Computer Keeps Crashing

I need help with my Pavilion zt3010us.

First, I have done several upgrades. It now has 2 gigs of PC 2700 RAM, an 80 Gig 7200 RPM drive (Hitachi).

When I got the new hard drive (Christmas) I redid the entire computer. I started with the recovery disk on service pack 1, installed the HP drivers disk, then upgraded to service pack two. After adding all of my programs back, the computer still hasn’t run the way it is supposed to. Things are just slow, despite the faster components (in fact, everything seems slower). The problem, though, is that the computer constantly crashes (BSOD) and restarts. The BSOD doesn’t do a full memory dump, the screen is there for less then a second then the computer restarts. There is so far no rhyme or reason to when it crashes or why. Sometimes with nothing open, or sometimes when in word or anything. The one things that I do know is that InterVideo Home Theater 2 is guaranteed to crash the computer if I use it for TV. Today it crahsed while on the "Windows Is Shutting Down" screen

I am almost dead positive that it is a hardware problem because I rebuilt the hard drive last week and it had only gotten worse. It even crashed after a fresh Windows Install. Thoughts? What could it be? The graphics cards in these computers are notorious for going bad, but does this sound like a graphics problem? Thanks for the help.

 

yeah i have had this problem with my zv5415ca. I reinstalled windows and all fixed. It started to me after a BIOS firmware update and another time when I installed Omega ATI Drivers.

Try to boot it in safe mode, does it still give the same errors?

 

The problem with that is that I have no way of emulating the errors, except for Intervideo Home Theater 2, so I have no way of making sure of this. It could be 5 minutes or 5 days before it crashes. Is there a way to go to an older BIOS?

 

It could be your upgrade from SP1 to SP2.

There were many people that had problems upgrading from SP1 to SP2.

If you look online you can find tutorials as to how to slipstream SP2 into your windows installation cd so you can install windows with SP2 already on it.

If not, then borrow a windows xp cd from someone who has already done this and just use your cd key.

If you think it's a hardware issue, try taking out the new ram module and see if the problem persists.

If you installed the harddrive yourself then check your installation.

Maybe you have some dust particles or something in parts of your laptop.

Maybe not, but this problem does sound like a hardware problem, but at the same time it could be your upgrade from SP1 to SP2.

Try it out then get back to us.

Cheers,
Mike

 

No once you change the firmware im 99.99% sure you cant go back. Does it always happen as soon as you open up InterVideo?

 

Problems with SP2 are most likely to occur on a system which has been set up and running for a while, not a fresh install.

 

OK, lets see if this can help with some of the thought people have.

First, I reinstalled InterVideo Home Theater 2 - it still crahses. It will work if I don't run the setup (which checks for TV channels) and if I don't try to use the TV features. I can listen to music in it or watch movies. I then booted in safe mode, and ran the program, but it won't let me use the TV features because the program can't find the tuner or drivers (I'm assuming this is just because it is safe mode). Also, I did a fresh reinstall and never even installed this program and it still happened. I don't think this is due to the program, but whatever it is is aggravated by the program.

As far as SP2 goes - I had it up and running for about a year before I noticed any troubles. I had a previous install from a Windows XP SP2 disk and it doesn't change much. If it matters at all, I installed SP2 from the Microsoft SP2 upgrade disk that you can get for free.

RAM - the RAM was all in for a while before any of this started. I put the first 1GB stick in around June 15th and the second in around September 5th. The problems really didn't start happening until about November 25th, and have only gotten worse.

HDD - I have used three different HDDs in this thing (a 4200, 5400, and 7200 RPM) and they all yield the same results. They all used a backup or fresh install and no matter what I do with the HDD I get the random crashes, which would suggest it isn't hte HDD.

The board should be pretty clean - I did a really good job cleaning it after this all started, but I can pull the keyboard out and do it again. So far, this one of the most likely suggesstions.

I was thinking about it, and I might have upgraded the BIOS shortly before this started, but I can't get to an older BIOS to download, if it would work anyway. Any other thoughts?

 

I did some googling and found that there are some other people that potentially have a similar problem. One of them found that the problem was from a service installed by the Intel ProSet Drivers, which I would have installed as well. I disabled the Spectrum24 Event Monitor service, and we will see what happens. It hasn’t fixed the problem with Home Theater (Note that the first version of the software runs perfectly on my computer). Does this change much?

 

Get MemTest86+, burn and boot the resulting CD, and let it run for at least half an hour, preferably overnight. If your memory has gone bad it'll tell you without Windows getting in the way.

Your description of things being "slow" does say software problem to me though. You're sure your system is clean? No worms/viruses/spyware?

 

I will try to run MemTest tonight and see what I get. I am sure that it isn't a problem with worms/viruses/spyware - the system still ran way too slow on a brand new 7200 RPM and a newly formatted 5400 RPM drive before either had access to the internet, and I had my PC-cillin Internet Security 2006 on before it had internet access (granted it wasn't up to date the second I got online, but that was the first thing I did). Well see what mem test says, and I think I have the HDD test application, so I will run that and post results and see what they say.

 

I ran MemTest for about 45 minutes and it found 0 errors. The one thing that bothered me was that it said my FSB was 99 MHz, it should be 400, is it like that for a reason, or should I be suspicious of that. Also, I ran HD Tune twice, the screen shots are attached. Does there appear to be a problem based on this? Should I rerun some of the tests?

 

Try to reset BIOS to default setting and see if the Memtest give correct memory now.
MemTest might take many runs before it gave error.
I'd run it overnight, given you have correct speed first.
I am currently having problem with my v2000z too. It turns out (from my guess) to be the motherboard or chipset. FedEx is picking it up tomorrow for repair. I got it around Christmas too. Don't worry, HP will pay for the shipping and everything. Here's my thread on my machine. Maybe you might get some idea for testing;
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=38011

 

I will never ship my computer back to HP, its out of warranty and I could buy the new parts and replace themself, withouth them losing my computer for a 3rd time. Also, how can I reset the BIOS? I will play will some stuff today and see what I get.

 

Go into BIOS setup and Load BIOS Defaults to reset the BIOS.

 

No really, people had problems with fresh installs of SP2 from SP1.

This is very possible as I've personally experienced this and I've also experienced problems with Windows Xp Pro right off the bat with a fresh install. Remember all this stuff is Microsoft stuff so it's not too surprising at all.

It really does sound like a hardware problem now. Do some more tests with the ram and try returning it for another stick or try another stick you have laying around.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Well, I tested some of the original RAM from the computer and I get the same results, the computer crashes randomly and it crashes with InterVideo Home Theater 2. I reset the BIOS to the default and I still get a FSB speed of 99MHz in MemTest, with both sets of RAM, so I am really bothered by this. Also, MemTest doesn't allow me to use the advanced options because it says it doesn't support my Mother board. Does this sound right?

Also, I don't know when I could do an install directly to SP2, but are you speculating that it would fix the problem to start on SP2 and just add the programs?

 

Not supporting your motherboard IS normal because you have a laptop.

Just starting on SP2 would be a better bet than to UPGRADE to SP1, but this is starting to sound like a hardware problem to me.

Contact your reseller and have it checked out by them.

Cheers,
Mike

 

I don't think that contacting HP is really an option or worthwhile. The computer is about 2 years old now, and I have had it all apart, so there is less than a chance for a warranty and I don't want to deal with their support, the last two times I have sent HP a laptop, they have lost them. Plus, I can get a board from eBay and I would enjoy installing it, so it would be fun. How can we figure out what the real problem is?

 

I pulled the motherboard out today and dusted it off, though it wasn't really dirty. Is there any way to figure out if the motherboard is bad? What about the FSB speed in MemTest, any ideas?

 

Here is another interesting thing to note on the computer, many times after hibernation the USB ports don't work. I found out today that it can be either after hibernating while on the dock and power on later while not on the dock, or vice versa. The really interesting part is that if you restart the computer after this, it will crash and give a BSOD while trying to restart. The screen happens to fast to read, so I can't give any more info on it.

The other development I have noticed today is that the status LEDs on the front of the computer are acting up a little bit, sometimes not on when they should or shouldn't be. Does this mean anything?

 

Several updates:

First, I posted some questions in a forum specific to this model notebook and someone resoponded that the 99 was right (I am assuming it means percent, or maybe thats what all of these notebooks read at). Second, I was able to get an older BIOS and get it running. The computer has crashed randomly once since, but I can still make it crash when I run Home Theater. Also, since the BIOS update I haven't had the USB trouble or trouble with the lights. What do people think? Is the motherboard ok, or should I replace it? Thanks.