages

  • Re: NEED HELP DESPERATELY! - APPLICATION ERRORS
    ... ATI released new Catalyst 4.91 drivers today. ... Cari (MS-MVP Printing, Imaging & Hardware) ... > I DESPERATELY NEED HELP WITH THESE CONSTANT CRASHES I HAVE ... > Any Multimedia program used for ENCODING or RENDERING ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev)
  • Re: Application Errors - Tried EVERYTHING - PLEASE HELP!!!!
    ... Reinstall all drivers and all software. ... > I DESPERATELY NEED HELP WITH THESE CONSTANT CRASHES I HAVE ... > Any Multimedia program used for ENCODING or RENDERING ... > hardware has not changed exept for MAYBE one new Hard ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: The variable bit cpu
    ... So with this new encoding the encoder has options:D;) use the original ... those bits are kept in the opcode rather than in each memory ... By your scheme, you can ... > out of the RISC vs. CISC debate -- you can't stick arbitrary hardware ...
    (alt.lang.asm)
  • NEED HELP DESPERATELY! - APPLICATION ERRORS
    ... I WILL OUTLINE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CRASHES AND EVERYTHING ... Any Multimedia program used for ENCODING or RENDERING ... HARDWARE until a few months back...I couldnt answer the ... all-important troubleshooting question "Well, what changed ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev)
  • Application Errors - Tried EVERYTHING - PLEASE HELP!!!!
    ... I WILL OUTLINE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CRASHES AND EVERYTHING ... Any Multimedia program used for ENCODING or RENDERING ... HARDWARE until a few months back...I couldnt answer the ... all-important troubleshooting question "Well, what changed ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)