Rule of Tim - crashy computer

David French wrote: lt (repaired) XP from the original CD this morning.

How are all the cooling fans ?

Steve

Most likely culprit is your memory.

If you can borrow some memory from a friend then try that first. Faulty memory can show all sorts of wierd symptoms, especially ones where the machine is ok until you do something eg cd burning, photo editing, or just open lots of browser windows.

Vernon

is a good start

I'm not sure. They're all working but maybe they're not adequate. I did think for a time that it crashed more when I shut the door to the computer room (so it got hotter). But, it still crashes if it's just been booted up from stone cold, when I run Nerovision.

D

Thanks, that's great - I'll give it a go.

Video driver problem. As always. Get a new one.

Peter R.

Well, I've run Memtest 3 times, and it's not yet completed - it locks up just as XP does (although the cursor continues to flash), getting to a different stage each time (98%, 35%, 14% respectively). Hard reset is the only way out.

My first thought was, oh well, it must be the memory. But Memtest isn't actually showing up any memory problems, it's just crashing. So could it just as easily be a CPU or Mobo failure?

Thanks again, David.

have you applied the Athlon XP patch?

there is a known problem with some athlon processors and some mobos

Si

Looks like you definitely have a hardware problem, probably not memory though.

Some random thoughts:

If you have more than one stick of RAM (and the processor doesn't require paired memory), take one stick out at at time and retest.

If you have any spare components, try swapping them.

Check the BIOS status page that shows temperatures and voltages.

Try underclocking the CPU - i.e. if it were a 2.0 GHz part, try running it at 1.8 GHz. The processor label is probably hidden under a heatsink and paste, but it would be good to check that the processor really is what you think it is. This has worked for me in the past.

Is it auto-detected by the motherboard?

There is a program available from Intel that will tell you what it really is.

Check to see if there is a BIOS upgrade for your motherboard.

There are more hints at

If it is temperature related, try opening the case and pointing a great big fan into it - once, long ago that was the only way I could keep an old Novell box running after the CPU fan had failed and the CPU had fried.

Hiya,

Could be down to the 'Bad Capacitor' problem.

could help? HTH

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Sounds good, but I can't find it with Google, or on the AMD website. Could somebody throw me a pointer?

Thanks, David.

No, only 1 stick, unless I can borrow one.

Nothing I've not already swapped...

I've done this in the past and it's all checked out OK. Anybody want to give a max operating temp figure for an Athlon?

It's a 2.2GHz proc so I'll try this.

Thanks!

Nothing of note in there. One of the problems is, the PC seems to freeze up before it can make any note of what's going wrong.

All patched up until last night when I reinstalled. I had a hunch that it was actually one of the patches which was causing instability but that doesn't now seem to be the case.

David

I'll take a butchers, thanks.

I ran Hot CPU Tester Pro (the Freeware Lite version) overnight with a processor burn-in pattern. It didn't crash. I also ran a Memory burn-in for an hour or two and it still didn't crash, but I'll try that again today.

David

David,

You haven't got a scanner or anything plugged into it have you? Have you tried booting in safe mode and just leaving it on?

Neil

Even with everything unplugged and in safe mode, it can crash. It sometimes goes several days without freezing, but I can make it freeze every time with Nerovision. It's just odd that it doesn't do it at the same point each time.

I'm wondering whether it could be a graphics thing. I'm using the on-board VIA chipset, I wonder if it could be a graphics subroutine which is leading to the problems?

David

There is software with my tv card that causes this problem. I just stopped using it ;-)

If you have a VIA chipset, make sure it's running VIA drivers and not MS ones....

Neil

David,

I have to say that I don't think it's XP. Might be software drivers for a component or two, but it's most likely to be hardware.

You don't say which motherboard you're using, but intermittment & inexplicable crashes like these can often be laid either at the feet of cheap ram which some boards don't like - typically the Asus boards & some Abit boards with nVidia nForce2 chipsets. Using good quality branded ram like KingMax or Crucial can solve that problem.

Or the other most common problem is the power supply unit (PSU). These can be often be underpowered for all the components or of poor quality - which leads to voltage instability. It's especially important that the 3.3v supply is stable. When it's not, spontaneous freezes or reboots can be expected. Download Motherboard Monitor (free) from:

and check voltages & temperatures.

Replacing the PSU with a good one - Enermax or Levicom at 400W or above - solves many issues.

Rgds

Robin Davies

On or around Tue, 13 Apr 2004 09:40:19 +0100, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

my "1.9" Athlon will only reliablty run at about 1640 max.