Could a faulty monitor cause my PC to crash?

[DazBarber]

I will shortly be purchasing a new XP system to replace my current 98 setup but I have a slight worry...

My 98 system is prone to freezing several times a day. It's had a new hard drive (3 years ago) and hence a new installation of win98 but the crashing continued. I've borrowed various pieces of hardware over the last few years to try to rule out certain components but the same freezing occurs even when furnished with borrowed components.

The only parts which haven't been replaced at some point are the sound card, the power supply, the mouse and the monitor (I even managed a new motherboard when my old one died and was replaced under warranty).

"Why have you put up with the freezing?" I hear you ask... well, it was never too much of a problem but now I am using my PC to the limit it occurs more often (but not enough to make me tear my hair out).

Anyway, I've decided to upgrade after 5 years as my PC is on the lower edge of XPs requirements (its a 300Mhz Pentium II) and some of the software I would like to use now requires a faster computer.

I've made my choice of new PC but have decided not to get a new monitor - my current one is perfectly fine and I don't need to spend 100s on a TFT. But my worry is... is there any remote chance that my monitor could be causing the freezing? I'm worried that I'll get my new system, and it will have the same symptom! My monitor certainly seems to be healthy but who knows? I realise that it only connects to the graphics card, but is there any way that a slight fault with the monitor could freeze the whole system? If not, I can buy with confidence without monitor and if (or when) the monitor does finally explode, I'll THEN upgrade to a TFT (at hopefully half today's prices).

Any observations are gratefully received.

Thanks,

Daz

[zipulrich]

Nope.

Enjoy the new (freeze-less) system!

[Murf]

DITTO

But Win 98 freezing can be overcome....but good luck with XP.....

[TommyD]

Originally Posted by Murf

DITTO

But Win 98 freezing can be overcome....but good luck with XP.....

Have you checked your RAM??????????

[DazBarber]

Originally Posted by TommyD

Have you checked your RAM??????????

I checked it AND replaced it... freezing continued. I've upgraded hard drive... motherboard died and that was replaced. I've borrowed a graphics card and the freezing continued. I've removed my modem and my CD drive... still no luck. The only things which haven't been removed/replaced are the power supply, the processor, the sound card and the monitor.

The freezing occurs quite randomly but I can make it more likely to happen by cutting/pasting within huge graphic files (in any photo-editing software), scrolling down word files with graphics, printing to my colour printer in 'landscape mode' (I've tried everything to stop that one) or by 'intensive surfing'. This made me suspect the graphics card or memory but no!

I now suspect the processor and although someone has offered to lend me a PII, it sounds like to much bother to me and as the system is showing signs of slowness now I reckon its time to cut my losses.

Then again, sometimes it works perfectly, for instance Ive got to the end of this message without it fr................

Daz

[DazBarber]

Originally Posted by Murf

DITTO

But Win 98 freezing can be overcome....but good luck with XP.....

You've got me thinking now... as my final attempt before giving up... what do you suggest?

Thanks,

Daz

[Murf]

Cutting and Pasting large files eats system resources, so appears that there is not enough resources available.

How much physical memory do you have. When cutting and pasting Windows uses the TEMP directory to hold the info, if this directory is full you will get the freezing. Make sure the Windows TEMP directory is empty before C&P large files.

[DazBarber]

Originally Posted by Murf

Cutting and Pasting large files eats system resources, so appears that there is not enough resources available.

How much physical memory do you have. When cutting and pasting Windows uses the TEMP directory to hold the info, if this directory is full you will get the freezing. Make sure the Windows TEMP directory is empty before C&P large files.

Well, I have 256kb of memory - I used to have 64Mb but upgraded in an attempt to solve the problem. I noticed a few weeks ago that my temp folder was quite full and emptied it but still the freezing occurs. But then it occured even after a fresh installation onto a new hard drive too!

Daz

[jtdoom]

hi
start > run > where you type in system.ini and hit enter

get to [386enh] section
add the following

MinSPs=12
EMMExclude=A000-CFFF

save, shut and restart.
this may help, see

[DazBarber]

Originally Posted by jtdoom

hi
start > run > where you type in system.ini and hit enter

get to [386enh] section
add the following

MinSPs=12
EMMExclude=A000-CFFF

save, shut and restart.
this may help, see

Well I'm shocked - I've followed the advice and it seems to be working so far (touch wood)!! I've used the PC on and off today and all seems well - although this can sometimes happen but rarely!!! I've been after this result for FIVE YEARS!!!! Why on earth has an operating system been produced that needs such ridiculous tweaking to even run smoothly??!

Can you tell me what effect the added lines to the system.ini file actually do? I'd love to know how they've worked their magic (or at least how I'm HOPING they've worked their magic)!

Anyway, I'll keep you updated as to whether I've just been lucky so far today or not. I'll probably still buy a new PC soon as quite a lot of software I would like to use now needs a newer operating system (and I think XP on this machine would be too sluggish for my liking) and I wouldn't feel so 'left behind' as I do now with Win98! At least I've (hopefully) got it sorted in the end (with your help).

Many thanks,

Daz

[jtdoom]

hi
MinSPs increases windows stackspace (max setting is 32) and this is probably NOT what caused your problem...
if it causes an error, chances are it did not Bluescreen on you and you would have seen an error like
"running out of memory" or "please increase stacks"

the other line
EmmExclude
this one has been around since windows 3.x
the A000-FFFF memory area can be used by windows if it thinks nothing is using it
videocards can use areas between A000-CFFF for real mode calls (CGA, EGA and VGA mode)
the video shadowing usually resides between B000-C7FF

windows has pretty much NO IDEA what DOS is doing when DOS based apps are running
(one can, for instance, delete a file while running in a dosbox, and windows will never be able to put it in the recycle bin)
And thus, when a DOS based application wants real mode access to an area used when you access the videocard in EGA mode, windows (memory manager) may be using it because it thinks the area is free to use.
the DOS app makes windows crash
this setting tells windows to NOT to use that area for windows

and yes,,, this one has prevented untold bluescreens...
=========

MY settings are B000-CFFF

excluding all (from A000 ) is a first step in determining wether this solves the problem
if it stops crashing, you can change A000-CFFF to B000-CFFF and see what results you have

[jtdoom]

many old games and programs are notorious for making real mode hardware calls, and you won't always know it's trying to access this area in real mode.
they do it to speed up the app

[DazBarber]

Originally Posted by DazBarber

I'll keep you updated as to whether I've just been lucky ...

Oh well, the freezing continues although it appears to be less frequent now. It has crashed twice during flash movies, once whilst sitting on the 'login' screen (with no other software running or moving graphics), twice whilst just showing my desktop and at least one other time. I don't think its crashed during 'surfing' which is unusual but not unknown. Anyway, the new system is ordered - I'll stick this one in the loft so that my kids can use it one day (not that I have any yet)!

Thanks for your help!

Daz

[DazBarber]

UPDATE:

New PC is all up-and-running and I now wish I'd thrown out the previous PC even sooner - the new machine is a dream (and it's crash-free so far)!

Daz