BleepingComputer.com: Laptop With Xp Home Crashes Randomly

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 and have recently done a format and fresh install of XP Home. I have installed all the same updated drivers, software and programs that I had before, but now my laptop crashes at random. The only different program I installed was Acronis True Image version 10. As I thought it may be this program I uninstalled it and remove the registry entries, but that did not help.

When it crashes the touchpad still works to control the pointer movement but no buttons or keys work. The only thing I can can do is use control-alt-del to bring up task manager but as no keys or buttons work it is useless. All I can do is press the power button to switch off.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I also have upgraded to Ad-Aware 2007 from Ad-Aware Personal SE.

There are a couple of things that can cause the computer to crash, the first thing that comes to mind is heat. Do you know what you CPU temperatures are running? What does the event viewer show at the times that it crashes?

Many thanks for your speedy reply.

If it did not crash before the reformat could that still be linked to heat issues as they would have been there before?

When it crashes I cannot get any program or tool to work so I cannot look at event viewer.

It does tend to happen more when using IE7, but I regularly scan for spyware, etc., clean the registry and defrag.

You can probably check the CPU temp with Everest Home 2.20 (free) from
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

After it's installed click to open Computer > Sensor on the left side of the window. Typically there will be temps for the CPU and usually the hard drive if the hard drive has a sensor.

However, you said that the touchpad (and the pointer, presumably) still work. Heat problems will cause a computer to randomly shut off or restart. In your case the processor is still running, but the OS is mostly locked up.

The Event Viewer will contain a log of previous problems. Look at it immediately after the restart after a crash.

I have just installed Everest Ultimate Edition (as I have it but have never used it). It gives the CPU temp as 43C and hard drive as 44C. I don't think that is too high.

When the system crashes the pointer can be moved with the touchpad but I cannot click on anything (neither the touchpad buttons nor tapping the touchpad itself works). Also no keys work incl. the windows key. However, I can bring up task manager with ctrl-alt-del but cannot do anything with it as I cannot click on anything, so it is useless. All I can do is switch off and restart or play around aimlessely with the pointer!

So far it has not crashed yet (typical!) so I have not had a chance to look at the event viewer on restarting. I misunderstood what dc3 meant earlier, I thought he meant to check the event viewer when the system crashes (obviously not possible).

Go ahead and look at the Event Viewer while it's working - just scroll back to about the time that it last crashed on you and see what's there.

The only thing I could find in the event viewer was this repeated warning at regular intervals under the "application" heading. They are not specific to the times that the laptop crashes though:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1517
Date: 26/07/2007
Time: 00:22:10
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: JULES
Description:
Windows saved user JULES\User registry while an application or service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is no longer in use.

This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account.


There was nothing under the "system" heading at all, just the regular "information" items. Although this morning when I switched on there was this error message:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7
Date: 26/07/2007
Time: 09:38:14
User: N/A
Computer: JULES
Description:
The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block.


Apart from that there is nothing to report at all and the laptop still hasn't crashed yet (typical!).

Any ideas?

You could try running the System File Checker.

How to Use SFC.EXE to Repair System Files

Also, try running "chkdsk /f /r" (without the quotes) from the Run dialog. It'll ask you if you want to check your disk on the next reboot, select Yes and then reboot.

The laptop has just crashed and again there is nothing in the event viewer except for this warning again under "application":


Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1524
Date: 26/07/2007
Time: 16:19:56
User: JULES\User
Computer: JULES
Description:
Windows cannot unload your classes registry file - it is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded when it is no longer in use.


I have tried System File Checker but for some reason it asks for Disc 2 of XP Pro when I have XP Home installed and an XP Home SP2 boot disk so therefore the tool cannot continue.

I'll try doing a check disk to see if that helps.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Also, try creating another profile and see if the problem occurs there. You can also try using the free User Profile Hive Cleanup Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

This post has been edited by usasma: 26 July 2007 - 06:33 PM

By profile do you mean user account?

Yes, that's what usasma means. A profile is a fancy word for a user account.

To create another user account:
Control Panel > User Accounts > Create a new account

Let the new account have Administrator privileges - this is the default.

If your system stops crashing when looged into the new user account you will can copy the profile from the old account to the new to keep many of your settings:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen...y.mspx?mfr=true

Sorry I've not responded but I've been on holiday for a week.

Thanks for your suggestion. I have just created a new profile and will try using it from now.

I will let you know if it works.

Cheers