VN7-591g-7939 - OS Problems and continuous error increment in event viewer

Athos
Athos Member Posts: 8 New User
in 2016 Archives

Hi Community,

 

I've been having some problems with my laptop as of today. After booting it back up after moving to somewhere else in the building, the windows start menu could no longer be opened; not by clicking and not by pressing the windows key. The search button next to the start button hardly works either (sometimes responds, most of the times doesn't) and anything I try to start from the search results, won't. Ocassionaly, the system also simply gets stuck without even responding to shortcuts such as ctrl-alt-delete and shift-ctrl-esc. Lastly, the task manager has gotten much slower at starting in general and will often take 10-20s to load. (The windows will remain empty in this loading period, sometimes stating it isn't responding.)

 

Wanted to look at whether the event viewer mentioned anything suspicious, of which the application log was bloated with errors. I'm fairly certain that the first errors originate from the point where I also first had the problem with the start menu. We're talking, by now, thousands of errors with error codes 454, 454 and 477 (there seems to be no particular pattern). Most of the times they increase by multiple a second. 

 

These errors were preceded by one particular event: 4004 ('The Windows logon process has failed to terminate the currently logged on user's processes.'). Upon further inspection, it seems to have occurred a few other times over the past 2 months, but this was the only occurance of it today and was the one direclty preceding the other errors.

 

The system log also showed several worrying errors with error code 7023, along with the following message: 'The User Data Access_3fe9faf2 service terminated with the following error:
Unable to complete the requested operation because of either a catastrophic media failure or a data structure corruption on the disk.'. 

 

I've run a system scan through the command line, which says there is nothing wrong about the system.

 

The primary reason for me posting this on the laptop specific discusion forums is that I've sent in my laptop less than 2 months ago due to hard drive issues. The hard drive (the SSD) was replaced back then,which seemed to have fixed the problems at the time. However, before I sent it in, the CrystalDisk info program showed no errors whatsoever, which makes me suspicious about whether the hard drive at the time was the actual source of the problems I had. Also, the 'system getting stuck' problems are similar to the problems I experienced before the hard drive replacement. Let me know if this should be posted elsewhere (on these forums).

 

Anyway, is there a possibility these events are related to any hard drive problems? Or is the best step from here doing a system restore and in case that fails, reinstall the operating system?

Answers

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Athos,

     

    You gave a lot of good information in your post, but it would be really helpful if you listed the OS that you are using.  If you upgraded to windows 10, can you please describe how you upgraded to windows 10 and how you obtained your Windows 10 drivers?  For example, did you get the drivers from Acer Care Center?  Or Acer downloads?  Or did you not get any drivers or critical BIOS updates?

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    Ah right, Windows 10 indeed. I've upgraded through the standard upgrade icon that appears for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users. The upgrade was done pretty much as soon as I received my laptop back from repair service.

     

    The Windows 10 drivers, as far as I am aware, have been managed by the care center. The care center currently lists no critical updates (i.e. 'Your system is up to date'), though it does mention one general update for the chipset driver. I at least did not explictly download any drivers from the Acer website. Edit: And the care center does not list that any critical updates have been installed in the past 2 months either.

     

    Thanks for the quick reply and if there's a need for any additional information, I'd be glad to provide it.

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    That's good that you are using Acer Care Center.  But can you double check your BIOS version.

     

    To check BIOS version:

     

    1. Right click on Windows Start Button

    2. Left click on Run

    3. Type msinfo32

    4. Click ok

     

    Since your computer is hanging, it would be best not to update the BIOS at the present moment even if an update is available on Acer's website.

     

    Here's what I would do.

     

    1.  Install the chipset driver from Acer Care Center.

    2.  See if that solves your problem.

    3.  If after 48 hours, it still doesn't solve your problem, then go to step 4.

    4.  Go to Device Manager and look for "System Devices" and then Intel Management Engine Interface 

    5. Rollback your Intel Management Engine driver (which should hopefully roll it back to the non-buggy Windows     Intel Mangement Engine Interface driver.  Smiley Happy

     

    If you still have problems, then please post.

     

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    Thanks a lot and will do! As for now, the bios version seems to be v1.15, the same version as the latest from the acer downloads page. This, according to my system, dates to 06/08/2015 (21/10/2015 on the downloads page).

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Ok great.  Yes, you have the latest BIOS....so nothing to do there.  Smiley Happy

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Before you make any changes to your Intel Management Engine interface driver, be sure to write down on a piece of paper which version that you are currently using.  And then if you do rollback, take note of which Intel Mangement Engine driver it actually rolled back to.  Sometimes it will rollback to the Windows 8.1 driver and sometimes it will rollback to a different one.  It's not necessarily important which version it rollsback to, but it's important to know the version before rollback and after rollback (at least for my purposes it's important since I don't have your computer model and can't test myself) Smiley Wink

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    I'll give you a few more things to try if above doesn't work.......

     

    1. If chipset driver update or Intel MEI rollback doesn't fix the problem, try updating the Intel management engine interface driver (see what Microsoft gives you).  Obviously if you rollback, you can use what Windows gives you for update, or go to Acer downloads for update.

     

    2. Reset to Windows 8.1

    3. Reset to Windows 10

    4. Try a different SSD (obviously not the same model)

    5.  Wait for BIOS update from Acer (if that's the problem--and I don't know that it is)

     

    After that, I would be completely out of ideas.  I noticed some other PC manufacturer has recently released BIOS updates for hanging issues.....for computers with your same CPU.....but that was for code 0x72 SMART issue and a hanging issue...which was essentially deemed a BIOS issue and not a real hard drive failure issue.  And I think you said that you don't see any SMART issues.....but you'd have to research that one. Of course you can only use BIOS from Acer for your model.

     

    The only other thread that I saw was this one....but unfortunately I don't speak a lick of German and I don't know the status of your Intel Mangement Engine driver (I don't know if you also suffer from status device power failure or what that thread was entirely about).

     

    You may have to go back to Windows 8.1 for some time and if you don't have problems, then it's probably a Windows 10 issue or Windows 10 driver issue or BIOS issue.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    Thanks a lot for the effort. I've installed the chipset driver update last night (~10 hours ago). So far no improvements (logging happens at the same frequency, buttons still not functioning) but I'll way it out a bit longer.

     

    I did already take a look at the current version of my Intel Management Engine driver, which is 10.0.0.1126 (a rather old one it seems, dating back from 03/04/2014). There's no option to rollback, as this seems to be the only driver installed. In case the chipset driver update yields no results (though I must admit I'm highly skeptical at the moment...), I could try the update as you suggested . By what Windows gives me, I asume you are referring to the 'Update driver' option in the device properties window? 

     

    JordanB wrote:

     

    4. Try a different SSD (obviously not the same model)

    5.  Wait for BIOS update from Acer (if that's the problem--and I don't know that it is)

     

    Trying a different SSD is no easy option. I don't want to void any warranty (which I should still have as per our national regulations, which the support page confirms). That is aside from the fact that I don't have an SSD anywhere else in the house. 

    Regarding the 'waiting for a BIOS update': although I'd consider myself not too impatient, I'm not sure whether I can still consider myself a sane person after possibly waiting months with these issues just to see whether an update to the BIOS will do it. 

     

    I indeed haven't seen anything regarding smart issues, though I'm unsure whether you mean the event viewer would display such errors (then again, it is bloated with errors which doesn't make it easy to look through). 

     

    And yeah regarding the German, I can only also understand it up to a certain point despite the similarities between our languages Smiley Tongue 

     

    Two other things that I've forgotten to mention: 

    - The repair service also flashed the BIOS back then

    - Before I sent my laptop in, I had not upgraded to Windows 10 (i.e. stayed on Windows 8.1)

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Ok.  That's more good information.  

     

    The only thing I can suggest is to compare the drivers that you have versus the ones on Acer downloads.  For example, on most Haswell 4xxxU models, the 11.xx Mangement Engine Driver causes sleep and other problems.  But I don't know if the bug applies to your cpu too since you don't have U cpu. I assume you have i7 4720HQ

     

    I guess you could compare and try all of the drivers on Acer download website......and use all the drivers on Acer's website for your model.

     

    http://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers

     

    Edit:  Also, I don't know why Acer Care Center didn't give you 11.xx Intel Management Engine Driver.  I don't know if it's intentional or accidental.  I have to assume it's accidental since they still have that driver available on Acer downloads.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    If you try all the drivers for your model on Acer's website, and it doesn't fix it.......I guess you could call/email Acer if you feel like you have a warranty claim.

     

    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    S.M.A.R.T.

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_S.M.A.R.T._tools

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User
    JordanB wrote:

     

    The only thing I can suggest is to compare the drivers that you have versus the ones on Acer downloads.  For example, on most Haswell 4xxxU models, the 11.xx Mangement Engine Driver causes sleep and other problems.  But I don't know if the bug applies to your cpu too since you don't have U cpu. I assume you have i7 4720HQ

     

     

    Yes it is the 4720 HQ. 

    JordanB wrote:

    Edit:  Also, I don't know why Acer Care Center didn't give you 11.xx Intel Management Engine Driver.  I don't know if it's intentional or accidental.  I have to assume it's accidental since they still have that driver available on Acer downloads.

    This struck me as odd as well, though I can imagine it being accidental due to the problems with the u-series you mentioned. 

     

    JordanB wrote:
    S.M.A.R.T.

     

     

    I've had CrystalDisk generate this info for me which you can find here. (It's a google drive link, of which I'm not sure is allowed on these forums, but I couldn't find information telling me otherwise). 

     

    JordanB wrote:

    If you try all the drivers for your model on Acer's website, and it doesn't fix it.......I guess you could call/email Acer if you feel like you have a warranty claim.


    Yeah I guess that would seem to be the only option at that point. Perhaps I can get back to the repair they performed not too long ago, but I'll figure that out myself. Just somewhat afraid that we're talking software problems here and I'd rather not have to pay Smiley Tongue. 

     

    At the moment I don't have the opportunity just yet to check all the driver versions, I'll keep you updated on that one. In the meanwhile, the acer care center also seems to have upgraded and shows several more drivers (but has apparently also wiped the update history?), but no IMEI update still. It does show a new chipset update (which is also odd to me, as I'm very certain I've just updated that but alright)

    Also, the critical updates section won't load, so it's not possible for me to see if anything has changed in that regard. 

     

    Meanwhile, I feel the problem is somewhat worsening. The systems seems to be getting stuck more often and logging in clearly takes significantly longer than it did. 

     

    Anyway, as I said, I'll come back with a list of my driver versions vs the ones on the downloads page and install the latest versions once I get back home in a few hours. 

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    If it's doing the exact same thing that it did under Windows 8.1, then it's probably not a Windows 10 driver issue.

     

    I'm not an Acer Care Center expert, but it's my understanding that you have to open the Acer Care Center app and manually update your drivers.  I could be wrong, but I don't think it does it automatically in the background. But definitely update your drivers to the latest Windows 10 drivers either by using Acer Care Center or going to the Acer driver downloads website...or both if necessary.....and see what happens.

     

    I'm thinking it might be a software issue.  Maybe some personal software that you're using.  Or possibly even a virus.   But I can't rule out hardware yet.  It would be really unusual to have two brand new SSDs fail that soon, but not impossible.

     

    Can you post a screenshot of your SSD using the Windows builtin snipping tool from free speccy?

     

    speccysmart.PNG

     

    I think you should backup your important personal files and try going back to Windows 8.1 for a while.  That will at least give you an OS reset.  Since I think its been longer than 30 days for you, you'll need to factory reset through SETTINGS>Update and Security>Recovery. Or hopefully you made a factory default recovery drive while you were still on Windows 8.1.  You can still try to make a factory default recovery drive in Acer Care Center right now. 

     

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/windows-10-recovery-options

     

     

    recovery81.PNG

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    The issues I'm encountering aren't exactly the same, though I haven't checked the event viewer back with my old SSD when I had issues in 8.1. The start menu and search had no issues whatsoever. The main similarity is the system getting stuck regularly

     

    I realize that Acer Care Center does not do this automatically, but again, prior to the Acer Care Center update, there was only the chipset to update. I did update it manually and Care Center confirmed it was updated successfully. I'll of course update the drivers to try out.

     

    As for S.M.A.R.T:

     

    Screenshot_5.png

    Which seems to be no different from the results CrystalDiskInfo is giving me, neither are they (in terms of health/status) different from the results I had with my previous SSD when I had a ton of issues (it ended up with it often not being able to find a bootable drive at start up, but functioning past that stage). The primary reason I suspect hardware is not necessarily the SSD itself, but other possible hardware interfering in one way or another. But then again, I can only speculate.

     

    Regarding possible personal software/viruses, I can't think of anything unusual. All the software I have on here is fully legal as well, downloaded from official sources as far as I know. I'm still running an additional Windows Defender full scan as we speak, though.

     

    I've backed up personal files already, but I hadn't made a factory default recovery drive. By right now, I suppose you mean when still in Windows 10? Or do you mean doing that after reverting to Windows 8.1? I'll revert back to 8.1 if the drivers yield no result. I'll check right now regarding the version of the drivers.

     

  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    I've tried all driver updates from the acer downloads page, after updating all offered by the care center (Audio, LAN, Wireless lan and chipset). The Wirless LAN Driver did fail when attempted (twice) through the care center, failing at the installation process. I tried to instead install it using the acer downloads page, but it acted as if the latest version was already installed.

     

    Other drivers than the one from the care center were already up to date, except for the IMEI which I updated to the latest version 11.0.0.1155. 

     

    No improvements so far, so unless things start to magically get better and the system stops logging errors, I guess I'll have to go for the factory reset.

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Ok sounds good.

     

    My suggestion to go to Acer Care Center and create a factory default USB recovery drive backup "right now" is in case you have trouble resetting since your computer is not completely stable (emergency recovery only).  Ideally, you would create the factory default USB recovery backup while you were using Windows 8.1.  But since that ship has sailed, you can try to make it now. 

     

     

    The instructions below are how you can get back to original Windows 8.1 factory condition.  I have tested the instructions below several times on computers that have been upgraded to Windows 10 (for testing purposes) and they do work.  It's important to carefully read and follow them because other recovery methods will potentially cause you problems. Smiley Happy

     

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

     This will reinstall the version of Windows that came with your PC and remove personal files, apps and drivers you installed, and any changes you made to settings. Go to Settings > Update & security > Recovery > Reset this PC > Get started and look for Restore factory settings.

     

     

     

     

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • Athos
    Athos Member Posts: 8 New User

    I was attempting the USB recovery drive backup, but it simply failed after the formatting without continuing. Other than that, this morning there was a brief 'repairing drive c...' which kind of says enough to me (just checked, no changes regarding SMART rates). 

     

    To be honest, I'm kind of scared to go back to a state where things may get downhill along the way there. I.e., I'd rather keep it in the 'stable-enough' state and contact support directly, to see what actions I can take from there, rather than possibly ending up in a scenario where I can kind of be blamed for its final state. 

     

    I'll try to see if I can give a status update here at the end. Jordan(B), thanks a whole lot for the effort you've put into the help! I'll link this thread to support as well, so that your help/suggestions won't be in vain. 

  • JordanB
    JordanB ACE Posts: 3,729 Pathfinder

    Ok sounds good.  Hopefully they can tell you what the Ultra DMA CRC error count is about or if it's related.  Maybe just a bad cable.  But hopefullly they will just go ahead and replace the whole board too if they can't pinpoint it.

    I'm not an Acer employee.

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