Solved Have to reboot every two days

[GaryMeyer]

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium x64. I have been chasing a problem for several weeks. After a reboot my PC will run fine for two days. At that point, even if the computer is idle, I start to get pop-up messages that some applications have failed and at that point I can't start any new app. I can still do a normal reboot and the system shuts down normally and restarts normally and the whole cycle begins again. The event log messages seem to be different each time because they relate to the symptoms of the failing system but don't seem to point to the actual problem that precipitated the errors. Near as I can tell, applications fail because of inadequate "system resources". This is not a random event. It has repeated this cycle many times now and it is always just past two days after the previous reboot. It can happen at any time of day or night depending upon when the last reboot occurred so it does not seem to be caused by a scheduled task running on time of day.

Is there anything that works off of system up time? Anything on a two day cycle? Suggestions for what to look for?

 

[HonorGamer]

Hello GaryMeyer and welcome to the seven forum.

Well first off i would have to say that it is good to turn off your computer everytime your done using unless your going back to it within a few hours later. Or if you are running a virus scan or something. IT clears your RAM and your computer will run faster.

On the actual problem itself i am not quite sure why that is happening. Sorry

 

[GaryMeyer]

Understand but I'd like to figure out and fix the problem

I suppose I could shut it down every night but before this problem started to occur I left my machine running for days on end without any perceived performance issue so I'm not sure I necessarily agree with your observation. In fact, we should expect more of our systems than having to shut them down regularly just to have them perform well.

But beyond that philosophical discussion, I expect my computer to be able to run for over two days before crashing. I need to solve this problem.

 

[Anak]

Hi GaryMeyer, welcome to 7F

There can be many reasons why:

applications fail because of inadequate "system resources"

You do not have your System Specs filled out see Zidane24's post #4 here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/8-forum-rules-info-please-read.html#post256049

Programs to help you gather your Specs:
Speccy - System Information - Free Download
SIW | Download Free version at bottom
Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit
Download Everest Home Edition 2.20 Free - Everest Home Edition - a freeware system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking solution - Softpedia

It would also help if you followed the instructions here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html
It will create a comprehensive set of files that myself or other BSOD gurus can use to decipher your problem.

The more information you can offer. Helps us help you.

 

[GaryMeyer]

Ok.

I was hoping that the two day cycle would trigger some "ah ha" type of response vs a detailed troubleshooting exercise. It just seemd like the circumstances were unusual enough that someone might be able to point right to a likely problem.

Sorry if that's not the case. I will abide by the posting rules to move forward. I want to be clear though that this is not a BSOD situation and I don't believe I get an automatic dump created. I'm not an expert, just a user. I assume I can force a dump from a degraded system before rebooting. Is that correct?

 

[Anak]

I was hoping that the two day cycle would trigger some "ah ha" type of response vs a detailed troubleshooting exercise. It just seemd like the circumstances were unusual enough that someone might be able to point right to a likely problem.

If you would of had your Specs listed I might of been able to make a determination at that point.

But, there are so many variables from did you build this machine yourself, and make sure all the components are win7 compatible to plain old overheating. I don't even know if your machine is a desktop or laptop.

Usual suspects can be how many programs do you run at startup?
How much memory is installed?
How old is the machine?
Did you upgrade over a different version of Windows?
See: Optimize Windows 7 for better performance

Microsoft Support has 773 pages in relation to your "ahha" moment: Search The Knowledge Base

Sorry if that's not the case. I will abide by the posting rules to move forward. I want to be clear though that this is not a BSOD situation and I don't believe I get an automatic dump created. I'm not an expert, just a user. I assume I can force a dump from a degraded system before rebooting. Is that correct?

The jcgriff2 file that is generated is useful not only for BSOD's, the files can also be used to see if there are any system wide problems.

Before you force a dump make sure your setting for automatic restarts is turned off, and mini dumps are set.

To set your computer up for mini dumps:
Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings.
> Click on the Advanced tab > click on the Startup and recover Settings button.
> Under System failure un-check Automatically restart
> Select Small memory dump in drop-down box.
> OK your way out twice.

Forcing a System Crash from the Keyboard

 

[GaryMeyer]

I just wanted to close this out. Waiting two days between crashes for troubleshooting was a little too slow. Found some hints on other forums that made me suscipious of a memory leak problem - it fit the symptoms nicely. Using the poolmon tool I was able to clearly see that I had a resident app that was slowly leaking non-paged memory such that after about two days the system would run out of free memory. The app was a small utility provided by my DSL provider to monitor the connection. Turned it off and the problem went away.

 

[Anak]

I am glad to hear that you have your situation sorted out, and thank you for posting back to let us know what you did in order to find the problem and correct it.

That is a "nasty" little app that your DSL provider has to consume so much of your ram (12GB) in such a short time.

If you start having problems with your ISP connection because of it being turned off, and find you need to have it turned back on you may want to see if there are any firmware upgrades to their equipment your using.

If you do find an upgrade, and it is still a resource hog you may even want to call their Technical Service Department to discuss the problem with them.

I have been using CleanMem v.1.7.0 | PcWinTech.com since the XP, and Firefox days to help control memory leaks.

If you would like to mark this problem as solved you can click on the red triangle in the upper right corner of your post, to let the staff know, and they will mark it with a green check-mark.

Thank you for visiting 7F Gary!

Steve