Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

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!!!!!

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

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

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

First, you aren't going to get much help especially since your CAPS
LOCKS button is stuck on. Reinstall all drivers and all software. If
that doesn't work, reinstall Windows.

----
Nathan McNulty


ROBERTO - IN DESPERATE NEED OF HELP 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!!!!!
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Nathan...

I appreciate the response...but you shouldve actually read
my issue and not just glanced at the first paragraph...

Firstly, the CAPS LOCK key wasnt stuck...I only used it to
differentiate the "personal introduction" and my plea for
help from the actual description of my issue....90% of my
post was not in CAPS..

Second...the whole "CAPS LOCK IS RUDE" thing is reserved
for children who make their lives online, social and
otherwise...since only children or those with child-like
thoughts would ever feel the need to have their
TEXT "shout" at someone they never met (nor will ever
meet) from across the country.

Since I cannot imagine a situation where a mature person
would ever feel the need to "text scream" at someone, I
use capital letters like the rest of the sane world does
(aside from standard capitalization)...to express
importance or otherwise draw attention to the words
written in capitals.

-----

Now then, back to the matter at hand...if you would have
taken the time to read my post as opposed to using that
time to critique my capitalization, you would realize that
I have already reinstalled every driver several times with
various versions each, disabled, re-enabled, and
physically removed every piece of non-critical hardware in
my PC...and as for reinstalling Windows...I have done that
several times...using both Windows XP Pro as well as
Windows 2000 Pro...both installed and tested and crashed
before ANY drivers, service packs, programs, or anything
else...with no luck....then I incrementally installed
every hardware component, driver, program, patch, upgrade,
service pack, codec and whatever else....testing after
each change (as one would do in good troubleshooting
practice)...no luck

I really do appreciate the help, I wasnt being
sarcastic...but in order to help me, you gotta know what
the problem is and what ive done so far...and thats why I
spent so much time typing that long-ass post...so as to
avoid the inevitable (and needed) Q&A about what was tried
and what the circumstances were...

....its already ready already

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:23be01c4a4c7$0a4afbf0$a501280a@phx.gbl...
>

> Second...the whole "CAPS LOCK IS RUDE" thing is reserved
> for children who make their lives online, social and
> otherwise...since only children or those with child-like
> thoughts would ever feel the need to have their
> TEXT "shout" at someone they never met (nor will ever
> meet) from across the country.

Firstly the ettiquette of reserving caps for shouting was introduced
by bearded middle aged geeks not children.

Secondly "....at someone they never met (nor will ever meet) from
across the country" country? you're American right?

> Since I cannot imagine a situation where a mature person
> would ever feel the need to "text scream" at someone, I
> use capital letters like the rest of the sane world does
> (aside from standard capitalization)...to express
> importance or otherwise draw attention to the words
> written in capitals.
>

Since you seem to have no regard for the well established customs of
USENET, why not go the whole hog and use HTML so you can differentiate
between information and a plea for help?

As for your problem it seems you have tried every software
troubleshooting route ever invented plus a few more. I would like to
suggest that either your RAM is in fact failing despite the passed
tests ( I have had sticks pass memtest shortly before falling over) or
more likely, you mentioned no hardware changes except a new hard disk,
your system has 4 hard drives and an optical drive all on a system
that looks to be a couple of years old (originally) at least is your
power supply original? It could be possible that unless you do in fact
have at least a 400W PSU that too much power is being drawn by the
drives causing the CPU and Memory to be underpowered when they are
doing intensive Multimedia Tasks. Even though you have run the system
with less drives in and still got the same unfortunate result it may
be possible that the PSU or perhaps even the motherboard has suffered
some minor little error as a result that is now causing your problems.
I may be way off but PSU's are cheap enough to give it a try.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

I read a bit of "I like toys..." response, but they yelling part isn't
really my problem. It is harder (for me at least) to read when
everything is in CAPS LOCKS. I could care less if it was rude or
shouting as much as it is a "pay more attention to me because I'm
special" way of typing and difficult to read. This is the real reason
most people will pass over a message like this.

As for your problem, how are the temperatures inside your computer. If
even a clean install of Windows is "crashing" (which you need to
define), then there is something wrong with the hardware physically.
You may want to get another stick of memory to compliment the existing
stick as it will not only help improve system performance, but take a
little load off the CPU/HD.

I did actually read into your post further than just the caps, but much
of the content was not helpful unless we actually had the source code to
work with. The one thing that should have been in Caps or pointed out
better was this:
"These crashes go for ANY Multimedia program and ONLY
Multimedia programs (non-audio/video programs seem to work
fine)."

There are three possibilities here. First, the software. Second, the
drivers. Finally, the physical hardware. If it is just encoding, it is
most likely the software since your computer was able to perform burn in
tests without heat issues.

Try this:

Boot off the XP CD, delete the partition, create a new partition, format
NTFS {Quick), Install Windows (with SP1a or SP2 slipstreamed if you
like), then install the latest version of VirtualDub. Try using that to
convert a video file to something else.

----
Nathan McNulty

I like toys and cake wrote:
> <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:23be01c4a4c7$0a4afbf0$a501280a@phx.gbl...
>
>
>>Second...the whole "CAPS LOCK IS RUDE" thing is reserved
>>for children who make their lives online, social and
>>otherwise...since only children or those with child-like
>>thoughts would ever feel the need to have their
>>TEXT "shout" at someone they never met (nor will ever
>>meet) from across the country.
>
>
> Firstly the ettiquette of reserving caps for shouting was introduced
> by bearded middle aged geeks not children.
>
> Secondly "....at someone they never met (nor will ever meet) from
> across the country" country? you're American right?
>
>
>>Since I cannot imagine a situation where a mature person
>>would ever feel the need to "text scream" at someone, I
>>use capital letters like the rest of the sane world does
>>(aside from standard capitalization)...to express
>>importance or otherwise draw attention to the words
>>written in capitals.
>>
>
>
> Since you seem to have no regard for the well established customs of
> USENET, why not go the whole hog and use HTML so you can differentiate
> between information and a plea for help?
>
> As for your problem it seems you have tried every software
> troubleshooting route ever invented plus a few more. I would like to
> suggest that either your RAM is in fact failing despite the passed
> tests ( I have had sticks pass memtest shortly before falling over) or
> more likely, you mentioned no hardware changes except a new hard disk,
> your system has 4 hard drives and an optical drive all on a system
> that looks to be a couple of years old (originally) at least is your
> power supply original? It could be possible that unless you do in fact
> have at least a 400W PSU that too much power is being drawn by the
> drives causing the CPU and Memory to be underpowered when they are
> doing intensive Multimedia Tasks. Even though you have run the system
> with less drives in and still got the same unfortunate result it may
> be possible that the PSU or perhaps even the motherboard has suffered
> some minor little error as a result that is now causing your problems.
> I may be way off but PSU's are cheap enough to give it a try.
>
>

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

To "I Like Toys & Cake" & Nathan...

all good suggestions...and I know I got a bit defensive
about the caps lock issue...its just that Im at the end of
my rope with this 4 month long troubleshooting marathon.

Youre right, despite all my troubleshooting I never
switched the hardware components other than Hard
drives...the reason is that I didnt really have any extra
hardware at my disposal (not anything less than 4-6 years
old, anyway)...so I resorted to and relied upon redundant
and thorough hardware testing using diagnostic and
benchmarking software...which as one of you pointed out,
is not fool-proof nor guaranteed to show every single
possible hardware flaw.

and as Nathan pointed out, my troubleshooting really
eliminated everything except hardware, which despite
success in testing,is looking like the main suspect.

BUT...

***I Have made some progress since my last post! Not 100%
solved, but about 80%...which has only served to further
confuse me as to what the problem is about.

Here's what happened....

First, the only thing that I have done so far (which I did
only yesterday)which had apparently solved the issue was
upgrading my BIOS

It might have seemed obvious, but since I was encoding
videos just fine on my old old BIOS version (version F4)
and then upgraded several months ago to F14 and never
encoded successfully after that (I hadnt needed to encode
video for months...in the middle of which I updated the F4
BIOS to F14, so I didnt BLAME the F14 version either)

Yesterday, I finally decide to pull a "Hail Mary" and
update to newest version, F15...

SUDDENLY, everything seemed to work....all the
applications that crashed with the same application errors
100% of the time each suddenly worked 10 times in a row
during testing of video encoding...long videos, short
videos, various formats, various source material and
material properties...etc etc...

I figured that it probably wasnt that F14 was bugged (F14
was the BIOS version which the problem started under),
since F15 only changed one small bit from F14...and it
wasnt the settings reset since I had tried every possible
CMOS setting combination in my troubleshooting steps...I
figured that perhaps MY particular BIOS had become
partially corrupted...that, coupled with some other
mystery ingredient (probably video driver related) caused
my application crashes.

~~~****Then, as I continued testing, I got the same
application errors on occasion (meaning once after 20
successfull encodings in a given application)...

I cannot tell you how broken-hea