[Starman01]

Hey Guys,

I have an annoying windows problem here, and since throwing darts on a bill gates picture doesn't help I thought I start trying to ask around here

Sometimes my PC crashes in intensive graphic programs (it simply shuts down, and I need to remove the powercord before I can switch it on again). But that's a different story and not really something I think that's fixable.

But one of those crashes (one out of a lot in the past few weeks) seems to damage the consistence (engl. spelling ?) of one of my harddrives.
Now there comes just like in the old days of W95 the CHKDSK program (just with blue background ) and checks the drive. Well, usually that is always wasting your time and doesn't report any errors, so when it comes up first I said "skip it, asshole".

Now, to revenge himself, the stupid system makes that check EVERYTIME I boot windows, and of course it never finds any error. But that **** takes about 10 minutes (checking 40 GB of data) and it annoys the hell out of me 

Has anyone an idea where this is controlled so that I can uncheck that constant test ? Certainly it's somewhere in the registry, but I have no idea where to look and I only touch the registry when I'm very very sure what I do. BTW, I'm using XP, SP2, Home Edition

I COULD reformat the harddisk (since it's not the one with the OS) but still I would have to do a lot of backup, which is kinda inconvinient.

Thanks in advance for some help

Regards

Starman

[jr2]

It's "consistency"... it needs to be checked for consistency.  not sure how it keeps track of if it needs the check, though... I think it's in the registry.

[Davros]

your graphics card is overheating it will die soon
if you carry on playing games

[Nuke]

first off if you want stability, get rid of some heat. if fans dont work, try immersing your system in liquid nitrogen.

It's "consistency"... it needs to be checked for consistency.  not sure how it keeps track of if it needs the check, though... I think it's in the registry.

the registry is the most abused piece of **** ever devised. im not saying the concept of a centralized repository of system settings isnt a bad idea. anyone whos fought with all the linux config files can attest to that. on the other hand microsoft still makes little division of what is the operating system, and what is external software.

what breaks the idea of the registry is the fact that microsoft encourages every developer to stick their application settings there as well. if the registry was limited to local operating system settings and didnt want to know everything about everything. this seems to do 2 things which are very aparent to me, the first is it makes fixing a shot system very difficult. those frequent hard drive formats and reinstalls. rather than re-installing the whole system. it would be nice if i could "nuke" the registry to bring the system to a state where everything gets put back to where its at when you install the os. like in the graphical part of the install after the files have been copyed and before the system hardware is scanned.

the other less obvious beef with the registry, is that it locks developers into a windows only mentality. you use the registry, but then you get addicted to it. you put more and more settings there until finally you cant run your application without it. its like crack. i like apps i can install to another hard drive/partition in the system, and even if the os dies on me and needs a re-install, i can still run those apps without touching an infernal installer. each app should be compartmentalized in its own folder with its own configuration data in that local folder structure. so that only shortcuts need be restored.

im sick and tired of operating systems which try to do everything but operate the system. there needs to be some division between operating system functions and software. the os should only provide the resources to allow that software to run. it should only include software necessary for the maintenance of itself. i dont need your media player, there are better ones out there, i dont need your browser and i shouldnt require it to update my os. i dont need an email client, an instant messanger, or stupid card games. i will provide all that stuff on my own.

[Mustang19]

QFT @ Nuke, just that your post is too long to quote. Well said.

If I knew more about Windows I'd help you, but all I can think of is contacting Microsoft support.

Anytime Windows crashes without being shut down "properly" (this goes for every Microsoft OS since DOS), it will do a disk check. This is a hardcoded thing that isn't in the registry, so I have no idea how to fix it.

[BloodEagle]

first off if you want stability, get rid of some heat. if fans dont work, try immersing your system in liquid nitrogen.

Motor oil works better. No joke.

[jr2]

Well, there is a way to make Windows come back to the state it was in after you just finished installing everything... hardware drivers included, unfortunately.  I can't remember how, but if you want, I will dig it up.  Something about going to Safe Mode and looking for the backups under drive:\"System Volume Information", IIRC, I forget.

[Huggybaby]

Could be heat related, but the damage is done.
Sounds like permanent corruption anyway, probably some lost files.
Check your video card like Davros said, because overworked video can cause ugly hangs.

Use something like http://www.hdtune.com/ to see if you're  too hot.

Then take a look at this http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

[CP5670]

I know there is a way to disable that automatic chkdsk "consistency check" as I have done it on all my systems, but I can't remember how. It's some registry setting somewhere. Try searching on google about it.

Although it sounds like your computer has stability problems (power supply issue, maybe) that you should look into first.

[jr2]

Hmm... so, remember to schedule a chkdsk scan before you ever resize your partition, if you've disabled auto-chkdsk. 

[Starman01]

Finally found a solution :

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=160963

Regarding the crash problem, I doubt it's a problem with overheating, rather more the power supply, however I haven't installed anything fancy in my machine, so the offizial power supply "should" be sufficient (it was always before)

However, I have my PC case always open, because when I close it I really get overheating problems. After 5 Minutes it starts with the fans on highest levels making a lot of noise, doesn't do so when the case is open (never). Usually it's said that the case must be closed for better air circulation, though that doesn't seem to be real for my machine

Also, that crash often seems to occurs when I set graphic details too high (had a CTD issue in Obliviion all 5 minutes, lowered the details, CTD gone). It also happens in X3 when loading a very full sector, and the last of the 4 issues is it crashes sometimes this way in level loadings of spellforce 1 (and the last one certainly isn't a overheating problem).

Last, it happened now in Haegemonia. When I first tried to play in 1600x1200, but it worked fine the first time for about 2 hours. Then, the other day I tried to run the game again, and at the moment the first time something in that graphic should be on the monitor = > Crash....   So that's also a sign it's no overheating

It must be something else like a big conflict that causes this problem.

[jr2]

Well, you shouldn't open the case, because, although this makes any part directly cooled by a fan, a whole heck of a lot cooler, it also makes any part that relies on indirect airflow a whole heck of a lot hotter, because they receive no cooling at all (eg, your northbridge if you don't have a fan on it, your RAM, esp if they don't have heat spreaders...)  Your normal case design is to take air from the front, pull it past most components, and suck it up through the PSU and rear exhaust fans...  Perhaps you don't have a fan in the front grill of your PC, or if you do, it's disconnected / broken?  My brother's compy has a P4 HT, and the fans were all screaming high after 5 minutes, because his front grill fan became disconnected accidentally.

I'd make sure you had at least one fan in the front grill, pulling air in, and at least one fan in the rear, pushing air out, in addition to the PSU's built-in fans.  A fan in the side is a plus, as is a tube from the side to the top of the CPU cooling stack.  (Cut a measured hole in it, run a small length of tube to just on top of the CPU fan, that way it's pulling cold air directly from outside, instead of from the heated interior... this also makes the interior cooler.)  I'd also recommend you get an active HDD cooler for each of your hard disks; they're pretty cheap. (Don't get an expensive one, I've been using mine for a few years now with no problems.)  Also, grab some heat spreaders for your memory, those are cheap too.  All this should cost you ~$50, but they can be used on your next PC as well.

[Nuke]

always make sure your fans point in the right direction. pay attention to where any vents are. ive seen cases where they put of vents in places which just make your fans useless. like in my xclio a-380 i noticed that under faceplate there was a rather large hole from the molding process that let of airflow from the front 250mm fan escape before it hit any components. this problem was easily fixed by a piece of packing tape. the front fan moves air over the hard drive cage and on through to the mobo. the side 250 mm fan blasts air right onto the motherboard (and the fan is about the same size too). and sence all that pressure has nowhere to go but back out the psu, the rear fan, and the cooler on the 8800gts, this arangement spreads the airflow evenly throughout the case.

one think you might want to check is the blow direction on your psu. now the standard is all psu fans are suckers, meaning they suck the air out of the case. but sometimes they are designed (or rather erroneously manufactured) with blower fans (which blow air into the case) which can really throw off the whole air flow design. in some cases (and i know they tell you not to do this), you actually need to open the power supply and re-orient the fan. but if its a sucker you need not go through the trouble.

one thing you can do to test airflow if you have a glass panel in your case is get some canned smoke. blow some into the intake fans and around the vents. observe the currents. if you see any place where no currents form then you might want to consider more airflow in that position.