Fault tracing with a bootable USB stick
Fault tracing with a bootable USB stick
I have a USB stick with several flavours of Linux* on (in?) it. I'm hoping to use it to soak test my Lenovo Ideapad S300-151BR.
The Lenovo freezes at will. Originally a Windows 10 machine, now dual-booting with Win.7. Freezes on both.
When booting from the USB stick, can I be certain that the HDD is totally unused by the machine? If I can eliminate that from suspicion, that would be a start.
I did try out a bootable CD with memtest; that didn't uncover any RAM problems.
*Ubuntu 16.04, Mint 18, Debian 8.5 Lxde, OpenSuse 13.2 KDE, Magia 5, Apricity OS Gnome, Elementary OS Freya, Bodhi 3 and Zorin OS Core 9.
The Lenovo freezes at will. Originally a Windows 10 machine, now dual-booting with Win.7. Freezes on both.
When booting from the USB stick, can I be certain that the HDD is totally unused by the machine? If I can eliminate that from suspicion, that would be a start.
I did try out a bootable CD with memtest; that didn't uncover any RAM problems.
*Ubuntu 16.04, Mint 18, Debian 8.5 Lxde, OpenSuse 13.2 KDE, Magia 5, Apricity OS Gnome, Elementary OS Freya, Bodhi 3 and Zorin OS Core 9.
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It should leave the drive untouched. I assume you'll want to read SMART data from the drive? If so, S.M.A.R.T. Monitoring Tools is available in both Linux and Windows flavors. Also, note there are a few system test & recovery flavors of Linux out there.
Edit: it seems the S300 is easy to open up. Maybe you could release/reseat the memory, and give the HD a wiggle.
Edit: it seems the S300 is easy to open up. Maybe you could release/reseat the memory, and give the HD a wiggle.
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Hi,
Does your Linux stick have its own persistent storage on the stick or is it just a basic live USB?
If you are going to do fault finding I suggest you need the former so that you can save settings.
EG
Does your Linux stick have its own persistent storage on the stick or is it just a basic live USB?
If you are going to do fault finding I suggest you need the former so that you can save settings.
EG
Bushfiva: Thanks, I'll get S.M.A.R.T. sorted for Linux.
Which test flavors of Linux would you suggest? I'm pretty much a total newbie...
ExGrunt: I don't know yet re. any persistent storage on the stick. I'll explore.
Which test flavors of Linux would you suggest? I'm pretty much a total newbie...
ExGrunt: I don't know yet re. any persistent storage on the stick. I'll explore.
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Mike
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I've used Hiren's Boot CD in the past, simply because it's a huge collection of tools in one place. But I don't think there's a USB version. vUltimateBootCD is another collection of tools, but perversely you need a CD drive to prepare the USB version.
Since you say you're a newbie, maybe none of the linuxes will help you much. Maybe you can stick with Windows for a while and check out SMART, etc. with CrystalDiskInfo (or one of the many tools that do the same thing). Have you read any system logs yet? They can also be a good source of information. Also see if booting in safe mode fixes the freeze problem.
I don't think there are any magic tools on a Linux distribution that don't have Windows equivalents, if your computer runs long enough for you to download and use them.
Since you say you're a newbie, maybe none of the linuxes will help you much. Maybe you can stick with Windows for a while and check out SMART, etc. with CrystalDiskInfo (or one of the many tools that do the same thing). Have you read any system logs yet? They can also be a good source of information. Also see if booting in safe mode fixes the freeze problem.
I don't think there are any magic tools on a Linux distribution that don't have Windows equivalents, if your computer runs long enough for you to download and use them.
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I had a computer which failed intermittently. Memtest accuracy
depends on the version. In my case I had to get a late version
and run it for several days before it found a memory fault.
As to hardware faults inside a modern processor, that will be very difficult.
Maybe try running with some additional ad-hoc
cooling directed here and there. Make sure you have no power
supply voltage problems.
How old is the motherboard ? They can have issues with ageing capacitors.
Do you have any more information ?
depends on the version. In my case I had to get a late version
and run it for several days before it found a memory fault.
As to hardware faults inside a modern processor, that will be very difficult.
Maybe try running with some additional ad-hoc
cooling directed here and there. Make sure you have no power
supply voltage problems.
How old is the motherboard ? They can have issues with ageing capacitors.
Do you have any more information ?
Thanks for the tech tips!
Crystal Disk Info 7.0.3 x64 gives: Health Status: Good. Temperature: 26°C.
All the listed parameters have blue dots by them.
In the Event Log, I found a couple of entries which may be relevant.
Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WMI
Date: 19/09/2016 14:11:59
Event ID: 10
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: User-PC
Description:
Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WMI" Guid="{1edeee53-0afe-4609-b846-d8c0b2075b1f}" EventSourceName="WinMgmt" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">10</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2016-09-19T13:11:59.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>6542</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>User-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>//./root/CIMV2</Data>
<Data>SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99</Data>
<Data>0x80041003</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 19/09/2016 14:11:51
Event ID: 7026
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: User-PC
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
TPPWRIF
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Service Control Manager" Guid="{555908d1-a6d7-4695-8e1e-26931d2012f4}" EventSourceName="Service Control Manager" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">7026</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8080000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2016-09-19T13:11:51.956054600Z" />
<EventRecordID>26538</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="728" ThreadID="732" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>User-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="param1">
TPPWRIF</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who Crashed has found some entries; apparently not all the crash events get its attention.
On Mon 23/05/2016 11:41:27 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C
Windows\Minidump\052316-17468-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x80640)
Bugcheck code: 0x101 (0x30, 0x0, 0xFFFFF880009E9180, 0x1)
Error: CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT
file path: CWindows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that an expected clock interrupt on a secondary processor, in a multi-processor system, was not received within the allocated interval.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thu 26/05/2016 11:05:22 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: CWindows\Minidump\052816-18890-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x80640)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA80078D6A10, 0xFFFFF8000405B518, 0xFFFFFA8008DCF200)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: CWindows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't tried a Safe Mode test; will give it a go.
Re. overheating: SpeedFan gives: HD0 25°C. Core0 40°C. Core1 40°C. Core2 38°C. Core3 38°C.
I'll clear out any dust if opening the machine becomes necessary. It was bought as new early this year and usage has been sporadic, due to its crashes and the Windows 10 Experience. It is never used on a carpet or tablecloth etc.
I have downloaded the Knoppix .iso and the program for making a bootable USB stick. The USB stick is in the post!
If it does turn out to be a software fault, Knoppix tests will run indefinitely without crashes, I guess.
Crystal Disk Info 7.0.3 x64 gives: Health Status: Good. Temperature: 26°C.
All the listed parameters have blue dots by them.
In the Event Log, I found a couple of entries which may be relevant.
Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WMI
Date: 19/09/2016 14:11:59
Event ID: 10
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: User-PC
Description:
Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WMI" Guid="{1edeee53-0afe-4609-b846-d8c0b2075b1f}" EventSourceName="WinMgmt" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">10</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2016-09-19T13:11:59.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>6542</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>User-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>//./root/CIMV2</Data>
<Data>SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99</Data>
<Data>0x80041003</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 19/09/2016 14:11:51
Event ID: 7026
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: User-PC
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
TPPWRIF
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Service Control Manager" Guid="{555908d1-a6d7-4695-8e1e-26931d2012f4}" EventSourceName="Service Control Manager" />
<EventID Qualifiers="49152">7026</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8080000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2016-09-19T13:11:51.956054600Z" />
<EventRecordID>26538</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="728" ThreadID="732" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>User-PC</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="param1">
TPPWRIF</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who Crashed has found some entries; apparently not all the crash events get its attention.
On Mon 23/05/2016 11:41:27 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C
Windows\Minidump\052316-17468-01.dmpThis was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x80640)
Bugcheck code: 0x101 (0x30, 0x0, 0xFFFFF880009E9180, 0x1)
Error: CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT
file path: C
Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exeproduct: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that an expected clock interrupt on a secondary processor, in a multi-processor system, was not received within the allocated interval.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Thu 26/05/2016 11:05:22 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C
Windows\Minidump\052816-18890-01.dmpThis was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x80640)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA80078D6A10, 0xFFFFF8000405B518, 0xFFFFFA8008DCF200)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C
Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exeproduct: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't tried a Safe Mode test; will give it a go.
Re. overheating: SpeedFan gives: HD0 25°C. Core0 40°C. Core1 40°C. Core2 38°C. Core3 38°C.
I'll clear out any dust if opening the machine becomes necessary. It was bought as new early this year and usage has been sporadic, due to its crashes and the Windows 10 Experience. It is never used on a carpet or tablecloth etc.
I have downloaded the Knoppix .iso and the program for making a bootable USB stick. The USB stick is in the post!
If it does turn out to be a software fault, Knoppix tests will run indefinitely without crashes, I guess.
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Out of interest, is your disk a physics HDD or a SSD? How much RAM do you have?
The freezing could be some disk thrashing going on as you're filling up the RAM and the CPU is having to resort to using the (slow) hard drive to store the overflow.
Looking at your error logs, Windows appears to be having some kernal issues, as you've got two versions running on there I would be tempted to blame some bad sectors on your disk. Might be worth spending £50 buying a new SSD off Amazon and trying it out to see if that fixes anything. If not you can always send it back...
The freezing could be some disk thrashing going on as you're filling up the RAM and the CPU is having to resort to using the (slow) hard drive to store the overflow.
Looking at your error logs, Windows appears to be having some kernal issues, as you've got two versions running on there I would be tempted to blame some bad sectors on your disk. Might be worth spending £50 buying a new SSD off Amazon and trying it out to see if that fixes anything. If not you can always send it back...
The HDD is the mechanical type. Judging by the price of a SSD, a spare drive might be a good idea anyway.
RAM is 8GB.
I ran it in Safe Mode today; froze. No explanatory entry in the Event Log or found by Who Crashed.
RAM is 8GB.
I ran it in Safe Mode today; froze. No explanatory entry in the Event Log or found by Who Crashed.
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I'd be inclined to first run a memory test (if you haven't already). I believe Thinkpads have onboard diagnostics software in the BIOS (like Dells) which will do this.
You'll love the speed increase regardless of whether it's the issue or not - mechanical HDD's are on the way out.
You'll love the speed increase regardless of whether it's the issue or not - mechanical HDD's are on the way out.
I built a nice powerful Core i7 machine when the i7 processors were first about. It was brought alive with Ubuntu originally and every thing seemed OK. Then, one day, it just rebooted, just like that. Then it ran fine for a few more days and then, again, it just rebooted. This happened on and off. I checked the obvious stuff, the CPU temperatures never went anywhere the limits, the BIOS memory test ran time after time error free. It never lost any important data or corrupted the OS or BIOS settings. It nearly always crashed when running something audio/visual but that was not really surprising as I often stream music videos off the www when working. This observation suggested an issue with the graphics card so I bought another one and swapped them over. No difference. I then removed each of the three memory SIMs, one at a time and then I swapped out all of the memory with my partner's machine. Mine still crashed after a few days, hers was OK with my memory fitted. I swapped out the hard disk as I had several in swappable drive trays. One of the drives has WinXP, it crashed at about the same frequency as the Ubuntu ones. I bought a second (faster!) CPU which made no difference.
I had originally intended to have a play with overclocking. Whilst looking at the process for tweaking stuff I found that one of the things you do is to tweak settings and see if the machine crashes and if it does back off a bit. Then tweak in the other direction until it crashes again. Then set half way between the two positions and then move on to tweak something else. So I had a tweak of a few settings and found that by underclocking the machine it became stable. It still performed OK but it irked me that it didn't even run at normal speed. I carried on using the machine for over a year and then updated it to run Linux Mint. It ran OK until I tried setting it to run at normal speed and then the crashing started again. Eventually I saw a similar motherboard on Ebay. Got it for a song and swapped everything over onto it. As before, the machine ran OK for a day or so and then spontaneously rebooted. Aaarggghh!
By this point I had swapped out everything except the fans, the case and the PSU. I didn't even suspect the PSU. If you only draw 120 - 150 (measured mains power going into the box) Watts from a 550 Watt PSU you don't even consider that the PSU will cause problems. Anyway, I bought another PSU, swapped it in and the problem has gone away. Pity it took a shade over three years to find it as the warranty on the original PSU had just run out when I did.
Being of an electronics engineering bent I opened up the dodgy PSU for a look. The standard of some of the soldering wasn't brilliant but I couldn't find an actual faulty joint, even when looking with a decent microscope. After salvaging a few nice toroidal cores and a fan I binned the rest of the PSU.
I have now had a play with overclocking. With a bit of patience it is possible to make the machine go way over it's specification speeds. I eventually got the 3.2 GHz processor to run at 4.0 Ghz, apparently reliably but on days when my workshop is hot (it went up to 38 deg C on one day last week) the CPU fan goes up to a higher speed and becomes a bit noisy. I have backed off the settings to a very modest overclock.
With the exception of the PSU I now have a complete set of spare parts for my system. Perhaps I should buy another PSU and a case and build all of the spares into another system?
I had originally intended to have a play with overclocking. Whilst looking at the process for tweaking stuff I found that one of the things you do is to tweak settings and see if the machine crashes and if it does back off a bit. Then tweak in the other direction until it crashes again. Then set half way between the two positions and then move on to tweak something else. So I had a tweak of a few settings and found that by underclocking the machine it became stable. It still performed OK but it irked me that it didn't even run at normal speed. I carried on using the machine for over a year and then updated it to run Linux Mint. It ran OK until I tried setting it to run at normal speed and then the crashing started again. Eventually I saw a similar motherboard on Ebay. Got it for a song and swapped everything over onto it. As before, the machine ran OK for a day or so and then spontaneously rebooted. Aaarggghh!
By this point I had swapped out everything except the fans, the case and the PSU. I didn't even suspect the PSU. If you only draw 120 - 150 (measured mains power going into the box) Watts from a 550 Watt PSU you don't even consider that the PSU will cause problems. Anyway, I bought another PSU, swapped it in and the problem has gone away. Pity it took a shade over three years to find it as the warranty on the original PSU had just run out when I did.
Being of an electronics engineering bent I opened up the dodgy PSU for a look. The standard of some of the soldering wasn't brilliant but I couldn't find an actual faulty joint, even when looking with a decent microscope. After salvaging a few nice toroidal cores and a fan I binned the rest of the PSU.
I have now had a play with overclocking. With a bit of patience it is possible to make the machine go way over it's specification speeds. I eventually got the 3.2 GHz processor to run at 4.0 Ghz, apparently reliably but on days when my workshop is hot (it went up to 38 deg C on one day last week) the CPU fan goes up to a higher speed and becomes a bit noisy. I have backed off the settings to a very modest overclock.
With the exception of the PSU I now have a complete set of spare parts for my system. Perhaps I should buy another PSU and a case and build all of the spares into another system?
Progress
After much fiddling about, I have succeeded in booting this machine from a USB stick.
The setup: BIOS boot mode in Legacy Support. UEFI off. Fast Boot off. USB boot enabled.
With the machine off, insert USB stick. Then, press the Lenovo key. This is a tiny pinhole at the top left of the laptop base. I used a partially-straightened paper clip.
A menu appears. Select 'Boot Menu'. Select boot from USB.
Doing the above, I booted up Ubuntu from a multi-Linux USB stick. I selected 'Try Ubuntu', so as to avoid any usage of the hard drive. (Please tell me if I'm wrong here.)
After about 5 mins of exploration, the system froze whilst showing the Desktop.
From this, I deduce that the fault cannot be related to either Windows or the hard drive. FWIW, I have had some crashes in Win. 7 related to ntoskrnl and hal.dll. And some earlier ones like this in Windows 10.
During my fiddling about, I ran Memtest86+ from a bootable CD. Left it going for over 34 hours; no errors. I also removed & re-seated the RAM and the HDD.
So: it's a motherboard fault. Are there any hardware tests which could narrow it down?
The setup: BIOS boot mode in Legacy Support. UEFI off. Fast Boot off. USB boot enabled.
With the machine off, insert USB stick. Then, press the Lenovo key. This is a tiny pinhole at the top left of the laptop base. I used a partially-straightened paper clip.
A menu appears. Select 'Boot Menu'. Select boot from USB.
Doing the above, I booted up Ubuntu from a multi-Linux USB stick. I selected 'Try Ubuntu', so as to avoid any usage of the hard drive. (Please tell me if I'm wrong here.)
After about 5 mins of exploration, the system froze whilst showing the Desktop.
From this, I deduce that the fault cannot be related to either Windows or the hard drive. FWIW, I have had some crashes in Win. 7 related to ntoskrnl and hal.dll. And some earlier ones like this in Windows 10.
During my fiddling about, I ran Memtest86+ from a bootable CD. Left it going for over 34 hours; no errors. I also removed & re-seated the RAM and the HDD.
So: it's a motherboard fault. Are there any hardware tests which could narrow it down?
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If Lenovo Solution Center isn't installed, you can install and run it from Lenovo directly. It's not available for all machines.
Thanks Bushfiva.
I ran the Lenovo Solution Center comprehensive test option today. System froze during the random number sequence test on the RAM.
Memtest86 includes this test and it passed several times when run from a bootable CD.
Can I assume that the memtest test and the Lenovo one are the same? I suspect that the hidden gremlin brought things to a halt, as the machine was booted into Windows (10).
I ran the Lenovo Solution Center comprehensive test option today. System froze during the random number sequence test on the RAM.
Memtest86 includes this test and it passed several times when run from a bootable CD.
Can I assume that the memtest test and the Lenovo one are the same? I suspect that the hidden gremlin brought things to a halt, as the machine was booted into Windows (10).
