Wins XP - Programs and games close for no apparent reason

[Bob Kirkland]

Having recently bought a new computer (Sept), I am confused as to why many programs just shut down which is frustrating if I haven't saved my work. I very often get the error message asking if I want the error to be forwarded to Microsoft, but it doesn't solve the problem. I also frequently get the blue screen telling me that an error occured and that the memory was being "dumped" in order to prevent damage. Games will very often just close down and return to the desktop.

Do you think it is the computer itself or is there anything I can do to XP to help solve this annoying problem. I've tried reinstalling XP but the error is still there.

Bob

[chrisinthesun20]

I would suggest that if you have tried re-installing XP and the problem is still there then it is most likely a hardware and/or driver issue.

Was your computer doing this right from day one - or is it something which started a while after you bought it?

Can you think of any drivers / programs etc that you are using now, that you were not using before? - any upgraded drivers recently, that sort of thing.

My next suggestion would be to remove any non-essential bits of hardware etc that require drivers, try running your system without them installed / running etc and see if your system stability is improved. Also check what programs you have running in the background CTRL-ALT-DEL - task manager - use the option to hide all microsoft services that are running - you may be surprised at how much shit is also running in the background!

It is all a question of a process of elimination - the most extreme solution would be to re-install your system, and begin by running it with only the totally essential hardware and no 3rd party drivers installed - run it for a day or two - and if you have no problems, then add ONE additonal new driver and/or hardware, and again run it for another day or two. keep going adding ONE item or driver at a time until the system goes unstable, at which point you (should) know what is causing the problem. if you do decide to do this then after the intial install, only install third party drivers for items that are not automatically configured by XP, then add things one at a time as explained above.

One other thing you may not have tried (if you have a VIA chipset motherboard) is to get the lastest VIA 4-in-1 drivers from
<a href="http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2">HERE</a>

obviously only install these if you have a VIA chipset M/B! These can often improve overall system stability and might be a good first try.

Also, if you have more than one DIMM memory module in your machine, you could try running with different memory configurations (take one out for a while then swap) - as there is a chance that you may have a buggered DIMM.

Phew - thats it a I think - just dumped pretty much the entire contents of my brain on this page!