I'm about to put a bullet in my machine...

[Teedocious]

Hi,

My XP Pro is freezing on me. Hardcore freezing where there is no mouse, keyboard, no blue screen, nothing. My only option is a hard restart w/power button.

My system: AMD Thunderbird 1GHz, ABIT KT7A w/RAID, GeForce 5200, 512 mb PC133, 60GB Western Digital HD.

My attempts to fix it: First I suspected memory problems - I ran memtest a couple times (once overnight) and it came up with no problems. I noticed that the CPU was running a little hot when it is working hard (between 50-53C), installed a new cpu cooler. Nothing changed. I cleaned the crap out of the system (there was kind of a lot of dust) - removed all cards & mem when I changed cpu cooler and cleaned with air. No difference. I dropped system into safe mode to see if I could replicate the problem there - it never freezes in safe mode...

Now I'm thinking a software problem (some conflict or driver issue, etc.) - since it had been almost 2 years since I had reformatted I decided I might as well just do it. After a total reformat & clean install of XP Pro the damn thing froze after 10 minutes. I updated all drivers and XP from safe mode - still freezes.

Anyone have an ideas?

btw. The capacitors on the mobo all look fine - as does everything else. This system ran fine for 2 years straight until now.

 

[raging_redneck]

I would recommend that you flash your bios, and Check to see if you are having any IRQ problems.Also check to make shure your Power supply is still functioning properly. If your Power supply isn't giving your mother board a steady supply of power, you will encounter alot of issues. And if that doesn't work then I would recommend that you take your computer apart piece by piece and clean off all of the components with compressed air. It is amazing how just alittle dirt can cause your computer to malfunction.

 

[pscowboy]

Bullets are expensive; don't waste one.

Most likely culprit is the power supply. Change it to good one. THG has a vast history with ps's. Bring up their latest report for recommendations for your needs.

I've always liked Antecs and Enermax for general use, in the 400-500 watt range.

 

[Teedocious]

Would a bad power supply freeze the machine though? Woulnd't it turn off or restart instead? I've never had any power supply issues in the past so I don't know the symptoms well - it just sounds a little counter-intuitive.

Thanks.

Tom

 

[cowboytech]

On diagnosing a machine, first you have to figureout if its; hardware or software, or both.
since you've done a format reinstall, did you leave it connected to the internet the whole time? I am wondering because I have seen them get infected in five minutes (blaster etc...) without all the critical updates, or a good anti-virus installed before entering the world wide web.
Did you clear cache and ram after you formated, you know when the machine is in off state, unplug it and push start to clear the residual power on the motherboard?

 

[kittle]

very well could be power problems...

is your PC plugged into a surge protector? or directly into the wall?
how old is your surge progector?

do the lights dim in your house when stuff turns on like the fridge, or washing machine (mine do).

Power problems seldom show up right away (unless your struck by lightening). Things usually slowly get worse over time until finally something (or several somethings) will fail. Bad power can cause all kinds of wierd stuff.
I had a surge come through one time that fried half the CPU on my friends machine while mine was untouched. both were connected to the same outlet at the time.

Software problems are usually cheaper to fix than buying a new PSU. Check first for conflicts. Goto control panel -> administrative tools ->computer management, and select device manager. Right click on that & pick vew ->resources by type. go into 'IRQ' Look for duplicates. Some things are okay, some are not. stuff like your HD, sound and video card should NOT be shared.
Let us know if you find anything there

 

[Teedocious]

I checked the IRQs - here's what came up:

Some things are sharing, but nothing vital that looks like it could cause the problems I've been having. Let me know what you think.

Tom

 

[cowboytech]

Almost, all the time a machine runs fine in safemode but still has issues in normal mode it will turn out to be software! You have two IRQ's with "?" what do they say beneath the "?".
Its a place to start!

 

[Teedocious]

Those were drivers that just needed updating. After I did the print screen that I posted I updated them and they now don't have the ?'s. So far the comp hasn't frozen since then, but I'm waiting to see... (It has only been a few hours)

 

[Teedocious]

UPDATE:

I updated those drivers & left the computer running overnight playing music to see if it will hang - it still does. Funny thing seems to be that it will not hang if no program is running - an empty desktop will sit there indefinitely without problems, but if I am running IE or Itunes or azureus it is gauranteed to hang. Does this back up the power supply theory?

Tom

 

[cowboytech]

No, it actually points to something causing a problem because of or with those programs

 

[cowboytech]

What are your motherboard (BIO's) setting for wakeup, you know, keyboard & mouse?
And under power managment, what are your settings?