Satan is in my V4d and DVDA

groovedude wrote on 10/4/2004, 2:16 PM
V4d and DVDA are now crashing XP SP1 intermittently when rendering MPEG2. It was working just fine up until about 6 months ago. I just did a render a few minutes ago, worked just fine. However, every time I get a project that needs to be finished by yesterday it starts crashing, I kid you not, every time I get a rush job.

Since its only intermittently I can’t repeat the problem, but there are days that it just refuses to render. When it crashes it is usually about 20-30% into a render (not sure if it would happen rendering as .avi as I do mostly MPEG2). And we are talking very simple one or two tracks of still images with usually just one audio track. I have XP set to not reboot after Error, but it does anyway, actually it doesn’t even reboot. The screen goes black the processor light stays on constant and only the power button on power supply will work. I’ve read similar posts and here are my thoughts:

1.RAM chip could have gone bad? Computers several years old, so it might be a possibility and some people here seem to think RAM could be related to crashing.

2.System or Graphics processor getting too hot? However, days it does work are warmer sometimes than days it doesn’t, go figure—oh and I have the case off and a full size fan on it!

3.Hard drive warn out? Haven’t had any clicking or errors and this is only happening with this program.

4.Satan has it in for me.

5.Driver conflict? Well it does work correctly…sometimes…when it feels like it!

6.Vegas is getting confused about its registration. The software is legal and registered, perhaps some days it forgets?

7.Satan has it in for me.

AMD 1GHz (MSI K7T Pro 2-A), XP SP1 (latest updates, minus SP2-yikes!) 512 RAM, Creative Labs Live, NVIDIA Geforce2 GTS 32MB (or 64MB can’t remember), 60GB HD + 120GB HD

Pretty sure I have all the recent drivers for the above, and I can't think of any crazy software that I've installed that could cause conflict.

I suspect Satan is responsible, please confirm.

Comments

nickle wrote on 10/4/2004, 3:55 PM
Yes it is satan and he comes in the form of spyware. If you are connected to the internet then download Lavasoft Adaware and run it. And if you find spyware try Spybot too. It causes slowdowns, reboots and hangups.

If that isn't it then it gets more complicated, but you have to start somewhere.
groovedude wrote on 10/4/2004, 4:12 PM
Hey Nickle,

Funny you mention that, I just ran Spybot and did find some adware. I don't think this has been the cause of my rendering crashes, but, who knows.

I mainly posted the above to see if anyone else has had the same problem and if they found some way to fix it.

Thank you for your response!
Erk wrote on 10/4/2004, 5:08 PM
For what its worth, I've been watching my CPU heat very closely, and I think mine is prone to crashing anytime my AMD XP 2000+ gets above 62 C or so. That's well under what the warning spec says, but nonethless, when its gets over 60 C I take the cover off, like you've been doing.

Do you have a software heat monitor? You might watch that and see if you see a definite pattern.

good luck, sorry I'm not more helpful.

Greg
goshep wrote on 10/4/2004, 5:20 PM
How long have you been running with no case? Do you "dust" regularly with canned air? I run all my boxes "naked" and a couple are prone to crapping out when they become heavily coated in dust. I'd give the mobo a good cleaning and try again. If you had bad RAM, I doubt you'd get as far as you have without probs. Sounds temp related to me (which could also be a by-product of Satan.) Since canned air is quicker than a full blown exorcism, I'd try that first.
If that fails try this...
www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/exorcism.html
AlanC wrote on 10/5/2004, 1:32 AM
I was always taught that the PC enclosure is designed to maximise the airflow from the fan over the processor. By removing the lid you could be reducing the cooling effect of the fan(s).

Erk wrote on 10/5/2004, 5:03 AM
AlanC,

My CPU temp definitely goes down when I removed the lid on my case. It might also be true that cooling effect of the fans are reduced as well, come to think of it. But particularly now with the weather getting cooler, the net effect is a cooler PC.
AlanC wrote on 10/5/2004, 5:51 AM
Hi Greg

I was going to suggest that if you could accurately measure the temperature then this would be a definitive way of proving it.

But, I was always told that (and I have witnessed the difference) but that was back in the IBM 310 days. You remember, £900 for a 20 Mb hard disk and I think a memory expansion card, up to a massive 1Mb, was about £1,000!!!

Alan
goshep wrote on 10/5/2004, 6:56 AM
Gentlemen,

I think you'll find airflow velocity to the CPU may be increased with the case closed but ambient temperature within is reduced with the case open. Ambient temp is critical to the overall cooling of the CPU. In my situation, the cases are situated where noise is minimized. Unfortunately so is airflow. I found that no matter how I arranged my case fans, the confined space caused recirculation of the same warm air. My cases were doubling as convection ovens. Since I've opened them up and circulated the air around them, I've been able to bring the temps down more effectively. In the dead of the California Summer, the ambient temp of my office almost negates the effect but it still helps a bit. The tradeoff is dust accumulation and fan noise (which was the whole point of placing them where they are in the first place.)
Erk wrote on 10/6/2004, 11:49 PM
goshep,

I think you're right about the ambient temp being critical. Just since this thread was started, the average temp here in Washington DC has been dropping steadily, and was chilly last night. Now I can keep my case closed up, and, doing the same kind of mulitasking (rendering, surfing, writing) the software monitor reports my AMD is in the upper 50s C, whereas a few days ago it would be in the mid-60s and bluescreening every so often.

Greg