The WinXP error

Event logs are your friends!

from JoeUser Forums
It finally happened - my stable, 16 month installation of WindowsXP finally bit the dust. It had gone through four major hardware upgrades (two new AMD AthlonXP upgrades, a new HD and a new ATI video card). I was particularly proud of the install, it had never had a major error, never rebooted unexpectedly and ran every application like butter.

Until Explorer started crashing repeatedly yesterday. I don't know why either - the Event Viewer, where system errors are recorded, showed a host of IDE issues.The Event Viewer knew something was up, even though Device Manager told a different story. Nothing I did would correct the issue, and honestly Explorer was crashing so often it was almost impossible to take action by this point. Regardless, because I require a stable system to work, I had to format and re-install my system drive.

Two things I like about WindowsXP are that it installs quickly on modern hardware (18minutes) and that it tells you whats wrong with it (most of the time). Immediatly after the new OS was up and running, the Event Viewer showed me I was having driver problems with certain hardware items. Clicking on the provided links to Microsoft Knowledge base, I was able to find exactly what I needed to do for each issue quickly. So simple, it's brilliant.

My current install is less than 24 hours old. After fresh drivers and a host of Windows updates I seem to be running stable again. After 16months of stability, this little scenario has me paranoid again; The Event Viewer is the first thing I look at after each boot now, watching and waiting for that little error msg hiding around the corner...
7,153 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow....really good setup you have to keep it stable that long. Mine usually stays stable for about 4 weeks at a time, then I have to go through and fix stuff. I've only ever had to reformat-reinstall once, and that was as painless as you stated. Very cool! :)
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
FYI IDE Errors point to something more serious than XP problems, like Hardware failure of the hard drive.
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
IDE errors also point to driver problems... it can be a host of issues both within the OS and the hardware. In the many Windows updates that may be uploaded, several include 'updating' existing IDE drivers for certain configurations. This is not always the best course of action and can cause IDE drivers to become corrupted while the hardware is still perfectly intact. In this case you are right, to a point: it was a failure of the IDE CD-RW drive.

Regardless, disuse of the CD-RW has kept my new install functioning properly, and a new DVD-RW should arrive this afternoon. :)
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The unexpected reboots-did it happen when you tried to Switch Users? Thats been happening to me lately. ???
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I find that most often the fastest method of troubleshooting a serious issue is to reformat and reinstall. Much less time consuming..
However, those occasions have been far less frequent with the advent of XP.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I found that the easiest thing to do is something similar to this...
1. Install Pristine OS
2. Turn off all Crap Services, Restore, Hybernate, and disable Page File (gimme a minute here)
3. Restart PC
4. Defrag all Drives
5. Shut Down PC and use Norton Ghost Boot Disk, and make image of Pristine Drive ( No page File makes Image Size Smaller)
6. Restart PC and Install Norton Ghost, make bootable CD Norton Ghost Floppy Disk
7. Use Norton Ghost Explorer to Chop the Created Image file into 695Mb pieces
8. Install Ahead Nero Burning ROM
9. Make Bootable CD, using Norton Floppy made Earlier as boot image on First CD, also add first chopped file from Images Made
10. Make addition CD's needed to complete image set, as Nero Regular Burned CD's
11. Make Duplicates of Just completed Images and hide from myself
12. Install all core program, that I use constantly, and repeat the process again, to have Images of complete system.
13. Once done Reassign Page File, and anything else I deem needed.
14. I now have DVD Burner, so It is not needed to split the Images, but it doesn't hrt to do it both ways, Just in case there is a hardware issue, to resolve and a DVD cannot be read.

All in all, this takes a few hours to get done, but once an image is done of a several GB System full of programs, an average restore time of the complete system here is about 25 minutes. I do it for all my Machines, and my relatives machines. Saves alot of heartaches.

Any Questions feel free to ask me.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Cygnus..
At work, I make a network bootable ghost CD which maps a network share. I then create a pristine system, run sysprep, boot from the ghost cd and create an image which is saved to the network share. Re-imaging a new system is sooooo smooth.
Don't have quite the resources to do that at home yet...
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ever since I installed XP ive had no probbies.. Okay, Ive had a virus, but thats a different story. Ive had Windows Explorer crash once.