Windows XP Pro Freezes overnight

vwdubber · #1 04-22-2005, 09:29 AM

Hi all!
One of my machines here keeps freezing up when I come in every morning. Thought it was something w power options but they seem to be set correctly:

Turn off Monitor: After 2 hours
Turn off HD: NEVER
System Standby: After 1 hour

Hybernation is disabled, and there is a checkmark for prompt for pass when computer goes into standby. As I said though after being left for longer period of time (overnight) comp is frozen .. first it shows the black screen then when u move mouse it wakes up and goes back to the desktop and everything I had running the previous day but nothing works - keyboard does not work (ctrl+alt+del, ctrl+alt+break), mouse moves around as a pointer but when u click nothing happens. I am guessing hd is not being awaken which I have 2 hds on that machine.

I would appreciate any help .. I am more used to Linux and just need some pointers where to start with a problem like this!
Thanks!

LeerMoon · #2 04-22-2005, 09:51 AM

Install SP1 or SP2...There is a patch for this problem.

vwdubber · #3 04-22-2005, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeerMoon

Install SP1 or SP2...There is a patch for this problem.

Currently that comp has SP1 - do I need to go to SP2? I heard it takes awful lot of space and I am not sure if its gonna fix that problem .. Now when u say there is a patch for this problem Im assuming its a common problem - is there an article somewhere I can read??

I was also wondering is there a log file I can take a look at that would give me some idea of what's causing the problem?

Murdoc · #4 04-22-2005, 11:32 AM

Turn off Monitor: After 2 hours
Turn off HD: NEVER
System Standby: After 1 hour

I recommend that if your going to leave your computer on all night you should set the time limit of "Turn off HD:" to 30 mins. Its not good for your hardrive to run constantly.

vwdubber · #5 04-22-2005, 04:10 PM

Ok now I really need some help. I followed some of the tips - ran msconfig to clear some of the things at startup, removed standby, and cleared prefetch ... restarted computer. Now it cannot detect any of the 2 ide hard drives. BIOS says none under hard drives, I can boot up under safe mode only .. tried restore but still cannot detect them.
Please help!

vwdubber · #6 04-22-2005, 10:40 PM

Anyone???
The hard drives are there ... I can access any files under safe mode, but motherboard does not detect them at startup ... and it was working just fine. In safe mode the properties for the hds are empty even though they are there (if thats any help).

torque2k · #7 04-22-2005, 10:51 PM

One question: you say "hard drives", does this mean you have more than one? If so, try physically unplugging the non-system drive and see if the BIOS sees that one. I've had this kind of thing happen when two hard drives are put on the same IDE port with Cable Select (CS) enabled on the drives. Stupid Western Digital... often in Dell machines.

Also, is this a notebook PC? I've also had Compaq Evos lose their brains after coming out of standby in XP...

vwdubber · #8 04-22-2005, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torque2k

One question: you say "hard drives", does this mean you have more than one?

Yep .. sorry about that. There are 2 hard drives - one primary, one master, with RAID 1 in place. At boot up on the RAID menu it says both are functional ... but then it starts to load XP and then clicks off and back over again. I've tried disconnecting the power supply for 5 min .. same thing. I will try to disconnect slave hd and see what happens.
Thanks for all your help so far .. its really important to get it running by monday ...

**Its not a notebook .. regular desktop computer ... but I use it as the main server at the office.

vidster · #9 04-22-2005, 11:02 PM

Have you tried a repair install of XP vwdubber?
You shouldn't loose any info and XP will be installed as new.

vwdubber · #10 04-22-2005, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vidster

Have you tried a repair install of XP vwdubber?
You shouldn't loose any info and XP will be installed as new.

vidster how safe is it to do.. I have vital data on that comp which would take about a day to backup ... so I just need a quick fix for the time being...

torque2k · #11 04-22-2005, 11:07 PM

With a RAID 1 setup, that's pure mirroring. Some people have RAID 0+1 set up, which is mirroring + striping, but that takes more drives, so I assume you know what you're talking about when you say it's RAID 1.

In my experiences with RAID 1, unplugging one drive is the first thing I try. If that works, then I know I have to rebuild the mirror.

EDIT: Oh, also, if you're seeing everything in Safe Mode, if I'm not mistaken, XP only uses the master drive in a RAID 1 setup in Safe Mode. So that could explain having it there and not in normal mode...

EDIT2: This could also explain why setting the HD sleep time to anything other than NEVER could have fouled up the RAID...

vwdubber · #12 04-22-2005, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torque2k

EDIT: Oh, also, if you're seeing everything in Safe Mode, if I'm not mistaken, XP only uses the master drive in a RAID 1 setup in Safe Mode. So that could explain having it there and not in normal mode...

EDIT2: This could also explain why setting the HD sleep time to anything other than NEVER could have fouled up the RAID...

That is true but even master hd is not listed in bios ... and that asus voice feature keeps driving me crazy with that "No IDE drives detected". Anyway hope you guys are around tomorrow cause I''ll definitely need more help.

HD sleep time was set to never .. so that should be good at least..

vidster · #13 04-22-2005, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vwdubber

vidster how safe is it to do.. I have vital data on that comp which would take about a day to backup ... so I just need a quick fix for the time being...

Sorry vwdubber but there is no such thing as a quick fix when re-installing an operating system

I can not personally guarantee a re-install will work but no-one has ever let me know that it hasn't worked for them

If the content is vital, you should really make a backup anyway

torque2k · #14 04-22-2005, 11:27 PM

Sorry, I thought you'd used Murdoc's tip of setting the HD to sleep after 30 minutes. So, this is an Asus board. Does it have a built-in Promise RAID chip, or is your system using a PCI-based RAID controller? Are both drives hooked up to separate RAID IDE ports, or the default IDE0/IDE1 ports?

If the board has a Promise (or other brand of built-in) RAID controller chip, and the drives are on separate IDE ports controlled by the RAID, try taking one drive off and putting the remaining drive on IDE0-Master. Oh, I'm assuming (again) that this is all IDE-based, and not SATA, yes?

vwdubber · #15 04-22-2005, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by torque2k

Sorry, I thought you'd used Murdoc's tip of setting the HD to sleep after 30 minutes. So, this is an Asus board. Does it have a built-in Promise RAID chip, or is your system using a PCI-based RAID controller? Are both drives hooked up to separate RAID IDE ports, or the default IDE0/IDE1 ports?

If the board has a Promise (or other brand of built-in) RAID controller chip, and the drives are on separate IDE ports controlled by the RAID, try taking one drive off and putting the remaining drive on IDE0-Master. Oh, I'm assuming (again) that this is all IDE-based, and not SATA, yes?

YES ASUS P4S333!!! Its a Promise controller, the ASUS does not have on-board RAID and Ill have to check if there are separate IDE ports. No sata - all ide.

@vidster Thats a very good walkthrough and it makes sense .. if disconnecting hds doesnt work Ill have to resort to that.