System fast, but unstable

[docbill]

Hi docbill,

Many thanks!

Theoretically it is safe when defer-write is not enabled. And you're right, it's quite strange that you get a chkdisk activity after a normal reboot. We'll continue checking if there's a bug in reading mode.

It crashed again. Windows did not create a dump file, nor the C:\Windows\minidump directory...

I can't see of the configuration could be any simplier...

[Support]

Did you set up pagefile on C: partition? To create dump files, Windows requires the pagefile on the boot partition. Also pagefile size is required as below.

For Small Memory Dump, the paging file shall be at least 20 MB. For Kernel Memory Dump, the paging file shall be no smaller than 1.5 times the RAM size if the RAM size is not greater than 1,373 MB, or no smaller than 2,060 MB if the RAM size is greater than 1,373 MB. For Complete Memory Dump, the paging file shall be large enough to hold all of the physical RAM plus 1 MB.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the trouble caused. We're also checking the source code to see if there are possible bugs. Thanks.

[docbill]

No, sadly I did not realize the pagefile had to be on C drive for it to write the dumpfile... My wife finally got discouraged with her applications constantly crashing and removed primo-cache from her computer. So no more testing for now. I might try installing primo-cache on my computer just to see if I can generate a dump file for you. But I don't really need primo-cache on my computer since I'm currently using my SSD as C drive. I do however have 32 GB I reserved for future use I could try with primo-cache to cache my data drive...

[docbill]

No, sadly I did not realize the pagefile had to be on C drive for it to write the dumpfile... My wife finally got discouraged with her applications constantly crashing and removed primo-cache from her computer. So no more testing for now. I might try installing primo-cache on my computer just to see if I can generate a dump file for you. But I don't really need primo-cache on my computer since I'm currently using my SSD as C drive. I do however have 32 GB I reserved for future use I could try with primo-cache to cache my data drive...

BTW. The application crashes were happening regardless of the amount of L2 cache in use. The computer crashes seem to happen after it was using at least 32 GB. If it is related to the amount of L2 cache used, then the 32 GB I have available on my SSD might not be enough to produce the problem. But then it could also be the L2 cache is a false lead and is the L1 cache that was causing instability.

[Support]

@docbill,

Anyway, thank you again for the information. We'll try to get more testing computers to reproduce this issue.

[Support]

@docbill,

Did you run disk defragment before the crash? Or is there a disk defrag application running at background?

[docbill]

Nope. No disk defrag. It just starts off unstable and becomes more unstable (applications crashing more frequently) until the computer crashes. Then windows runs a scan disk, primo-cache resets itself, and the whole thing starts again. My wife decided not to try another caching solution, but instead decided just to use the MSATA as an F: drive and install the applications on the MSATA drives she wants to run faster. That would not be a good solution for me, but it works for her, and introduces no stability problems.

Bill

[Support]

Thanks docbill

[docbill]

If you are looking for software that would conflict with primo-cache, then the first thing I would look at is the virus scanners. They probably inject themselves at just a low of level as primo-cache in order to detect and block root kits and other malicious software. My wife has Bitdender Total Security 2013.

[InquiringMind]

An anti-virus conflict would seem more likely to give immediate blue screen crashes, but if you can disconnect the notebook from the Internet for a few hours, disabling BitDefender for that time should be enough to check that possibility.

Since your posts suggest the most serious problems occur when L2 cache usage reaches 32GB, might it be a problem with the SSD itself? Does Windows Event Viewer report any disk problems? Also, could you try moving the Windows pagefile off the SSD to your hard disk? The pattern of errors suggests pagefile corruption and it may be that the SSD cannot handle L2 caching and pagefile duty simultaneously.