Solved Windows 7 Restarts Randomly When Using Netflix

[Britt]

I've got another PC problem. I am running Win7 Utlimate 32bit on my Shuttle xPC. The specs are below:

Shuttle XPC Barebone

2GB DDR2 Ram
Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT Video Card (has an S-video port so I can plug it into the TV)
500GB Seagate HDD
AMD Athlon 64 X2

Originally, I had Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit on the computer, but I kept getting BSOD's/random restarts when trying to watch Netflix. I diagnosed the BSOD's and found that they were caused by my TV tuner driver. When I removed the driver, I didn't get another BSOD, but the random restarts continued. Since the drivers are mainly for 32bit systems, I decided to reinstall Windows 32bit to see if that would fix the issue. Alas, no. The TV tuner driver works and I don't get any blue screens, but when I try to watch Netflix, the computer still restarts randomly. I checked event viewer for anything, but no errors were present or none were related to the crash. The issue seems to only happen with Netflix, because I tried watching videos from other websites for hours and nothing happened.

The restarts are erratic. Sometimes they happen only minutes into watching or something. Sometimes it takes a few hours.

No mini dump files are made after the PC restarts. It just goes black and boots through the POST again.

Side note, I don't know why, but there's something wrong with the boot animation on the computer. For some reason, when windows 7 is booting up, the vista loading bar is there instead of the win7 glowing logo. Reinstalling windows didn't change it back to normal (it was still the vista bar even when booting from the CD). I don't know what changed it to the vista boot, because it used to be the windows 7 version and I've never put vista on this computer. *Solved this. It was because of the pc being plugged into the tv. Boot resolution was below 1024x768.*

I'm at a bit of a loss here. Any help or info would be deeply appreciated. Please let me know if I need to give more details.

 

[Maguscreed]

It may still be a driver issue. If you are willing to try to create some minidump files for me to debug you can use this method
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/101379-driver-verifier-enable-disable.html
(Please read all instructions for driver verifier before using as it's possible it will make the machine behave badly and you need to know how to undo it.)

Or you could look there now, if there is anything in c:\windows\minidump please zip and upload them.

 

[Britt]

As I said, there are no minidump files made. There's nothing in the folder.

I'll try driver verifier and report back if anything comes up.

 

[Maguscreed]

You can also do this just to make sure they'll be created when the circumstance arrises

To ensure minidumps are enabled:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

Go to Start, in the Search Box type: sysdm.cpl, press Enter.
Under the Advanced tab, click on the Startup and Recovery Settings... button.
Ensure that Automatically restart is unchecked.
Under the Write Debugging Information header
Select Small memory dump (256 kB) in the dropdown box (the 256kb varies).
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as %systemroot%\Minidump.
OK your way out.
Reboot if changes have been made.

 

[Britt]

Already did that. I always uncheck auto-restart and set the minidump option when I reinstall windows.

I let netflix run and the computer restarted again. However, no dump files were made, nor was there a BSOD. Anything else you need me to do? I'm willing to try anything I can.

 

[Maguscreed]

well I guess system logs may be of some use. Follow the instructions here.
That will give me a copy of your error log
http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

Oh and just to be clear this computer can perform other intensive tasks like games with resetting as well?

 

[Britt]

Interesting. I went to go run the system report and I got a bsod. 0xF4. I've included the dump file that it made, as well as the system report. Let me know what you find.

 

[Britton30]

Hi, go to msconfig and see what is starting. Your boot screens like a Linux kernal or something running the boot ops.

 

[Britt]

There is nothing on the startup list. This is a fresh install of windows, so nothing has been put on it.

 

[MvdB]

I know this sounds easy... but we've had a lot of examples here that W7 64B had a difficult time running heavy stuff on 2 G of RAM... Your system can hold 4... I'd try that if possible.

As for your dump... it is incomplete, I can't get all the info I'd need. Maybe someone else can. However, you do have issues with a usb driver. Please test with all disabled and turn the devices on o0ne by one to see which one causes it.

 

[Britt]

I'm not running anything heavy on the system (other than netflix, but that's not that heavy), and right now Win7 32bit is installed and has the same exact issues as 64bit did.

There is one thing I found in event viewer, but I don't know if it's related to the problem. There appears to be numerous errors related to atapi, and the error message says something like "Error with IDE device in C:\Windows\system32\Port3." My other PC's don't receive this error, so maybe it's related to the problem, or maybe it's not.

 

[Maguscreed]

Actually netflix streaming hd will max a cpu it's a lot more stressful than you might think. It's easy on the graphics but the cpu actually gets a workout in hd mode.

 

[Britt]

I understand, however I have the same exact Shuttle PC model my father is using and he can watch Netflix just fine on it. It's also an AMD Athlon 64 X2 and it's Vista 64bit. Even my older laptop that's a Pentium 4 with XP media center can stream Netflix without issues. I've even checked if the CPU is overheating or running on a high percentage during streaming and it isn't.

This computer used to have XP home edition on it. I used it for 2+ years for playing games and rendering 3D and it's never restarted/blue screened on me. It's only now when I put Windows 7 on the system, and according to Shuttle reviews it can support 7, all these issues come up. I also have another shuttle that can't even install 7/vista without going to a black screen with red dots, yet XP loads just fine on it.

Maybe I should try installing XP and see if Netflix still causes the PC to restart, unless there is something else you can suggest?

 

[Maguscreed]

It's different for different systems, I used to constantly bsod in xp.

...anyhow.

Just out of curiousity, does this occur in all browsers?

 

[Britt]

Yes. IE and Firefox both have the same results.

 

[Maguscreed]

Well I hadn't personally had your problem, but I happened to be talking to a friend of mine that did.
He said he followed this link to get it sorted.
Netflix Crashes | Backspacetab–One stop blog to fix computer errors, game errors and other tech problems.

 

[Britt]

No avail. The computer still restarted/froze on movies.

 

[Britt]

Anymore suggestions? I experienced an 0x8E error code yesterday and tried to diagnose it, but nothing lead me to a definitive solution. Thanks for any further input.

 

[MvdB]

Anymore suggestions? I experienced an 0x8E error code yesterday and tried to diagnose it, but nothing lead me to a definitive solution. Thanks for any further input.

Could you please upload newest crash info again? As said in my previous post, some info was missing/unreadable the first time + your logs will have updated stuff by now.

From the story and history, I'd guess that there is a problem with old XP stuff influencing W7. In all your tries, was one a real Clean Install of W7?

 

[Britt]

Dump info attached.

I bought a new hdd (500gb Seagate I mentioned) and this one never contained XP. My previous hard drive was a Western Digital 300gb and that one contained XP. I have never attempted installing XP on this new disk and if by real clean install you mean a full disk wipe and complete install, then yes. That's what I did with both the 64 and 32 bits of windows.