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#2887380 - 10/25/09 11:58 AM Help Please? System meltdown!!  
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Biggles07 Offline
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Hi all, I think I may have buggered my computer but I'm not sure. Here is the sorry tale. I had been getting a "blue screen" error coming up infrequently (maybe twice a week) or so for the last two weeks. The message flashed up so quickly I could not read it.

Last night, I did an overclock on my corei7 940 which usually runs at 2.93ghz, with my usual hyperthreading disabled in BIOS (4 cores) to 3.4ghz (using CPUZ). This usually works fine and dandy, with temps going no higher than 48c according to real temp. As I am a noob with these kind of things and its easier for me, I use the "Asus OC Palm" software with the P6T deluxe motherboard, increasing the frequency +12% on the slider which gives the 3.4 result.

The problems seemed to start when I increased slightly to +14% (around 3.43 odd, from memory). I got the blue screen I had seen before (yet was happening without any overclock whatsoever, I increase the frequency rarely and only for a quick "boost" when gaming). Windows would then not boot up normally, getting to desktop then getting the blue screen and going back in a kind of "loop". I then tried to reboot in both safe mode, and safe mode with networking......Which worked initially. Now I cannot boot into safe mode. The only reason I am able to write this is through a thing called "asus netgate" which I think is a kind of "splashbrowser" to get onto the net quickly (never used it before).


I tried to do a Vista repair with my DVD copy of Vista64 home premium, and it said after going through the process it was unable to repair it. After that I did a "memory diagnostic" which said that 2 of 2 tests had passed, but also said "There is a hardware problem", but no specifics. I then tried a total clean reinstall, and now it wont even let me do that. I get this after being prompted to press a key to boot from DVD. It begins to load files and bar is moving, then I get this message: (white letters on black screen)

FILE:NETTIO.SYS
Status: 0xc0000221

INFO: Windows failed to load because a required file is missing or corrupt.

I guess what I am asking is have I fried my CPU, and is there a way to test this on the internet? Does the fact I am able even to write this mean it is functioning in at least some form? I have the red CPU led on my case flashing intermittently, so there is activity I presume?

Additional info: All Bios settings are set to "Auto" apart from Hyperthreading being disabled. My worry is that the Auto voltage setting has possibly "over-volted" the CPU, though this is only speculation on my part. Gaaaah!

Thing that is confusing me, is that I was getting the same blue screen problem doing no overclocking at all.......any ideas? I fear the worst, but need confirmation.

SPECS: Corei7940
6gb ram
Vista64 home premium O/S

Thanks for any help, (if I am not beyond it lol) I need it peeps! Smile2

Last edited by Biggles07; 10/25/09 12:01 PM.

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#2887391 - 10/25/09 12:22 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Biggles07]  
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2005AD Offline
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First thing you should do (if you haven't already) is to make sure you have no overclocks on any hardware (CPU/RAM/FSB/PCI-E) etc. Once you are sure that no overclocks are active try booting into windows again. I would also set all FSB/CPU/RAM Speed settings in your BIOS to auto.

If Windows still won't load or install then power off and try removing all of your RAM apart from one stick. If it loads then one or more of your RAM sticks (or RAM slots) are faulty. Try this working stick in each slot one at a time to test for broken RAM slots. If you have found no broken RAM slots then add one RAM stick at a time until your windows fails to load or gives errors. If it fails to load or gives problems then the last RAM stick you added is faulty.

This is a long process but it is the best way to find if you have faulty RAM or RAM slots on your board.

If this doesn't work it points to your Motherboard or CPU as being the most likely fault.

All of this is of course assuming some sort of hardware failure of BIOS config problem.

#2887400 - 10/25/09 12:43 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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Masaq Offline
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Doesn't look like a fried CPU in the slighest, to me. If it was bust, you'd probably get nothing on boot at all except possibly some beeps and maybe a slight smell of toast :p

Nope, NETIO.SYS is a file that tells Windows how to handle network functions - "NETwork Input/Output . system", effectively.

For some reason - possibly a bad shutdown caused by overclocking-induced instability, possibly just a gammy Vista install, the file's become corrupted.

You *should* be able to use System Recovery / your install disks to replace the file. If that's not possible, I'd undertake the following:

*Enter the BIOS and remove all tweaks and settings. Leave HT enabled - your CPU can support 8 logical cores for a reason, you know!

*Unplug current HDD

*Purchase and install new HDD

*Clean install of Windows (Vista or W7 - this is the perfect time to upgrade!) onto the new HDD, along with latest drivers etc.

*Then plug in your old hard drive (if it's SATA, you don't even have to power down the PC to do this, although I'd advise it), and from the clean install of windows, copy across any files and data that you wish to save.

*Then reformat the old drive, and use it as a storage drive.

When I had a very similar problem - a botched shutdown caused by an unstable OC corrupted a whole bunch of operating system files that Installation Recovery couldn't fix - that's exactly what I did. All data on the old drive was fully recoverable from the new installation.


Edit: Oh, and never leave overclocking to Automatic functions, precisely because it can cause this kind of problem in my experience. Using my motherboard's auto-tune functions causes all kinds of weird crap to happen... doing it manually is usually much safer, so long as you actually know what you're doing. If you want help to overclock once you've got a stable, non-bluescreening installation of Windows back up and running, create a new thread and I'm sure someone will help. But auto-tunes should be avoided, in my experience.

Last edited by Masaq; 10/25/09 12:46 PM.
#2887475 - 10/25/09 03:29 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Masaq]  
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Richardg Offline
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Never do any overclocking with auto settings. Read, and know what your doing before overclocking, change the settings manually.

It sounds like your cpu isnt getting enough voltage for the clock speed you have it set to. My system just did this (what you describe) after being overclocked stabily for a year. I just had to bump up the cpu voltage a tad. (mine runs on insanely low voltages, was at 1.10v, I had to bump it to 1.16v)

Go into bios and reset everything back to stock clock, and start from scratch (manually).

#2887501 - 10/25/09 04:08 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Richardg]  
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2005AD Offline
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Please read the original post AND my reply. The OP stated he had the blue screen for the last two weeks, he only tried overclocking last night. The original fault with the blue screening was without the overclock and it is more than likely caused by corrupt drivers, OS or bad RAM. Admitedly there are other potential causes but the only way to troubleshoot hardware/OS problems is one step at a time.

My response was to remove ANY overclock, set RAM and CPU speeds to auto (no overclock), then start the diagnostics by removing all his RAM apart from one stick and test. He also stated that he tried to do a total clean install of windows which to me points to a hardware rather than a software problem. A clean install that implies a format of the OS HD, thus eliminating any software or driver problems.

So my advice is to first set all clock speeds back to default for the RAM/CPU and FSB. Then try the RAM to ensure one or more of the sticks or RAM sockets is not faulty. Don't purchase any new hardware until you do some testing.

If you test the RAM please Biggles07 and report back, we can do some further diagnostics.

#2887532 - 10/25/09 04:43 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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Dart Offline
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Lifer

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How's this for weird - I was going through the same thing - and it ultimately came down not to RAM or CPU or anything like that.

The BIOS battery was dead.

Replaced it and the problems went away.

Three USD.


The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.com

From Laser:
"The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."
#2887538 - 10/25/09 05:02 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Dart]  
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franksvalli Offline
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+1 to Masaq. If you can't even reinstall Windows from scratch, then it's time to try to reformat the HD, or replace it altogether.

#2887553 - 10/25/09 05:32 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: franksvalli]  
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2005AD Offline
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franksvalli, installing Windows from Scratch entails a reformat of the HD.

#2887564 - 10/25/09 05:50 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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Masaq Offline
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Originally Posted By: 2005AD
franksvalli, installing Windows from Scratch entails a reformat of the HD.


Not if you get a new hard drive.

Storage space is dead cheap, a decent hard drive will cost nothing like what it used to even five years ago.

Sling in a new drive, install afresh and then use the new copy of Windows to salvage your data from the old drive.

Even if the problem turns out to be a motherboard battery or dodgy voltages on the PC, you'll have a lovely clean install and some new hard drive space as well.

End of the day, once your system is starting to corrupt .sys files - even if you sort out the root cause, you've still got a problem with your OS.

#2887575 - 10/25/09 06:01 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Masaq]  
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2005AD Offline
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Hence the reformat. Why advocate buying a new HD when it might not be the cause? He stated he already tried a "total clean reinstall", so there will be no data on his current HD to recover!

HD space might be cheap but it isn't free! How do you think Biggles will feel if he lays out $50 - $60 on a new HD for it not to fix the problem? He could then end up having to spend even more money on a new MB or RAM.

It might be a HD problem but it is best to do some free testing that only takes a short time, it could save Biggles some hard earned money.

#2887578 - 10/25/09 06:08 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Dart]  
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2005AD Offline
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Originally Posted By: Dart
How's this for weird - I was going through the same thing - and it ultimately came down not to RAM or CPU or anything like that.

The BIOS battery was dead.

Replaced it and the problems went away.

Three USD.


Yep, been a PC engineer for 20+ years now, I have saw some very strange problems smile

I once cured a BSOD by changing over the power lead to a floppy disk drive. Took me days and much mucking about to find the solution.

#2887586 - 10/25/09 06:21 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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franksvalli Offline
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Originally Posted By: 2005AD
franksvalli, installing Windows from Scratch entails a reformat of the HD.


Not necessarily, at least with Windows XP. During setup you have the option to install onto an existing partition. It's not advised though. Better to start fresh.

But that's Windows XP - maybe it's changed with Vista/7?

#2887590 - 10/25/09 06:25 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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franksvalli Offline
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Originally Posted By: 2005AD
Hence the reformat. Why advocate buying a new HD when it might not be the cause? He stated he already tried a "total clean reinstall", so there will be no data on his current HD to recover!


There might be bad sectors on the HD that it's trying to copy the file to.

However, on a second look, this error looks like it might be because the file can't be read from the installation DVD (is the DVD scratched?):

"FILE:NETTIO.SYS
Status: 0xc0000221

INFO: Windows failed to load because a required file is missing or corrupt."

That either means it can't be read from the DVD or it can't be copied to the HD.

#2887708 - 10/25/09 10:05 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: franksvalli]  
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Biggles07 Offline
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Hi again Gents and thank you all very much for trying to help. Story so far, I succeeded in a total reformat and clean install of Vista, booted up fine and was working ok, now it is back to the square one after 312 mb of Vista updates!

@2005AD, I think your RAM theory is spot on right ! Being that when my new Vista install was complete, under system settings it was only registering 4gb of RAM, at this point it was working fine (3X2gb sticks of DDR3 1600mhz Corsair RAM. Once numerous updates and driver installs took place, the system was again registering 6gb of RAM, it was now that the problems started again. Next reboot and I am back to the old FILE:NETTIO.SYS message. A new development however is that on rebooting it ran a "Checkdisk" program, which happened so fast all I could make out was what looked liked "removing orphaned files" (many of them), I have no idea what that means. At the end said bad areas were fixed.

2005AD, your advice on checking the RAM was great.....Problem is I have took out a 3 year warranty with PCspecialistUK which prohibits me removing, or replacing anything. It looks like I would have to get them to do it, or null warranty. I will phone them tomorrow to check ( I could do that myself no prob). I know I have most likely blew the warranty on the CPU, (not bothered) I just hope that they do not conclude the RAM problem is related and that overclocking of the CPU has had a causal effect on the RAM problem. I would think they have a myriad of tests to find out, so its probably pointless fibbing to them lol. Personally I don't it has, since as I say the problem was present without overclocking. It looks like it may be co-incidental, not causal....but who knows. I think I will return it and trust to their tender mercies (Aye, right lol).

@Masaq and Richardg, yeah point taken on auto overclocking. I have overclocked AMD CPU's before, but what I meant was I am not an "experienced" or seasoned O'cer. I would usually (and in fact did) use custom BIOS and Voltage/BCLK etc settings. I went back to auto for an unrelated matter, and got forgetfull/ lazy. Never again! Like I say though, I think the CPU is actually fine and was worrying about nothing.

@Frankisvalli, yeah that occurred to me too, but the DVD Rom is in mint condition having only been taken out the box once, and kept in a safe place.

So, looks like a return at the end of the day. Bloody typical with the Camel a week away! If its anymore serious than RAM and they do not repair it, then I won't be back for months, simply can't afford to have to buy anything major again, especially with "Cashmas" coming up ( The season where I have to buy people loads of things to show "I love them", and make the Capitalist Pig-Dogs even richer Smile2 . Dylan was right when he said "nothing much is really sacred", but "Its Alright Ma, I can make it" lol) Ach, such is life.

Once again, thanks kindly Gents for your help and replies, much appreciated thumbsup . Doesn't look like I will be playing ROF again for a good while though; *Sigh* I even got to the dizzy heights of No41 overall in the world! THE WORLD, I TELLS YA!! I could have been a contender, A CONTENDER, I TELLS YA !!! biggrin

Yep 2005AD, if the world didn't suck, we would indeed all fall off. Great sig, cheers cheers


Last edited by Biggles07; 10/25/09 10:06 PM.

"I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals".

Sir Winston Churchill
#2887718 - 10/25/09 10:32 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Biggles07]  
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Hellbender Offline
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Looks like you have a lot of Googling to do.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=NETIO.SYS+0xc0000221&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Good luck with that!



As for hardware stability, first of all, reset your motherboard to factory defaults, like others have suggested.

Then try testing your memory with Memtest86.

http://www.memtest86.com/ (burn to CD, reboot computer to CD)

If all is clear, try upping the voltage on the memory gradually, see if it improves stability.


Excellent method to test load stability is Prime95 (Torture Test).

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103


Another quick 'n dirty stability test is SUPER_PI to 32M decimals.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=36



In any case, if it's not the memory, you might have a long search ahead of you.



A tip for the future: Start > Computer, right-click Properties > Advanced System Settings > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery section > Settings > uncheck Automatically Restart.

It's incomprehensible that Microsoft hasn't got this option turned off by default.

Next time you get a BSOD, you can take the time to write the error down (or check the kernel dump, if you're into that kind thing).



Keep us posted on your progress!

#2887741 - 10/25/09 10:54 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Hellbender]  
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RocketDog Offline
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Mark, good luck with the PC - I know how frustrating these things can be, especially if you are on a budget. Fingers crossed they will sort you out in short order and you should be covered by warranty by the sounds. Maybe you will be back up and running in a few days.

Cheers,

Nick


Beyond gliding distance
#2887966 - 10/26/09 10:33 AM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: RocketDog]  
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Ming_EAF19 Offline
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The lengths some people will go to to explain their position on the Leader Board Smile2

looks like a return at the end of the day.

Ouch we should all have an I Hate Computers sig we've all been there with the faulty hardware nightmare Biggles, good work mate and good luck with the return - perhaps do not tell them what you've been doing it's none of their business they just work there. Just act innocent because they will be more helpful if they think you know less than just enough to be dangerous, try and get through to the techie-types directly and hope they're not following your story in here Smile2

What I mean is, hardware faults are generally repaired not by replacing components but by replacing modules so they'll slap in a replacement motherboard and RAM and switch it on probably if you've flagged a show-stopping fault, so telling them you smelled smoke and there was a popping sound and the sound of bearings grating and clanking could be more efficient than "It said it has a memory problem" having them checking your system RAM sockets

Ming


'You are either a hater or you are not' Roman Halter
#2888288 - 10/26/09 06:57 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: Ming_EAF19]  
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2005AD Offline
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Delighted to be among those who helped Biggles. Good luck with getting the problem resolved. cheers

#2888304 - 10/26/09 07:20 PM Re: Help Please? System meltdown!! [Re: 2005AD]  
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Dart Offline
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Lifer

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Alabaster, AL USA
Oh, wait...

Quote:
Story so far, I succeeded in a total reformat and clean install of Vista, booted up fine and was working ok, now it is back to the square one after 312 mb of Vista updates!


Got to service pack two and then Just. One. More. Update. if I'm guessing correctly. Then stuff just starts going wonky. Black screens, CDT, BSOD, and flat out hard reboots.

There's an update just past SP2 that seemed to hose my system, making it unstable, so I'd shut off the process as soon as SP2 was loaded.

Test for validation:

Use the restore point where the system has just installed SP2 and turn off Windows update. See if things don't run better. It's easy enough to do without having to reformat or start taking your rig apart.


The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

More dumb stuff at http://www.darts-page.com

From Laser:
"The forum is the place where combat (real time) flight simulator fans come to play turn based strategy combat."

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