Nicely Equipped Computer Problems

clifwlkr · 05-16-2008, 08:50 AM

I bought one of the 'Nicely Equipped' car computers from this sites store, and am having some problems. I have installed Windows XP Professional on it and often receive a BSOD at random points in time. It can sometimes be right after it booted into windows. Other times it simply crashes at random when it has been running awhiles.

I've never seen problems like this on any other computers that I have, so I am concerned it is something with the current setup.

Has anyone run into this problem? I am a computer professional and have not figured out what is going on here.

Jim Olsen

Fiberoptic · 05-16-2008, 09:02 AM

Jim, if you want to e-mail us your order number we will look into this (store@mp3car.com)

Autockr989 · 05-16-2008, 09:11 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by clifwlkr

I bought one of the 'Nicely Equipped' car computers from this sites store, and am having some problems. I have installed Windows XP Professional on it and often receive a BSOD at random points in time. It can sometimes be right after it booted into windows. Other times it simply crashes at random when it has been running awhiles.

I've never seen problems like this on any other computers that I have, so I am concerned it is something with the current setup.

Has anyone run into this problem? I am a computer professional and have not figured out what is going on here.

Jim Olsen

VIA is garbage.

Maheriano · 05-16-2008, 09:31 AM

Make sure to download all the newest drivers for the hardware. Should be the first thing you do with a new computer.

JimmyFitz · 05-16-2008, 09:33 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

VIA is garbage.

Better put on your flame suit. Many of us have Via based systems and are happy with them. I have three different ones, the oldest over two years and no problems. It is a matter of personal preference.

clifwlkr · 05-16-2008, 09:54 AM

Yeah, I did update all of the drivers to the latest. Just habit on my part. Still see this random crash, though. It's really annoying.

Do you have information as to why VIA is junk?

Jim Olsen

Autockr989 · 05-16-2008, 10:08 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by clifwlkr

Yeah, I did update all of the drivers to the latest. Just habit on my part. Still see this random crash, though. It's really annoying.

Do you have information as to why VIA is junk?

Jim Olsen

My opinion is based on using one. I bought one and basically since day one had major issues with cpu usage at 100%. My 6 year old laptop that had less horsepower and memory made this thing look like a 286computer. I was highly dissappointed because I spent lots of time tinkering around with settings trying to get my front end and video to play nicely. My music played ok but cpu usage was well over 80% on a simple mp3, which meant that nothing else could be done. It would also crash on a 30 minute commute at least 3-4 times. That sux!

I know that it all ties into the graphics, but since the main purpose of your carpc is for entertainment, your most likely going to run a "graphics intesive" front end which is going to chew it up even more. i wasn't about to make a chop shop of my car pc to install another upgraded graphics card, so I just upgraded to be done with the headache. Best decision I ever made in this hobby.

Look, do a search here on "cpu usage 100%" or something like that and you'll see what i'm talking about. maybe there is a traded secret that I was out of the loop on of how to get these boards to work correctly, but I had no luck. Problem after Problem.

clifwlkr · 05-16-2008, 10:50 AM

Well I don't think my problem is related to the video. I've had it crash right after it had booted into xp, but nothing 'extra' was running yet. Just Windows XP is all...

My mp3 player is my own software I wrote in flex/flash. I'm using IGuidance v3, and pmscan for odb-ii support. I've had them all up and running for a period of time, then all of a sudden it willl BSOD on me.

I am so close now I just really want to resolve this issue. I am happy with the rough install right now, and want to get it so I am comfortable permantly installing it into the car.

Jim Olsen

clifwlkr · 05-16-2008, 03:01 PM

Just a followup here. At lunch I went out and tested the computer running sound/video (my flash/flex based mp3 player). The cpu was typically down around 8-10%. I threw IGuidance on as well, and it still sat around 10%.

Therefore I don't believe it was the same issue you were seeing before. Of course it would be nice if there was an identifiable problem, since then I would have an idea of where to start.

Jim Olse

rijndael · 05-16-2008, 03:06 PM

on your BSOD, it gives you an error message to include where in the memory it happened as well as a file that helped create the crash...next time it happens, try to grab that bit of info...

clifwlkr · 05-16-2008, 03:13 PM

I can't quite remember the exact phrase, but it was something referencing a kernel data error. It suggested 'device drivers' 'shadowed BIOS' and one other thing as possible causes. So it seems to be a crash in drivers/kernel. I did turn off the cacheing of the BIOS, and will see if that helps.

Jim Olsen