occassional random crashing... diagnosis needed

i have an m9750 (see my sig) and it performs great. except... sometimes it crashes on very random situations. i play games, as i expect many m9750 users to do, and sometimes i find ventrilo crashing and freezing my computer. in fact, ventrilo causes indrect problems with steam. sometimes i can't load a steam game, but when i close out of ventrilo, i can open up any steam game

i don't know for certain, but i think some problems might arise with the xp theme i have (it's one of the alienware ones... i think it compliments the system well) mixing with certain applications. i run objectdock and i used to run opera browser... but for some reason when i upgraded to xp3 that application decided to stop working (if i opened it, it would take up to 15 seconds before i was able to click anything, and once i clicked on anything whether it was a toolbar or the addressbar or something, it would then take another 15 seconds before i could type or something... and it continued doing so infinite times while using the application). so then i decided to use safari browser as itunes would constantly bug me about downloading safari, so i used it for a while but sometimes safari would crash (i think because apple does not use the theme manager settings but tries to cope with my theme... i would see the occasional black boxes on the application indicating it was transparent and display the contents of my desktop)

also, sometimes when i go to shutdown my computer it gives a warning

"NT AUTHORITY SHUTDOWN *SOMETHING SOMETHING BLAH BLAH* SHUTDOWN WILL PROCEED IN 1 MINUTE" and it begins to countdown from 1 minute. anyone know what that problem is? i feel there might be a goof in the registry or something.

tell me whatcha guys think. thanks.

 

It could well be a software conflict issue. Try using MSFT standard software (IE Explorer instead of Safari, etc...) to see if the problem persists. Otherwise, it may be a physical, hardware problem:

Try to determin whether or not this could be a defective RAM issue. Try removing one RAM strip, and see if the problem continues. If it does, replace that RAM strip and remove the other one. It sounds memory related to me. If removing one or the other of your RAM strips eliminates the problem, then you simply need to replace it. It could also be a problem with the GPU, but that usually throws to BSOD. Let us know what you find.

 

Are you fully up to date with your Windows Updates? The NT Authority Shutdown error was prominent at one point but a patch was released some time ago.

 

I cannot speak for the first issue, but NT AUTHORITY SHUTDOWN is initiated by a command--since you are not initiating the command, you are likely infected with any number of worms/viruses.

Not sure why it is infrequent, but that command will not occur all by itself.

The Sassar worm was a frequent cause of this issue, but it was very consistent.

You have Windows XP--what service pack?

 

Turn off the theme and see if the issues continue.

 

i have service pack 3 and i'm running nod32 antivirus software. it hasn't detected any viruses or anything. i should be fully up to date with windows updates. in fact i downloaded a recent one last night i believe.

occassionally the themed windows create black bars where the theme should be applied, IE, the top of the window (not quite sure what it's refered to). when i get off of work i will disable the theme manager.

also, it seems as of last night my startup menu does not load (as in when i go to all applications it's the legit size of what it should be, but there is nothing displayed)... what could have caused that?