Bitcoin wallet crashes my computer

[aminkorea]

I upgraded my bitcoin wallet today and now when the wallet is running my computer crashes.  I updated from 7.1 to 8.3. Then I started the wallet and it loaded okay. But a few minutes into the resyncing with the network and my computer crashes.  I tried a different version (8.0) and the same thing happens. I also tried running the old version  and get the same results. 
I am running win 7 32-bit OS with a BitCoin-QT wallet.  Anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this and how to fix it. 
Thanks in advance

[FanEagle]

Throwing my coin on the table: Try compatibility mode, set it as windows xp sp3

[FreedomCoin]

did you try the rescan command?

[aminkorea]

did you try the rescan command?

That is a command line function. I don't know how to use the command line to control the wallet's functions.  Am trying FanEagle's suggestion of changing compatibility now.  Will post results soon.

[aminkorea]

Throwing my coin on the table: Try compatibility mode, set it as windows xp sp3

Change compatibility and it still crashes. 

I found the following in my event logs. Don't know what it all means, though.

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: PCA2
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: bitcoin-qt.exe
P2: 0.8.0.0
P3: Bitcoin-Qt (OSS GUI client for Bitcoin)
P4: Bitcoin-Qt
P5: Bitcoin
P6: 100
P7: 1
P8:
P9:
P10:

Attached files:

These files may be available here:
C:\Users\삼성\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\NonCritical_bitcoin-qt.exe_2ca69994483e58d31451883afab616ffc8e48754_0d3be56e

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 47110e32-0917-11e3-936e-e811322b55fd
Report Status: 4

[grue]

What do you mean by "my computer crashes"? Are you getting a bluescreen, or is just the application closing?

[aminkorea]

What do you mean by "my computer crashes"? Are you getting a bluescreen, or is just the application closing?

My computer shuts down and has to be rebooted. 

[grue]

My computer shuts down and has to be rebooted.  

Programs running in usermode (like bitcoin) can not directly cause system crashes[1]. If bitcoin encounters an error, the most you'll see is "bitcoin has stopped working", "assertion failed", or similar dialog box. Nothing else will close except for the faulty program and any dependencies. Usermode applications can however, cause crashes in poorly written drivers or through hardware overheating. Please ensure your system is up to date (windows updates), your drivers are up to date (especially chipset and third party RAID/SATA/SCSI controllers), and your system is not overheating.

[1]

Modern multi-tasking operating systems, such as Windows NT, Linux, or Mac OS X usually remain unharmed when an application program crashes.

[aminkorea]

My computer shuts down and has to be rebooted.  

Programs running in usermode (like bitcoin) can not directly cause system crashes[1]. If bitcoin encounters an error, the most you'll see is "bitcoin has stopped working", "assertion failed", or similar dialog box. Nothing else will close except for the faulty program and any dependencies. Usermode applications can however, cause crashes in poorly written drivers or through hardware overheating. Please ensure your system is up to date (windows updates), your drivers are up to date (especially chipset and third party RAID/SATA/SCSI controllers), and your system is not overheating.

[1]

Modern multi-tasking operating systems, such as Windows NT, Linux, or Mac OS X usually remain unharmed when an application program crashes.

I don't know if what you say is true or not. My system and drivers are all up to date and the bitcoin-qt is now working.  I will explain.

Each time I started the bitcoin wallet it would run a few minutes before the computer turned itself off.  during those few minutes, some of the block chain would get synchronized.  So I started letting the wallet run and sync up until the computer crashed. Then  I would restart the computer and let the wallet run again until the computer crashed again., (I know, not good for the system, but I didn't know what else to do)  Eventually, the block chain got to within a couple thousand blocks of being fully synchronized.  When that happened, the computer stopped crashing.  Now my updated wallet is fully synchronized and there is no problem.,  So, like I said, I don't know if what you are saying is correct or not, all I know is that now that the wallet is  synchronized with the network, my computer no longer crashes.  And the only time it has ever crashed is while the wallet was trying to get synchronized.

[Abdussamad]

Each time I started the bitcoin wallet it would run a few minutes before the computer turned itself off.  during those few minutes, some of the block chain would get synchronized.  So I started letting the wallet run and sync up until the computer crashed. Then  I would restart the computer and let the wallet run again until the computer crashed again., (I know, not good for the system, but I didn't know what else to do)  Eventually, the block chain got to within a couple thousand blocks of being fully synchronized.  When that happened, the computer stopped crashing.  Now my updated wallet is fully synchronized and there is no problem.,  So, like I said, I don't know if what you are saying is correct or not, all I know is that now that the wallet is  synchronized with the network, my computer no longer crashes.  And the only time it has ever crashed is while the wallet was trying to get synchronized.

When it is synchronizing with the network it tends to put more stress on your computer hardware. If your CPU is already running at a high temperature because its cooling fan is not properly attached bitcoin-qt syncing will likely push it over the edge and cause a system restart. Similarly if there is some other problem with your hardware like a failing hard disk it might also cause a restart like this.

edit: you should download and run real temp freeware to determine whether CPU temps are within limits. If that checks out you should check your hard disk for bad sectors using chkdsk.

[aminkorea]

I ran real temp and chkdsk and both are okay. So, still at a loss as to what was causing the shut down problem. I also checked for viruses and my computer is clean. Perhaps it is a case of bad ram. Is there a way to check a computer's ram short of taking the machine to a computer repair shop?

edit: Found a program to test my ram and found nothing wrong here either. Any other ideas?

[grue]

I ran real temp and chkdsk and both are okay. So, still at a loss as to what was causing the shut down problem. I also checked for viruses and my computer is clean. Perhaps it is a case of bad ram. Is there a way to check a computer's ram short of taking the machine to a computer repair shop?

edit: Found a program to test my ram and found nothing wrong here either. Any other ideas?

You could run some CPU stress tests like prime95 (run it on "blend") for 3-4 hours. Also try running "sfc /scannnow" in command prompt to check for damaged system files.

[Abdussamad]

Did you scan for bad sectors with chkdsk? The test takes at least an hour:

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-vista/check-your-hard-disk-for-errors

To test memory follow this guide:

http://www.computerhardware.pk/memory/how-to-test-computer-memory

[grue]

Did you scan for bad sectors with chkdsk? The test takes at least an hour:

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-vista/check-your-hard-disk-for-errors

To test memory follow this guide:

http://www.computerhardware.pk/memory/how-to-test-computer-memory

see:

I ran real temp and chkdsk and both are okay.
[...]
edit: Found a program to test my ram and found nothing wrong here either. Any other ideas?

[Abdussamad]

chkdsk has multiple tests including some that don't scan the whole hard disk for bad sectors and complete within minutes. Also not all RAM tests are the same. The windows memory diagnostic that runs at boot up for instance is utter crap.

[aminkorea]

Yes, I checked for bad sectors. I am running windows 7 and the test only took about 10 minutes.  Using administrator permissions I typed chkdsk c: at the prompt and had a cup of coffee while the system did its check.

I used  alegrmemtest to test the memory. I don't have the link, but you can Google it.

I also ran a full diagnostic check using  a program called ReImage. None of these test found anything wrong with my computer, its memory or any of the integrated systems.  So, IMHO, my computer was not the cause of the frequent shut downs that occurred while updating my bitcoin-qt wallet.

[Abdussamad]

Just as I suspected you didn't run the thorough test for scanning your hard disk for bad sectors. The short test that you ran is not enough. You need to run

chkdsk /r x:

Where x is your drive letter. It will likely ask you to reboot your computer when you run this test. If you have multiple partitions you need to run it on all of them. After scanning each partition look at the log file for any bad sectors.

[aminkorea]

I ran that test as well. There are no bad sectors on my hd.

[grue]

I ran that test as well. There are no bad sectors on my hd.

Have you checked your system files using "sfc /scannow"?

[aminkorea]

I ran that test as well. There are no bad sectors on my hd.

Have you checked your system files using "sfc /scannow"?

I just ran sfc /scannow and there were no integrity issues.