BleepingComputer.com: XP home instability and Database/SonicStage problems

XP Home, SP3

Symptoms
Computer had become slower loading applications over recent months, then started regularly freezing after being left idle, SonicStage would freeze the computer on opening Splash screen. Almost any use of CD-Audio caused Freezing.
BSOD.
Some restarts would trigger Active Desktop Recovery prompt

Other factors of interest:
When another user was using the computer, and SonicStage was misbehaving, some tool popped up volunteering to repair the database. The repair reported as incomplete. I have no useful information on what this repair tool was.

Measures taken so far:
Opened case. Was considering Power Supply issues. PS fan is a little erratic, but heat didn't seem to be a problem.
Cleaned bad dust build-up on CPU cooling fins.
Noticed one stick of RAM was not seated in properly. Reinstalled.
Power Management options and screensavers set to "never"
Sought advice from Sony Insiders forum re SonicStage (See http://forums.sonyinsider.com/index.php?showtopic=24722 )

Further info:
It's possible the stick of RAM had been partly removed as part of a test to check for faulty RAM quite a long time ago. My memory can get a little wobbly.
Extensive Trojan and other infections cleared from this machine early this year. See http://www.bleepingc...opic199461.html and
http://www.bleepingc...opic201229.html for details



Improvements so far:
Applications load much faster
Freezing on idling is much improved
SonicStage still freezes computer
CD Audio seems stable
Identified #ERROR cells in MDB database for SonicStage (see the Sony Forum)

I'm wondering if Windows system files may have become corrupted and am seeking advice. (Some advice in the Sony forum is suggesting this)

I don't see...where you ever removed the obvious candidate...Sonic Stage.

Louis

Hi Hamluis,

I haven't removed SonicStage, and want to avoid this because it contains some recordings from minidisc which are not, as yet, copied/saved in any other medium.

I know SonicStage "isn't pretty" and it is prone to glitches, but I still need to use it in the future, and would like to save its past.

That sounds like...a person who has just been told that he/she has emphysema...and who insists on smoking a pack a day, IMO.

That's what I call "user prerogative" but I think it merits some thought on your part.

If you think that the Sonic Stage thing is minor and that the system itself is the major problem...I would have to say that it's hard to say. Malware and all the other symptoms...I'd just do a clean install, sounds like it needs one.

Others may have different opinions, suggestions.

Louis

Thanks, perhaps I'm in denial that I have emphysema. But with the possibility that I have Asthma or Asbestosis, neither of which would benefit from continued smoking, I'm not certain that the dignostic process has been complete enough yet. Further, if SonicStage is the smoking gun, then what do I use instead of it for processing my recordings on Hi-MD format minidisc, and how come the other computer on the home network, which also has SonicStage (on XP-Pro) is not affected?

A clean install is going to take an enourmous effort and time, and if there are any other viable options, I'm happy to explore them.

Files on a computer...become dysfunctional...when they are damaged...just as we humans.

Just as I walk with a limp when my foot or leg muscles have been strained, so it is that a program which had been functioning perfectly...can suddenly become a source of system irritation.

We call that "file corruption" and the ony way that users normally find out about such, whether it occurs in a program or in Windows...is after the fact and by virtue of impact upon the system.

IMO, the keys are remarks like yours....indicating that the program performs without incident on a different system, has performed previously without incident, etc...those things should be clues to the possibility that file damage/corruption has occurred.

The normal way of counteracting such in a program...uninstall it, reinstall it. Ditto for drivers. The only ways to counteract file corruption in Windows is by running the sfc /scannow command or doing a repair install...or just doing a manual replacement of the file on the basis of a generated error message or suspicion.

As for clean installs...that's why backing up as a system strategy...has been emphasized as a basic component of a user-approach to computing.

As I said...others may have insights that I don't have.

Louis