Computer problems...

[Deaton Design]

My computer started doing this yesterday. Once I booted it up, it would get to the desktop, almost loaded, then all of a sudden, it restarted itself.
It would do this continuously if I let it. I went in and turned restart on failure off, and when it did it again, the error message I got was "page fault in non paging area." ALso, my machine has two 512 sticks of ram, and under properties, its only showing 512. Anyone know whats going on here? Only way I can get it to stay on right now is in safe mode.
Much thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Shovelhead]

By no means an expert but I'd sure like to get this one correct....
Memory dump due to bad RAM!!!????

 

[Tim Aucoin]

I would have to agree with Shovelhead... bad RAM, although I'm no Windows expert being a Mac user! Good luck with this.

 

[Tim Aucoin]

From Microsoft's support pages...

STOP 0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
Additionally, if you troubleshoot by removing all unnecessary hardware devices that are installed on the computer, and then you run the Setup program, you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
Setup cannot copy the file Setupdd.sys.


CAUSE
This behavior may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
One or more of the random access memory (RAM) modules that are installed on your computer are faulty.
The RAM configuration is incompatible with Windows XP.


RESOLUTION
To troubleshoot this behavior, follow these steps:
Remove some of the memory modules that are installed on the computer. Leave at least the RAM that is required for the computer to start and run Windows XP.

The recommended RAM to run Windows XP is 128 megabytes (MB). The minimum is 64 MB, and the maximum is 4 gigabytes.

For example, if two 256-MB memory modules are installed on your computer, remove one of the memory modules.
Restart your computer, and then run the Setup program:
Insert the Windows XP Setup CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, start the computer, and then click OK to select the first option screen to install a copy of Windows XP.
Click Accept, and then follow the instructions on the screen to complete the Windows XP installation.
If you again receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, go to step 4.
Remove a different memory module, or install the RAM in a different memory slot.
Restart your computer, and then rerun Setup.

You may have to restart your computer several times to identify the specific memory modules that are not working correctly.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Yeah, boot into your BIOS (setup) and check which DIMM slot is "failed". You will have to look on the motherboard to see which one to remove, DIMM 1, DIMM 2, etc. You can run on one stick until you can replace the bad one.

Even better idea, RAM is fairly inexpensive right now. If your motherboard can handle it, upgrade to the max amount (probably 4 GB). RAM is usually the fastest way to improve performance on the average computer.

If you need help figuring out which DIMM to remove or how much RAM your computer can handle, PM me. I would be happy to help out.

 

[Deaton Design]

Thanks guys. Im going to take one of the sticks out and try booting it up with either one and see what happens. Everything I had read on search said the same thing, just wanted to ask some of you guys to see what you thought. Memory is so cheap now, Ill order a couple sticks of 1gb ram to replace this and hopefully my problem will be over.
Thanks guys.

 

[weaselboogie]

Max it while you're in there. Crucial.com has an easy system scanner that tells you how much ram you have and how much your computer can take.

 

[totalimage]

We have a company that charges $20.00 a month .. and they connect to your computer from theirs and fixes it.. we have used their service and it has been great. If you need their # or website let me know... We just added another station (3 now ) and they connected us up through their service...

 

[Deaton Design]

Well, I put in two new 1gb sticks of ram, and it still shutsdown. Still gives the same error message about the page fault, and then says its dumping the physical memory. I have tried about every fix I can find on boards on the net, and nothing has worked yet. It will function in safe mode, but thats it. Usually I can find out whats wrong, but this one has me baffled.

 

[bayshorecreations]

I had a computer give me the same problem once. Never did figure it out, ended up going and buying a new one. As a matter of fact It's still sitting here under my desk, I use it to put my feet up on...lol

 

[Shovelhead]

This error message can occur for any of the following reasons:

• An unexpected event has occurred in Windows. An "invalid page fault" error message often indicates that a program improperly attempted to use random access memory (RAM). For example, this error message can occur if a program or a Windows component reads or writes to a memory location that is not allocated to it. When this behavior occurs, the program can potentially overwrite and corrupt other program code in that area of memory.
• A program has requested data that is not currently in virtual memory, and Windows attempts to retrieve the data from a storage device and load it into RAM. An "invalid page fault" error message can occur when Windows cannot locate the data. This behavior often occurs when the virtual memory area becomes corrupted.
• The virtual memory system has become unstable because of a shortage of physical memory (RAM).
• The virtual memory system has become unstable because of a shortage of free disk space.
• The virtual memory area is corrupted by a program.
• A program is attempting to access data that is being modified by another program that is running.

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/2004-March/041564.html

 

[Conor Knoxx]

well, if it will run in safe mode, you could try booting in safe mode, then run "msconfig" (in the run command box) go to the startup tab, and disable everything.

Then try a reboot.
if it works, then something in your startup is crashing, try turning on one at a time (likely stuff in there you never need to turn back on either, lol )

should narrow down the possibilities anyway.

Good luck!

EDIT: oh, and the first thing I'd do in "safe mode" is back anything important up... in case things get worse

 

[Deaton Design]

I did that too Conor. Disabled all of it, and it still does it. Sometimes it actually gets to the desktop, loads the icons, although the desktop background is just blue, and then all of a sudden, theres the blue screen with the error message. This computer is only about a year old or so, and the hard drive is only 1/3 full. Ive also increased the paging file memory to the maximum amount, but again no go.

 

[Jester1167]

Couple of other things that make computers flaky.

Heat, did you blow the computer and PSU out when you were in there? Lots of dust builds up over time.

Low voltages from a hot, faulty or over taxed PSU can cause lots of errors too. Have added any new hardware or hard drives lately?

 

[Shovelhead]

My search yields any number of things.....bad power supply, etc.
Does it continuously boot cycle???

 

[ahollow]

I had one do exactly the same thing, and it was a bad power supply.

 

[Deaton Design]

Shovel, it was continuously booting until I turned off restart on failure. Now it gives me the blue screen with the error message. I think the power supply is the only thing I havent really checked.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Does the BIOS show both sticks of RAM now (as you stated that it was only showing 1/2 the RAM before).

Page faults can be caused by a lot of different things. I just find it odd that your Mobo was misreporting the amount of RAM you have. That is the reason I suspected a bad stick of RAM (fairly common).

 

[Techman]

the page fault, a

Jus tto let most of us know.
Page fault is hard drive....

 

[Deaton Design]

Both sticks of ram are showing up now. My power supply is a 250 watt. Maybe not enough to run everything, I dont know. I do remember the first day this started, is sounded like something in the case was running louder than usual, but it wasnt the hard drive. Everything Ive looked up, a page fault can be caused by quite a few things. When this first started, the computer just kept rebooting, which some of the techboards say is caused by a faulty power supply.