Random Shutdowns & DVD Burning Issues

ViSCeRaL

Just put a new drive in my PC and did a clean install of Win2K.

I seem to have the following issues :

1. Random Shutdowns. PC just locks up, for about 20 seconds, then the screen goes blank and there's no output from the Graphics Card.
Seems completely random, I'm not a gamer so I'm not stressing out the card I wouldn't have thought.

2. DVD Burning stopped working. Sonic RecordNow DX spits out all discs and gives an error message saying the media is bad. DVDDecrypter can burn an image file to the same disc no problem.

Any ideas? Need more info? Please ask.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Wed Jul 28, 2004 8:29 pm **Post subject:**

Quote:

I'm not a gamer so I'm not stressing out the card I wouldn't have thought.

In my experience it makes little difference, a naff card, is a naff card.

2. sounds like your burners bust..., let me guess, NEC?

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Wed Jul 28, 2004 8:56 pm **Post subject:**

spudthedestroyer wrote:

Quote:

I'm not a gamer so I'm not stressing out the card I wouldn't have thought.

In my experience it makes little difference, a naff card, is a naff card.

32MB Creative GeForce Annihilator Pro. Never had an issue with it since it was bought, including CAD and 3D Gaming, why would it be naff now? OK, it's not cutting edge by today's standards, but it's been rock solid for years.

spudthedestroyer wrote:

2. sounds like your burners bust..., let me guess, NEC?

Nope, Pioneer. And why would Decrypter burn with it OK, yet Recordnow DX doesn't? And why would it work in the morning and not in the afternoon of the same day?

Dia · **Posted:** Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:54 pm **Post subject:**

1. Could be any of the following (or something entirely different)

a) Loose components. Check that none came loose during fitting the new drive.

b) Driver conflict. I assume you installed all the drivers you were using before? After a clean install of windows, I usually reboot after each individual driver is installed (just to be safe). Also make sure your graphics card drivers were installed correctly. Nvidia drivers can play up if you don't follow the install procedure to the letter.

c) Not enough power. Not sure on this one, but depending on the drive and current psu, it may be possible that you need a more powerful psu.

No idea with the second problem, sorry.

George Tatum · **Posted:** Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:56 pm **Post subject:**

DJ, you suggested I use Stomp when I was having probs with Nero (won't burn DVD+RW), I now use Stomp for DVD and Nero for CD (Stomp burns about 1 in 2 coasters with Maxell CD's) so I guess all burning software is flawed in one way or another :wacky:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:36 pm **Post subject:**

Quote:

32MB Creative GeForce Annihilator Pro. Never had an issue with it since it was bought, including CAD and 3D Gaming, why would it be naff now? OK, it's not cutting edge by today's standards, but it's been rock solid for years.

First rule of electronics, nothing lasts forever. If you get graphic corruption, and its not driver related, your card is on its last legs.

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Thu Jul 29, 2004 8:52 am **Post subject:**

spudthedestroyer wrote:

First rule of electronics, nothing lasts forever. If you get graphic corruption, and its not driver related, your card is on its last legs.

I see where you're coming from, but there's noting concrete to suggest that it is graphics card related.

If I reset the PC, Win2K doesn't run CHKDSK on startup which seems a bit odd if it were just the graphics output that had shut down.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Jul 29, 2004 3:30 pm **Post subject:**

CHKDSK never runs on my pc, it does so at random times. My other pc which had a faulty graphics card (nvidia :roll:

), showed graphic corruption, black screen and disabled output (ie. monitor gets no signal). No chkdsk ran when that then froze. Only time I get chkdsk is when windows screws up, not hardware (excluding power cuts)

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Thu Jul 29, 2004 5:52 pm **Post subject:**

Interesting.

Looks like this will be a long and fruitless serach for the cause.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Jul 29, 2004 9:31 pm **Post subject:**

Check your drivers, they are always the first place to go... but don't rule out gfx card would be my advise, even when not stressed, they could give at any time

btw. you have checked under Error Log to see if there's any problem noted? Go to 2nd button on My Computer>manage>System Tools>Event Viewer and check your logs (if u aren't already aware).

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:44 am **Post subject:**

Quote:

Access denied attempting to launch a DCOM Server using DefaultLaunchPermssion. The server is:
{00020906-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
The user is Unavailable/Unavailable, SID=Unavailable.

Had this tonight under an error log, but no crash at the time it was recorded.

Also had a crash earlier on while encoding with GKnot. I can run the PC for ages with just the mule or BT running, but 30 minutes encoding with GK seems to kill things.

Also last night I had a crash while scanning some photos at 600dpi using Photoshop while running some other apps in the background.

ohgodnotanotherone · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 9:52 am **Post subject:**

You have tried a more powerfull power supply ?

Do NOT underestimate the shit that could cause...

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:36 pm **Post subject:**

It's been a thought of mine.

Before the upgrade it had 2 x 20GB HDD's and one 80GB HDD.

I changed one of the 20GB drives for a 120GB and it ran OK, but did suffer from the hang problem. Would a 120GB drive draw considerably more power than a 20GB one?

I've only got a 250W PSU.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:01 pm **Post subject:**

Quote:

I've only got a 250W PSU.

That sounds like the problem to me.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:06 pm **Post subject:**

well you can check by getting a system monitoring program and set it to record warnings about low voltage to a log

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:23 pm **Post subject:**

PC_Arcade wrote:

Quote:

I've only got a 250W PSU.

That sounds like the problem to me.

But is it though?

Would a 120GB drive draw more power than a 20GB one? Because that is the only change to the system.

I'll run a monitoring program and see what it logs. Any recommendations Spud?

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:40 pm **Post subject:**

nope, I don't think its that to be honest, anything with a voltage monitor does the job.

And yes, a 120GB may, and most likely will draw more power than a 20GB one, but you really aren't describing the drives you've got properly...

i mean what matters is RPM and weight of the platters? A heavier platter requires more force to drive them round at a certain RPM than a normal one. You probably have 12 platters compared to 2, so power consumption most likely is higher in an 120GB drive. Likewise 7200rpm requires more power than a lower RPM.

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:54 pm **Post subject:**

All the drives are 7200rpm.

1 x Maxtor DiamondMax 20GB
1 x Quantum Fireball 20GB
1 x Seagate Barracuda 80GB
1x Maxtor Diamondmax 120GB

d0c · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:23 pm **Post subject:**

are u still using fat32 ??? you know ntfs is the way to go these days...

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Fri Jul 30, 2004 3:27 pm **Post subject:**

DJBenz wrote:

All the drives are 7200rpm.

1 x Maxtor DiamondMax 20GB
1 x Quantum Fireball 20GB
1 x Seagate Barracuda 80GB
1x Maxtor Diamondmax 120GB

+ Geforce + DVD writer? Maybe you aren't getting enough power in there after all...

Do you have any better PSUs lying around, you could always try...

Encoding is a CPU intensive process, and would explain why, if your not getting enough power, you get a restart. Similarly, with DVDr burning you are using another device too...

Still thats ?40 at least for a PSU, so i'd get hold of one and check first

Random Shutdowns & DVD Burning Issues

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