Startup Problems - Windows XP - Sudden Power off and Laptop won't start up

I am not sure this is the right section for this thread, but it probably is...

I have a laptop (Acer Aspire 1690 with some upgraded stuff) running Windows XP with SP2. The laptop refuses to start up. When I turn the power on, the laptop begins starting up normally and Windows XP begins loading (the normal XP loading screen), but after the blue desktop screen appears a warning box appears from lsass.exe and tells me "Insufficient resources to complete API". At that point the computer turns off, but not in a shut-down manner, but as if I pulled the plug and removed the battery pack - it just powers off and begins restarting again.

It would sound like either a power supply issue (but the computer is connected to the mains and the battery-pack is inside too) or a heat issue, but the computer powers off at exactly the same point every time (sometimes the lsass.exe warning message does not appear though) I try power it up, so it's not as if it is dependent on how hot the insides are. Sometimes what helps to start it up again, is if I remove the hard drive and copy some stuff away to free up more space (I found this tip on the internet - this has been going on for a while now, but now it reared its ugly head again - but I have over 17GB free on the 100GB HDD, so maybe doing this just gives the comp time to cool down?) or if I leave it unpowered for many hours. That does hint at heat issues. On the other hand, if I do manage to start up the computer, I can leave it on for weeks and it does not do this, so that suggests against the heat theory. I just don't know...

Now that I think about it further, I do believe these problems started when I replaced my fan, but am not completely sure. The old fan failed, so I ordered a new fan (exactly the same type as the old one and directly from Acer and I installed it in exactly the same way) and I think when I inserted the new fan, this problem started appearing (though the new fan itself works perfectly and the laptop gets much less hot than it used to, so it is counterintuitive that this would cause problems).

Any ideas/suggestions as to what I can do to solve these problems?

(I should mention that I did run anti-virus checks to see whether it is not some virus, but none of them found anything.)

 

I should also mention that the sudden power-off can sometimes happen even if the computer has started up normally, if I run certain programs (e.g. King's Bounty: The Legend), but only after a while - not immediately when I start the program. Hmm, maybe I will try removing the fan and running without it - perhaps the fan is drawing away too much power from the power supply... but I am speculating here. I would really welcome some ideas.

 

Possible solution - this hotfix.
Source - http://www.u-g-h.com/2006/03/14/insufficient-system-resources-exist-to-complete-the-api-solived/

I know it's not the same issue as you have but it's close enough..


Edit: According to this site though(99% same situation as yours) it's a virus.....

 

I already have the hotfix (my computer does have 2GB of RAM and had that hibernation problem too - the hotfix did solve that problem - as a sidenote - cutting RAM down to 1GB does not solve the startup issue - I have tried...), but it does not solve the issue.

Also, I have SP2, which is meant to have security against the Sasser worm and I did run Trend Micro on it, and Norton Antivirus and now I am running Avast. None of them are finding the virus/worm/trojan even after full scans.

 

I should also mention, that trying to boot in Safe Mode does not help, nor does booting from the Windows XP CD.

 

Although you have SP2 and you've scanned you system the Sasser fits perfectly. The described problem is exactly what the Sasser does. If you can connect your hdd to another system and scan it, you can also search right? Try to search for avserve.exe or avserve2.exe on your hdd, also win.log or win2.log.

 

I thought the Sasser gives you a message that the computer will shut down in 60 seconds and then it does. My computer just turns off (power off - no shut down). But thanks - I will definitely try that if I manage to start up the computer again (I am posting from a public computer). Although I could hook the HDD up to another machine in the past, I don't currently have that option, so I have to start it up before doing the search.

Also, the strange thing is, that sometimes (under the conditions I described) the computer does manage to start up, so if it is the Sasser, than it is somewhat inconsistent and especially strange given the fact that booting the computer from a boot CD does not help either.

Still, if it is the Sasser, how do I remove it?

 

To clarify: If I find these files on the HDD, it automatically means I have the Sasser, right?

 

Yes, especially the avserve files. Read the link I posted below for detailed info about the Sasser.



Removing the Sasser - check this thread, especially the "Eradicating the virus" section of it.

I saw a lots of web page claiming that this could be cause by low free space as you said. How many partitions do you have? You said you freed some space but if you have more than 1 partition have you freed space on all the partitions..?

 

Yes, that is correct.

 

Ok, thanks - if I manage to start up the computer and find these files I will definitely begin the eradication procedure!

I have two partitions of 50GB each. When this thing first happened, I really had very little space - maybe 1GB on each. I copied some files off the HDD, but only a couple of hundred MB and it worked - the laptop started up. Later the same thing happened so I copied a few hundred MB more and it started again. This process repeated itself several times and each time I freed up more and more space (later I tried taking a few GB off at a time). I currently have about 6GB free on one partition and 11GB-12GB free on the other partition.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

If you have an external drive, move as many files as you can off the primary partition to the external drive. The operating system (especially Vista) needs a lot of free space to move around. I would keep at least 20GB free on the C drive.

If you don't have an external drive, burn the files to a DVD.

 

Ok so you have free space so it cannot be that the reason...unless the freed space gets corrupted somehow, windows doesn't detect freespace and produce the error. You tested your hdd for errors?

The OP has XP SP2, 6GB free space on a 50GB partition should be fine.

 

I do have an external drive, but in the absence of a second machine, I cannot copy files off the internal HDD unless I manage to start up the computer in the first place. I am running Windows XP.

 

Hmm, no I haven't. What program should I use for that - would the disk defragmenter, for example, detect that?

 

Nope, defragmenter is for defragment fragmented files(what a sentence ) Checkdisk(chkdsk) check for erros, there are tons of program for that purpose, for example HD Tune.

 

To test for errors, you could use HDtune, for example. Its free and neat.

You could also do a vista builtin checkdisk, set to be done at startup, and reboot your computer.. when it restarts, it will run the check disk and you could follow up.

 

OK, thanks guys! I will be heading home from this public terminal, so that I can try to start up the computer again and than try the fixes you have suggested. Any final tips before I do so?

 

Nah I got nothing more for you, will try to dig up some more info tonight....

Edit: Check http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

This is a startup CD, you can run some test on your HDD even if you can enter in Windows.

 

Alright - thanks again! Hopefully, I will be able to post here from my own computer later today.

 

You saw the EDIT from my previous post?

 

I see it now. That sounds like a great CD indeed - if I manage to start up my computer I will definitely procure this and if it doesn't start up I will try to persuade somebody here to let me download it on their computer and burn it to a CD.

 

OK, my computer has managed to start up and I began searches for those four files:

 

Ok, check your free space too. You might want to lower your page file manually in case it extend itself and eat all the free space.

 

My computer is slowed down because of the ongoing searches (so far nothing found, but none of them are completed yet). As to free space, I have even more than I initially posted (I forgot that I cleaned up a bit). One partition has 11.3GB and the other has 7.5GB.

 

I have no idea if this will actually help you but I think it's possible.

Ok I suggest you set your virtual memory(page file)manually so Windows cannot control it's size(especially increasing). Maybe sometimes Windows allocate a lot more space than needed for the page file and the free space is not enough...The rule for the virtual memory is: RAM amount X 1,5 for minimum

To set the pagefile size:

Rightclick "My computer"->Properties->Advanced->Performance Settings->Advanced. Your pagefile size is set to automatic("Let windows manage....blablabla"). Select "Custom". Set "Initial Size" at 3500MB and "Maximum size at 5000MB. You'll be asked to restart your computer.

All this will limit Windows to use 5GB max for pagefile to prevent the eventual use of all disk space...

 

OK, the search is completed and none of the four files were found on the HDD.

I will now try your page file idea - thanks!

 

I guess it didn't work?

 

Well, actually, I found out that I already have a custom-sized paging file (I was probably messing around with it in the past). It is set at:

Initial size: 2046MB
Maximum size: 4092MN

Could it be that I set the settings too low given that my RAM is 2GB? Perhaps the paging file ran out of space? In any case, I will change the settings to what you advised (3.5GB and 5GB for initial and maximum respectively). We will see if my computer restarts succesfully.

 

Interestingly enough, it is not letting me increase the maximum page file size above 4096MB. Whenever I try to do it, it tells me:

"Enter a maximum page file size that is greater or equal to the initial page file size and less than 4096MB."

(Note: Total available space shown here is 9.7GB rather than 7.5GB, but here it is including the pagefile size.)

 

I will now try checking the disk for errors with the programs suggested.

 

OK then leave it as it was.

By the way now that you have your computer running can you go to the Event Viewer->System, find the error and post a detail info about it?

 

The HD Tune Error Scan has just finished after almost 11 hours of scanning. There are no errors on the hard disc. The temperature of the HDD is 37 degrees Celsius, so that is fine too and all the entries in the Health Screen are perfect except for Reallocated Sector Count, which is yellow. The health status of the HDD is a green "OK".

I am starting to think that this must be some kind of power supply issue after all. But it is really weird.

I opened Event Viewer -> System, but there are lots of entries in it, so I am not sure which one to post. I did find some error entries. I guess this one looks like it might have something to do with the startup problems:


Event Type: Error
Event Source: Ftdisk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 49
Date: 29/10/2008
Time: 16:35:08
User: N/A
Computer: ACER-AC84C68AD2
Description:
Configuring the Page file for crash dump failed. Make sure there is a page file on the boot partition and that is large enough to contain all physical memory.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 56 00 ......V.
0008: 00 00 00 00 31 00 04 c0 ....1..À
0010: 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

 

Try to find an error log for lsass.exe

 

I cannot find it.

Perhaps it is not in the Event Viewer, because Windows has not fully started up yet when the error occured?

 

36 posts in this thread and we got nothing...I cannot think of anything else...Have you considered reinstalling the OS? Or updating your current XP installation to SP3?

 

Thanks for trying - I really appreciate it.

After your help eliminating the other possibilities, I strongly suspect that it is the power supply causing these issues. Perhaps the new fan is not exactly the same version as the old one after all (though I did get it directly from Acer and informed them what my laptop type was...) and thus draws more power (it is really good at cooling) and thus when too much power is used such as during a specific stage of startup (unless it is particularly cool) or when playing some games, some circuit breaker cuts of power to protect the power supply/components and the computer shuts down suddenly. At least that is my working theory.

This computer is nearly 3-years old now and has seen heavy use and can no longer run many of the games I would like to run on it, plus is a hazard to my work (if I cannot start it up when I particularly need to do something)... I think I need a new one anyway and have been thinking of getting a new one for some time now, so all this does is determine the exact timing. I am buying one right now. Once again - thanks for your help!

 

I really have no idea what happens to a laptop when it doesn't get enough power but I don't understand how can the the laptop even boot if there isn't enough power? Also, it doesn't make any sense to boot today and not boot tomorrow.

Do you move it around or it's on your desk? Maybe there is a loose connection somewhere...

 

I don't understand it either, but I am guessing it might have something to do with the temperature. When I leave the computer off for a long time, perhaps it cools down so much that it can accept the power peak during the start up phase. It might even be that the computer managed to boot up after I copied some stuff off the HDD to free up space not because of the extra space, but because doing that gave the computer extra time to cool down. Colder conductors conduct electricity better as a general rule (at least as I remember it from my physics classes a long time ago now), so that might account for why the computer is able to boot up when left alone for several hours. Unfortunately, this is all pure conjecture - I don't know the real reason...

It's on my desk and there are no loose connections, plus I have the battery pack inside, which would take over if there were a loose connection. The battery itself works fine.

 

I guess one experiment I could try would be to remove the fan entirely and run the laptop without a fan. If it boots up fine even from a 'hot state' than it is probably the fan drawing too much power that is causing the problems. I am a bit afraid to try it just like that though, because what if it doesn't work... this fear makes me reluctant to shut down the computer for any reason.

 

Never done this before but your laptop probably won't have the time to boot, the CPU will overheat very fast and will turn the laptop off. To check your system temps download HWMonitor from here.

 

Downloaded the program and checked. The THRM value is 54 degrees Celsius and the HDD value is 36 degrees Celsius.

The computer will work without the fan. I have used it before in that manner in the interim period when the old fan broke down and before my new fan arrived from Acer. It got hot, but worked glitch-free. I guess I might have fried something leading to the current problems - that is possible, but nothing bad was happening then - it was only after I installed the new fan that the problems started.

 

Ok temps are fine. I cannot think of anything else anymore....

 

You have done enough. The problem appears unsolvable. I think the power supply theory is correct...

 

"You must spread some reputation around before giving it to atthegates again."

Thanks a lot for all the help you have given - I really appreciate it!