Un-sure PC Problem

[scarrylarry]

Hello Everyone,
Not sure where to post this so I hope it's not in the wrong place. Ok short version.
Had a PC it died. Bought a new one. My dad liked it and got the same one. He cleaned up HIS old PC and gave it to my mother. After we hooked it up in her room the PC started freezing on occasion and when you right click the menu comes up but the only option is arrange Icons or refresh and when I refresh I get an error message saying C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop is not accessible. Not enough quota to process command.?
Once I hit ok the Icons disappear and the Start menu goes blank. Ctrl Alt Delete does not work either. So I have to shut down holding in the PC button.

The PC runs WinXP Home SP3 at 1.47GHz 512 MB RAM with a GeForce 6600.
There are only two things hooked up to it a HP 4200 printer and a NetGear wireless adapter.
I've ran scans like Spybot,Adawre,Defrag,Virus and A clean sweep program from norton system works 2003. The drivers have also been updated recently. In fact the only other major update that was done other than drivers was going from SP2 to SP3 right after we hooked it up. Could SP3 be causing a problem. It seem like I've run every scan in the book and everything comes back negitive but there is clearly something wrong

Thanks to anyone who can help ,Larry

 

[Kougar]

It does sound suspicious, but it could be something went wrong with the install. If you still have the OS disc or a recovery disc that came with the system I'd suggest wiping it and reinstalling from scratch. That way if it still doesn't work properly you'll have ruled out a software cause.

I know from personal experience XP SP2 to XP SP3 upgrades aren't all rosey, SP3 installs a driver that blue screens my old Pentium 4 2.8GHz machine upon bootup. What happens if you boot into safe mode? (Pressing F8 during boot)

 

[2Tired2Tango]

Scary Larry... is this a single account computer (i.e. no login screens)?

If it is try creating a new account, with admin priveledges and see what your desktop does then. If this is a quota problem it may be that someone's been messing with the security on your drives. Since this is user-specific, a new account would show you if it clears up or not.

If it's a multi-account system (i.e. pick user at startup) try logging into the different accounts and see if they all have the same problem...

The "Not enough quota" is a dead give away that someone's been messing with your NTFS security settings and SP3 has picked up on them.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/183322

 

[scarrylarry]

Thanks for the advice it is a single user account. I have created a second account but now I have to wait and see because the PC can work fine for a while then all of a sudden have a problem. I hope this works Thanks again.
,Larry

 

[2Tired2Tango]

Thanks for the advice it is a single user account. I have created a second account but now I have to wait and see because the PC can work fine for a while then all of a sudden have a problem. I hope this works Thanks again.
,Larry

Ok... lets hope.

In the mean time check this...

Log into your Administrator account.

In your control panel open the Folder Options, then click on the VIEW tab.
At the bottom of the list you will see a checkbox for "Use simple file sharing"
Uncheck it and OK your way back to control panel and close that as well.

Now open "My Computer" and right click on your C: drive.
Slide down to Properties and click.
You should see a tab for Quota ...Click on that.

On the Quota tab at the very top you will see "Enable Quta Management".
Make sure it's unchecked and Ok your way back out to My Computer.

Repeat this check for each drive in your system.

If it is a quota management issue, this should stop the problem.

You can safely re-enable simple file sharing afterwards, if you like.

Also, check all the TEMP directories in the machine and make sure they aren't filled with stuff ... this too uses up disk space. Empty these directories, then empty the garbage can and run defrag after. My guess is you'll notice a big difference in drive space when you're done... I've actually seen machines where the user's temp folder totally uses up their space quota!

I hope this helps....

 

[scarrylarry]

Followed your advice 2Tired2Tango and found the Quota tab but when I got there the box was already unchecked. So I checked it applied it then unchecked it and reapplied it idk I'll try anything at this point. FYI The C: drive is 80 gig with 53.9 gig free so it's really not that cluttered at least I don't think. but I checked the temp folders and cleared up some stuff then defraged.

Well again I must wait cause it can go a whole week without a problem then all of a sudden... What about uninstalling SP3 and reverting back to SP2 would that help at all. Because that's the only MAJOR update the PC had since my father gave it to her and it worked fine when he had it.

Also when my father had the PC it was the main hub computer the cable modem and router were hooked up to it now it runs a netgear wireless adapter could that effect it in any way? Thanks for the help!

 

[2Tired2Tango]

Followed your advice 2Tired2Tango and found the Quota tab but when I got there the box was already unchecked. So I checked it applied it then unchecked it and reapplied it idk I'll try anything at this point. FYI The C: drive is 80 gig with 53.9 gig free so it's really not that cluttered at least I don't think. but I checked the temp folders and cleared up some stuff then defraged.

If it is a quota issue, you just resolved it... but free space doesn't indicate quota. The idea is that on a 80gig drive with 4 users you can restrict each to 15gigs and still have OS space... so if you have 15 gigs of stuff, no matter how much is free, you're gonna hit the wall. IF, that is, this is really a disk quota issue.

FWIW... I like keeping my temp folders completely empty and use batch files as log off scripts to clean them out before shutdown. Unfortunately this is a bit complex to explain on here... but if it turns out to be an issue, just ask and I'll see if I can make sense of it for you....

Well again I must wait cause it can go a whole week without a problem then all of a sudden... What about uninstalling SP3 and reverting back to SP2 would that help at all. Because that's the only MAJOR update the PC had since my father gave it to her and it worked fine when he had it.

Reverting isn't really an option as not all of SP3 comes out.

For now it would make more sense to just keep an eye on things and keep track of what you're doing when it buggers up... perhaps there's a hint in the software you have running and the action you are performing at the time the problem shows up.

When you put in SP3 were there any installation errors? I've seen a couple of times where it went to replace stuff and actually ended up being back dated by the auto-updates... What you can do, at least temporarily is to try turning off automatic updates and see what happens.

Also when my father had the PC it was the main hub computer the cable modem and router were hooked up to it now it runs a netgear wireless adapter could that effect it in any way? Thanks for the help!

It might if you still have Internet Connection Sharing enabled... Check in your network connections dialog for any "stray" connections and clean out the ones you don't need.

And of course, let me know how it goes....

 

[scarrylarry]

Well so far so good I'll keep everyone apprised should things go wrong. Thanks for all the advice I hope it helps

 

[Merlin]

If it's an old HP, then it needs cleaning out, sounds like it may be overheating

 

[2Tired2Tango]

If it's an old HP, then it needs cleaning out, sounds like it may be overheating

That is certainly a possibility. Our friend should take a small paint brush (new) and knock all the dust out of the heat sinks and sweep the board surfaces... even if it's only done as a precaution.