Jump to content

[SOLVED] Win2k - Windows console (cmd.exe) and random reboots/freezes


Recommended Posts

I tested memory today (4 hours MemTest86+ 4.20) and no errors were detected.

As for the graphic card, I'm using the integrated one (Radeon 3000 HD) with unofficial BlackWingCat's drivers. I'll try to use an old Matrox G450 for PCI and check if these issues are graphic related.

I still suspect that's is the mainboard as today the USB mouse was not detected by BIOS once again :}

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Is this system using any levels of RAID?

Yes, it's a RAID 0 (3x Fujitsu MAX3036RC).

Full configuration:

Athlon II X2 255 (no OC)

Foxconn A76ML-K 3.0 (AMD 760 chipset)

Radeon 3000 HD (integrated)

Samsung 4 GB DDR3 1333MHz (1 stick)

HP 3042E SAS Controller (PCI-E)

3x Fujitsu MAX3036RC 36 GB

1x Samsung F3 500 GB (connected to mainboard SATA)

SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit (PCI)

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Edited by tomasz86
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am now able to reproduce this error. If I run a script where a lot of lines move very fast and set it to loop forever, the crash will eventually happen.

Monitor turns off, computer resets and USB mouse is not detected after reboot and has to be reconnected.

Could you recommend any more specialised way to diagnose this problem?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did two tests:

1. I cloned my system partition from RAID0 to a single drive so I could check if it was the RAID to cause this problem. Unfortunately, there was no difference.

2. I booted into VGA mode, ran the script and... no errors! Next, I uninstalled the drivers (BWC's Catalyst 11.3) and installed an older version (10.11). I rebooted, ran the script and guess what? It works flawlessly.

Thank you, allen2 :thumbup

Edited by tomasz86
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. I cloned my system partition from RAID0 to a single drive so I could check if it was the RAID to cause this problem. Unfortunately, there was no difference.

Good you got it fixed. I brought up the RAID question because I had similar problems on a server which would either have the screen go black or the system would turn off/reboot with no Event logs relating to the shutdown. In my case, it turned out I had both a failed RAID member AND a faulty port on the backplane. The end result after troubleshooting resulted in loss of all data! But anyways, I had just remembered that behaviour so figured I'd mention it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good you got it fixed. I brought up the RAID question because I had similar problems on a server which would either have the screen go black or the system would turn off/reboot with no Event logs relating to the shutdown. In my case, it turned out I had both a failed RAID member AND a faulty port on the backplane. The end result after troubleshooting resulted in loss of all data! But anyways, I had just remembered that behaviour so figured I'd mention it.

Actually I got fixed the problem with restarting when running a cmd batch script but the other problem - the one related to USB still persists :( and I still experience occasional freezes where I can do nothing but reset the computer. And the mouse is not detected after such a reset.

Unfortunately I don't have any other AM3 mainboard to replace with to check if it's a mainboard related thing...

Oh, and one more information which may be important - my data HDD (Samsung F3 500 GB) is connected to the mainboard SATA controller and I'm using the unofficial BWC drivers for AMD 760 chipset. I'll have to try changing it to IDE compatible mode and see if there is any difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I'm reviving this topic because I've still been experiencing the cmd.exe freeze/stack problem. Especially recently I've been using batch scripts a lot and this problem is extremely bothersome :} I need to reset the computer each time it happens. I can't really say how frequently I encounter it but let's say that if I run a HFSLIP-like script for 5 times, the problem will occur at least once.

As I became more and more annoyed, inspired by dencorso I've just tried to replace the original W2k's wow32.dll with the fixed one from XP (+ I added XP's ntvdm.exe to fix the dependencies).

I'll see if it makes any difference.

Does anyone else have any idea what can be the reason for such freezes (if it's not the wow32.dll)?

In meantime I already changed mainboards and used different HDD/SSD on different controllers but it didn't help. Graphic card also doesn't seem to matter.

Edited by tomasz86
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You had better attach the dependency walker's dwi file.

Perhaps we can find some cause. :)

I'm reviving this topic because I've still been experiencing the cmd.exe freeze/stack problem. Especially recently I've been using batch scripts a lot and this problem is extremely bothersome :} I need to reset the computer each time it happens. I can't really say how frequently I encounter it but let's say that if I run a HFSLIP-like script for 5 times, the problem will occur at least once.

As I became more and more annoyed, inspired by dencorso I've just tried to replace the original W2k's wow32.dll with the fixed one from XP (+ I added XP's ntvdm.exe to fix the dependencies).

I'll see if it makes any difference.

Does anyone else have any idea what can be the reason for such freezes (if it's not the wow32.dll)?

In meantime I already changed mainboards and used different HDD/SSD on different controllers but it didn't help. Graphic card also doesn't seem to matter.

Edited by blackwingcat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello blackwingcat :hello:

Do you mean a .dwi file related to wow32.dll? The problem is that it doesn't matter at all. The same freeze occurred when the original W2K's wow32.dll was used and when the one from XP was installed. It doesn't make any difference :(

So far I've already checked the following components:

1. Mainboard - same situation on two different mainboards.

2. HDD - same problem on HDD, SSD, RAID and non-RAID (the controllers were also different).

3. Graphic card - two different cards and no difference.

I can't check the CPU as I don't have any other to replace it but I'll try to do some extensive memory testing and see if there's anything wrong with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hmm, the problem seems to be gone although I don't really understand how and why... :blink:

Firstly, I did test RAM some time ago but no errors occured (6+ hours of MemTest86+). The problem with console was still happening.

Finally, I decided to reinstall everything using the other mainboard and the final configuration is like this:

Athlon II X2 255 (3.1 GHz)

Foxconn A76ML-K 3.0 (AMD 760)

Radeon 3000 HD (integrated)

Samsung 8 GB DDR3 1333MHz (2 sticks)

HP 3042E SAS Controller (PCI-E)

4x Fujitsu MAX3036RC 15000 rpm 36 GB (1 standalone + 3 in RAID0)

1x Samsung F3 500 GB (connected to mainboard SATA; in bad condition)

1x Samsung HM160HC 160 GB (IDE)

SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit (PCI)

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

To be sure I set the cmd script to run for a whole night in a loop and very surprisingly no problems occurred. I also have it running at the moment too and no freezes! I don't really know how it can be :o because on almost the same configuration before the problem was occurring very often...

I'm far from being too enthusiastic about it but at the moment everything seems to be stable so... I'll make a copy of this partition and install rest of the needed programs, etc. and see if anything changes.

The cmd.exe, wow32.dll and ntvdm.dll used at the moment are the default 2K ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...