Adobe encoder (CS4) crashing my PC - no idea why

[Syeed Ali]

AME has been causing my PC to crash for a while now and I've spent days trying to fix it.
A few days ago i re-jigged the hard drives around and have set it up as follows.


C drive = 300GB (10,000rpm) > Boot drive with Vista 64 OS & all other programs including CS4

D drive = 300GB (10,000rpm) > Project files & cinform neo & scratch disk

E drive = RAID-0 for all media
1.5TB (7,200rpm)
1.5TB (7,200rpm)
1.5TB (7,200rpm)


PC build is:
i7 (920@2.67GHz)
6.00GB ram
ATI Radeon 4870 x2 graphics card with 2GB ram

All updates done.


AME has been running great for the last few days with the new set up with no crashes. Even last night i was exporting videos without any problem.

This morning, it's started crashing to a blue screen again with the following message....

Page_Fault_In_Non_Page_Area.

I've also had the IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal area come up once, but it's mainly the Page Fault error.

I also tried exporting the same videos i was exporting yesterday and they are crashing as well now. It ahppens just after AME starts encoding.

I'm totally frustrated now and don't know what to do!!!! AME is unworkable.

The only thing I'm guessing at is that it may be a scratch disk problem???

Anyone got any ideas as to what it is and what the fix is, before I throw everything out the window?

Thanks

EDIT: I have another 300GB (10,000rpm) disk being delivered today. Anything i can do with that?

[Mitchell Skurnik]

Could be a bad piece of RAM

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Explanation:

This Stop message occurs when requested data is not found in memory. The system generates a fault, which normally indicates that the system looks for data in the paging file. In this circumstance, however, the missing data is identified as being located within an area of memory that cannot be paged out to disk. The system faults, but cannot find, the data and is unable to recover. Faulty hardware, a buggy system service, antivirus software, and a corrupted NTFS volume can all generate this type of error.

User Action:

This Stop message usually occurs after the installation of faulty hardware or in the event of failure of installed hardware (usually related to defective RAM, either main memory, L2 RAM cache, or video RAM). If hardware has been added to the system recently, remove it to see if the error recurs. If existing hardware has failed, remove or replace the faulty component. Run hardware diagnostics supplied by the system manufacturer. For details on these procedures, see the owners manual for your computer. Another cause of this Stop message is the installation of a buggy system service. Disable the service and determine if this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer of the system service about a possible update. If the error occurs during system startup, restart your computer, and press F8 at the character-mode menu that displays the operating system choices. At the resulting Windows 2000 Advanced Options menu, choose the Last Known Good Configuration option. This option is most effective when only one driver or service is added at a time. Antivirus software can also trigger this Stop message. Disable the program and determine if this resolves the error. If it does, contact the manufacturer of the program about a possible update. A corrupted NTFS volume can also generate this Stop message. Run Chkdsk /f /r to detect and repair disk errors. Restart the system before the disk scan begins on a system partition. If the hard disk is SCSI, check for problems between the SCSI controller and the disk. Finally, check the System Log in Event Viewer for additional error messages that might help pinpoint the device or driver causing the error. Disabling memory caching of the BIOS might also resolve it. For more troubleshooting information about this Stop message, refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/support.

[Syeed Ali]

Tested the RAM with Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool. The RAM appears to be fine.

[Pete Bauer]

Try memTest (free download). See:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1013532-post2.html

[Syeed Ali]

Originally Posted by Pete Bauer

Try memTest (free download). See:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/1013532-post2.html

Thanks Pete.

Have ran it for 10 hours and 15 passes and no errors found in the RAM.

I'll give it a couple of more days and then re-install the Os...again!!!

:(

[Syeed Ali]

Problem is still there.

Going to get windows 7 and see if that helps.

Apart from that, have no idea what else to do.

[David Dwyer]

Page faults are normally faulty ram but can be caused by drivers as well. Since you have reinstalled and used the latest drivers?

Few other things to think of is your PC Overclocked?

Are the temps hot?

One thing to try is disconnect all HDDs other than the OS disk and try it then, might rule out the other drives.

Let me know how it goes.

[Syeed Ali]

Thanks David.

It looks like it's the CPU temp. It's hitting the high 90c during encoding.

I changed the BIOS setting, increasing the allowable temp and it hasn't crashed. So that problem is solved. Thanks for the help.

The problem now is, why the CPU is overheating even though i have a massive heatsink on it!!!

[David Dwyer]

Great,

Couple of other things to check. Is the fan spinning at the correct RPM?

Is the fan blowing air onto the HSF, make sure it isnt sucking air.

Do you have any exhaust fans in place to vent out the heat?

If that fails then remove the heatsink and apply some thermal compound onto the CPU (Make sure you clean/remove any before re adding)

Add HSF and test temps again.

[Harm Millaard]

Originally Posted by Syeed Ali

Thanks David.

It looks like it's the CPU temp. It's hitting the high 90c during encoding.

I changed the BIOS setting, increasing the allowable temp and it hasn't crashed. So that problem is solved. Thanks for the help.

The problem now is, why the CPU is overheating even though i have a massive heatsink on it!!!

90c is way too high!!!

What CPU cooler do you have installed? What case do you use? What additional fans do you have?

Running the same i7-920 @ 3.6 GHz overclocked, I have less than 40c idle and less than 65c under heavy load. Just encoding will not raise the temperature over 58c in my case.

[Syeed Ali]

Originally Posted by Harm Millaard

90c is way too high!!!

What CPU cooler do you have installed? What case do you use? What additional fans do you have?

Running the same i7-920 @ 3.6 GHz overclocked, I have less than 40c idle and less than 65c under heavy load. Just encoding will not raise the temperature over 58c in my case.

I have the following:

Case: Antec 1200 - Case has 3 front fans, 1 on top and 2 rear.
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTEzMw==

i7 fan: Akasa AK-967
Akasa Thermal Solution

Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R



Currently idling between 65 - 68 and that's with the case open!!!

No obstructions to the fans and everything cleaned.

I'm going to remove the cpu fan and re-attach it again with new paste. Hopefully that will work

[Syeed Ali]

Just done a re-test and when teh encoder is running the temp is reaching over 100.

Also the cooler fins aren't warm at all so it looks like it's not connected properly.

[Harm Millaard]

These results are way too high, under the assumption that, being based in London, you are talking Centigrade, not Fahrenheit.

Idle my i7-920 overclocked to 3.6 GHz shows these results with an ambient temperature of 20 C:

[Syeed Ali]

Here's my results Harm.

It's definetly running too hot.

I've re-installed the cooler a few times now and changed the thermal bond as well as nothings changed.

The fins still stay cool.

[Harm Millaard]

In that case it may be worthwhile to have a look at another CPU cooler, something like the Scythe Mugen 2, Prolimatech Megahalem, Noctua NH-D14 (my favorite), Noctua NH-U12P SE2 or the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme.

Preferably look at those coolers that easily allow push-pull fan configurations, like the Noctua.