Computer Crashed. Why?

[Keebler Elf]

I went to start up my computer today and it got to the logon Windows (XP Home edition) screen and froze. The mouse wouldn't work so I couldn't input my password so I rebooted.

Got to the Windows desktop this time and then it spontaneously rebooted after about a minute. On the subsequent reboots, the same thing happened at either the logon page or the desktop.

I had this problem during the summer and it turned out to be a faulty cable. Since I replaced it with a new one, it seems strange that this would be the same problem.

I turned on my computer this evening and everything is working fine. Any tips to diagnose what happened this morning?

The Event Viewer in Admin Tools has two errors listed as "McLogEvent ... 5022 SYSTEM" at around the times I was logging on in the morning. I use McAfee anti-virus; could that be the problem?

 

[MarkII]

I've had that happen once or twice on my PC machines.

Try booting in safe mode to see if that works although you're limited in driver correction etc.

It also happened once with a nasty little virus I had picked up. Eventually identified it and there was a removal tool from Symantec.

It may be a faulty hard drive, fan, or bios battery to name a few things I know can cause that.

Other more techy types will most likely have some better idea

Good luck!

 

[joebear]

in the classic control panel, go to system then the advanced tab then startup recovery uncheck automatically restart. if it is checked the computer will automatically reboot. leave it unchecked.

if the computer freezes you will get the bluescreen of death but with error codes. you can google the error codes. usually they are hardware related but sometimes a driver error.

the error codes will help you diagnose the problem.

 

[Keebler Elf]

It's working now so no need for safe mode. I also wasn't connected to the internet at any time so that couldn't have been it.

 

[Keebler Elf]

in the classic control panel, go to system then the advanced tab then startup recovery uncheck automatically restart. if it is checked the computer will automatically reboot. leave it unchecked.

Is there a downside to this? I might not be able to get to it if the crashing happens again, but is that a problem if I leave it unchecked?

 

[foolnarnd]

Time to backup the whole shootin' match

I went to start up my computer today and it got to the logon Windows (XP Home edition) screen and froze. The mouse wouldn't work so I couldn't input my password so I rebooted.

Got to the Windows desktop this time and then it spontaneously rebooted after about a minute. On the subsequent reboots, the same thing happened at either the logon page or the desktop.

I had this problem during the summer and it turned out to be a faulty cable. Since I replaced it with a new one, it seems strange that this would be the same problem.

I turned on my computer this evening and everything is working fine. Any tips to diagnose what happened this morning?

The Event Viewer in Admin Tools has two errors listed as "McLogEvent ... 5022 SYSTEM" at around the times I was logging on in the morning. I use McAfee anti-virus; could that be the problem?

Before you lose everything I would back up. I had a hard drive in my laptop slowly die - they all do eventually. It acted a lot like you describe. In one of the last clean boots I got everything copied over to a cheap external drive . I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the hard drive did bite the dust and it only cost me a few hundred dollars to replace it with a bigger and faster one.

Really spiffed up the performance on the old machine. Reinstalling the OS from scratch really helped clean out the crap you collect over the years too. I've had guys working for me that do it almost as a matter of course on their development boxes.

 

[Keebler Elf]

I doubt it's the drive; it's only about a year or two old. I also monitor my hard drives with Active SMART and they don't indicate a problem. I actually replaced my old primary drive b/c it was dying a slow death so I know exactly what it's like to race against the clock to back up data. I also reinstall Windows every 6-12 months.

I'm thinking it was either:

A) A freak occurence;

B) Somehow related to last week's power surge;

C) Another faulty cable; or

D) Something to do with McAfee anti-virus.

 

[joebear]

Is there a downside to this? I might not be able to get to it if the crashing happens again, but is that a problem if I leave it unchecked?

no downside. I would leave it unchecked as that is its purpose to give error codes otherwise the computer automatically reboots.

once you get the bluescreen write the codes down. you will have to manually restart the computer by hitting you power button. enter safe mode then google the error codes.

I have mine unchecked as I am always messing with my hardware configuration.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Will do. I've found my laptop to be a godsend when my PC crashes.

 

[joebear]

active smart is not a good indicator of hardrive failure imho.

http://knowledge.mcafee.com/article/434/7489301_f.SAL_Public.html
Details on McAfee VirusScan Enterprise entries in the Windows Application Event Log

5022 Error MCSCAN32 Engine Initialisation failed.
Engine returned error : %Error Details% McLogEvent.

thats the error code so it's seems related to mcafee virus scan.

with MS updates they have DEP, data execution prevention which is a pain in the ass as some programs now run funny in XP and you have to create an exception for those programs not to be monitored by DEP. DEP causes XP to reboot.

 

[joebear]

your dat files for mcaffee may be corrupt.

 

[Esco!]

I use McAfee anti-virus; could that be the problem?

Elfie, I used to have McAfee but I got rid of it.
I now use AVG free and it does just as good a job (its also free).

And I download tons of movies, music and programs

 

[Cobster]

A ton eh Esco...good to know, thanks.

 

[toughb]

Check Microsoft

I went to start up my computer today and it got to the logon Windows (XP Home edition) screen and froze. The mouse wouldn't work so I couldn't input my password so I rebooted.

Got to the Windows desktop this time and then it spontaneously rebooted after about a minute. On the subsequent reboots, the same thing happened at either the logon page or the desktop.

I had this problem during the summer and it turned out to be a faulty cable. Since I replaced it with a new one, it seems strange that this would be the same problem.

I turned on my computer this evening and everything is working fine. Any tips to diagnose what happened this morning?

The Event Viewer in Admin Tools has two errors listed as "McLogEvent ... 5022 SYSTEM" at around the times I was logging on in the morning. I use McAfee anti-virus; could that be the problem?

This is a know driver failure or incompatibility. Had the problem and replaced an old driver and everything works perfectly.

 

[MarkII]

This is a know driver failure or incompatibility. Had the problem and replaced an old driver and everything works perfectly.

The problem is trying to find which driver it is! I've ha that before as well and can be like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Booted up this morning with no problems (so far...).

 

[tboy]

The problem is trying to find which driver it is! I've ha that before as well and can be like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Pretty easy to do actually, because a typical pc doesn't or shouldn't have that many drivers on it.

Sure you will have them for vid cards, sound cards, network drivers, HDD controller, floppy or cd rom drivers but anything else shouldn't get corrupted. You could also go to the windows update site and make sure you have all the updates installed.

Which brings up another interesting point: at any time in the last couple of weeks did you upgrade anything? This may or may not include: real player, adobe, media player, quicktime?

Did you install any games? applications? anything?

Before anything else I'd burn all your files to a dvd or cd rom. That way if it goes, you've not lost anyting. You'd be surprised how many people never back up their files.....

This could also be a problem with your registry. I use a free registry cleaner from acelogic. Finds problems and fixes them all the time.

 

[Cobster]

Acelogix? or logic?
If it's logix, it's not free.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Which brings up another interesting point: at any time in the last couple of weeks did you upgrade anything? This may or may not include: real player, adobe, media player, quicktime?

Did you install any games? applications? anything?

I didn't, but McAfee is constantly updating so that's probably what caused it. Probably updated the night before and then tried to install when I powered up in the morning.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Okay, so it's happened again and I'm typing this from my laptop. Unlike before (and since I unticked automatic reboot), I got the blue screen that had the following:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

STOP: 0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x000000001, 0x804EBE4A)

I then rebooted and hit F8. All my drives detected but my primary listed itself as WDC WD3299JB - 00KFA. The first part looks correct to me but are the last 5 digits normally there? In the past, all the digits were jumbled and that was a result of the bad cable connection. But I can't remember if there are supposed to be those last 5 digits...

Continuing the reboot, I got to the Windows login page and it then crashed again. This time the blue screen had the following:

BAD_POOL_HEADER

STOP: 0x00000019 (0x00000020, 0xE22EE23F8, 0xE22E2460, 0x0C0D061D)

I rebooted and this time got past the Windows login page to the desktop. There I found a popup that said "Error:15." It crashed a few moments later.

So I'm heading to work now but if anyone has any ideas what's wrong, please HELP!!!