Strange behaviors: Minidump and Num Lock issues

[eek]

Hello, newbie to the forum but not Thinkpads. My first laptop was a 760E and still have it.

I'm currently using a T30 2366-89U and have had for 2.5 years. It was purchased new (not refurbished) under 3 years ago from an established Ebay seller. The factory warranty intact and has noew recently expired. A word of note: It came with the trackpoint only (no touchpad) but I had it replaced with touchpoint/pad by a certified IBM repair center two years ago, also new. (The software is already present and part of the pre-load from IBM). The seller said it was easy to do, had done it to multiple t30s himself (though IBM service knew nothing in regards to functionality). It was recognized immediately and works well without obvious conflicts to date true to the word as seller described.

HARDWARE:
2GHZ
512MB
16MB
unknown wireless minicard
Port replicator? P/N 02k8668
Ultrabay CD drive and floppy (rarely used)

SOFTWARE: (UTD)
XP1a
Norton 2002
Ad Aware
Zone Alarm (also wireless router firewall)

I have two recurring problems and wasn't able to find the solutions by search:

1. Minidumps
I thought this was due to the Veritas update program. I removed it. Still happens. I found a lot of my dumps happening after scrolling with my Logitech marble mouse (usb). I switched it out using an old Dell-oem mouse (ps2) with scroll wheel. Worked much better for several months. Now it's happening again. Below are some of the factors that Increase or Decrease the frequency of these dumps.

Increase
- Veritas Update Manager
- Scroll wheeling with Logitech marble mouse
- Opening/Closing programs quickly
- Running multiple programs e.g. Firefox, WM10, Windows Explorer
- (Recently) moving large audio/video files via IEEE1394 PCMCIA card with external HDD

Decrease
- Turn off Veritas
- Working slower (a pain) and using less simultaneous programs
- Changing mouse
- Reformatting drive, reloading O.S.

2. NumLk/ScrLk light on after boot
This happens at time of Windows password entry. If I’m not paying attention this of course screws up the password. It’s almost as if this light/function has been turned on by default. Thoughts?

Much thanks,

[eek]

No ideas or feedback? I was hoping for some response, at minimum a welcome.

[Musti]

No ideas or feedback? I was hoping for some response, at minimum a welcome.

Hello there eek, and if I may, Welcome to the forums. I never had one, come to think of it...hmmmm...

Dumpage:

1. Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced tab

2. Startup and Recovery, click Settings

3. Look at the second part, System Failure. Write Debugging Information, from the drop down, select None


NumLock

Check BIOS settings, it must be there. Or there are several tweak programs that disable/enable it.

Or, check solutions like this:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000792.htm

[eek]

Musti,

Been nearly three days and your tips work like a charm. My dumpings are nearly non-existent (had a hardware conflict with a pcmcia card but solved). Very helpful.

Thank you!

[Musti]

Musti,

Been nearly three days and your tips work like a charm. My dumpings are nearly non-existent (had a hardware conflict with a pcmcia card but solved). Very helpful.

Thank you!

Music to my ears, Happy New Year!

[asiafish]

There are two things that I have found that cause system failures more than any others (my experience only), and those are drivers for 3rd party devices, and RAM modules.

The ThinkPad X41 I had was a wonderful machine with the stock 512MB of systemboard RAM, but when I added a 1GB module from Crucial, the thing Bluescreened every once in a while and had hibernation issues. Crucial sent me another module and no more bluescreens, though still occasional hibernation failures (tried to hibernate, ended in "Insufficeint Resource" error.

My current Toshiba Portege came with 1GB of RAM and works great. I upgraded to 2GB of Corsair RAM, and sure enough BSODs and the hibernation problems were back. Went back to the stock 1GB and everything is roses.

What this taught me is to always suspect the RAM modules, and failing that, look to device drivers and software.

[eek]

Interesting to know that RAM can be a problem. I know Crucial is a good company for memory. Huh? Definitely something I'll keep in mind.

Something fun: My best friend, a hard-core Mac-addict, just received his G5 Quad back from the repair service. It suddenly died on him. They replaced his system (mother) board twice, power supply once and finally the processor module (once). The parts themselves cost $2200, fortunately he purchased extra insurance. I guess Macs are not so invulnerable after all.