SETI keeps crashing NewPro

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 7:53 pm

Couldn't understand why my system kept rebooting - seemed to be only when NewsPro was running, but its actually when NewsPro AND my SETI are running. Each will run on their own, but together definitely not. Didn't used to do this (hence a long time to track it down, as I've a number of apps that run in background). NewsPro keeps thinking its a memory problem, but I've 512MB with 256MB free.

Ruled out: heat, XP O/S, USB (can cause some probs with my Asus mobo) Suggestions?

Tha*Lunat!k · Post by **Tha*Lunat!k** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 10:10 pm

Right-click My Computer > Properties. Go to the Advanced tab. Under Startup and Recovery click Settings, then uncheck the box in the System Failure section that reads "Automatically restart."

You'll probably find that these reboots are actually blue screens of death, XP-renamed 'Stop Errors'. They might help you diagnose if a specific file or driver is causing the errors.

On my system with an AMD chip and compatible motherboard I get random blue screens every once in a while, but the file listed as causing the error is rarely the same and the errors vary. I think it's just computer faultiness at work on my system

Since you get the error every time with those two programs running it might give you info on what is causing it though.

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 5:52 am

Thanks for reply but oddly the one thing it doesn't give me ever: BSOD. Either goes straight to reboot of system or just NewsPro closes - usually on a Get New Headers, with a "NewsPro must close" type error. Event Viewer shows nothing, Errorlog.txt has shown 'NewsPro 3620R internal error (49B748/C0000005)' but not consistently. Everything (especially the inconsistency of error report) points to memory *except* that it only occurs when NewsPro *and* SETI are running. It has only started fairly recently - post v 3.60, possibly. Haven't got the old versions to try.

alex · Post by **alex** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:11 am

What is SETI? Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?

Check whether the program installs drivers, newspro cannot cause system crashes since it works on the application level and the system is fully protected here, only malfunctioning driver can. If seti doesn't install drivers maybe it triggers something in another application that installed a driver. Maybe it messes with the memory management somewhere, ideally you should run seti+newspro on a clean system install to see whether it is it or something else.

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 6:54 am

Yeah, runs as a background task utilising idle so CPU is at 100% (hence my concern re. heat, but its not that). Does not use any drivers. My theory (and strictly only a theory!) is that NewsPro likes to have a processor idle reserve which of course doesn't exist.

As mentioned SETI occupys Idle time, so it'll give up processing to anything with a higher priority. Its worth mentioning that I've not had any problems with SETI vs other apps in over 3 years of using it

Tha*Lunat!k · Post by **Tha*Lunat!k** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 7:01 am

Did you have the Automatically restart option disabled as I mentioned though? My computer used to reboot randomly and I couldn't figure out why, but then I disabled that option and found that they were actually blue screens of death but XP was rebooting right away instead of displaying the error.

alex · Post by **alex** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 7:18 am

yes, I downloaded it, it is just an executable, so it is something else on your system.

you need to get BSOD to determine the faulty driver (follow Lunatik messages) or uninstall potential candidates (applications that install drivers), if you can reproduce it fast enough you'll find out what it is pretty soon.

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 8:31 am

Apologies Lunatic - yes, now disabled Auto Restart but I've not been running SETI to test - maybe I'll give it a whirl when I've less critical apps running as the reboot corrupts some of my data (not critical, but a pain to rectify!)

Thanks Alex - and BTW a great app which I really like, despite current indications to the contrary!

One likely candidate is USB, which has never really worked properly on the mobo - and I did add a webcam device recently. I'll probably set up my system again - its about due (about once every 3-4 months, I've got it down to a fine art only taking a couple hours). Then I can add apps & test properly. Usually I'd do this before reporting an error but I'm just being lazy - and I wondered if anyone else had similar probs - which they're obviously not! Thanks for the help guys - put this down to my mobo - until you hear otherwise!

alex · Post by **alex** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 8:58 am

I don't think it is SETI to blame - I ran it here, it is just an application that runs on low priority, it gets some data to perform the fouier transorm, apparently through a simple connection. It eats about 14MB of memory (not too much), 2 threads, so it looks like it cannot be the source of the problem, maybe it prevents some low priority processes (e.g. the system idle process) from running and it somehow causes the bug maybe something relies on it.

Try to cause the crash to find out the driver name, reinstalling system doesn't matter much, you should know what (very likely third-party) driver crashes the system, it should be easy to resolve it then.

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 9:08 am

I set up my system to dual-boot, so I've always got at least one that's resilient to run my critical apps - that'll allow me to go back and hammer my current setup to find the source of the problem!

Tha*Lunat!k · Post by **Tha*Lunat!k** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 11:37 am

It could also be the intesity of the two applications together. I used to run SETI on my computer until I realized that during idle it would take up nearly 100% of my CPU (naturally), and it was causing my CPU temperatures to rise by 10°C or so. During gaming or using NewsPro the heat could rise as high as 75°C, upon which I was prone to blue screens.

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 1:39 pm

Considered heat, initially, but have had higher temps without running SETI and no probs (heat always below 60C anyway). Whilst games can, and do, cause major problems, there aren't any on the system!

Markulous · Post by **Markulous** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:02 pm

Seemingly solved my NewsPro/SETI crashes - my system! Its been running fault-free for months with FSB O/C'd but it seems age/dust/wear & tear are taking their toll. Setting up 'doze gave me errors and setting the Bios to default seemed to cure the faults

So, thanks for assistance and apologies for barking up the wrong tree!