Strange PC behaviour

[Playbus]

This isn't really a major problem, but it has me somewhat puzzled. I've got 2 PC's at home, both of which I built myself over a year ago. One of them has recently developed a problem.

The PC simply resets itself, right back to the BIOS screen in a fraction of a second, where it freezes until I power it down manually.

I have made note of what my PC has been doing on the 16 occasions this has happened so far.

1. Changing maps in Counterstrike (6 occurances)
2. Starting a second file download (3)
3. Changing profiles on Yahoo Messenger (4)
4. Loading 4 copies of Internet Explorer (1)
5. Disconnecting from the Internet (2)

I don't have the exact specs memorized (it's been awhile since I was inside, hehe), and I'm at work now, so I can only give you a brief description of my system. Two modems are listed because I thought that may be the problem, but both seem to suffer.

Athlon 1.2Ghz
VIA Chipset
256Mb RAM
32mb Geforce 2 MX
30Gb HDD
Ac'97 Audio
LT Win Modem / USRobotics Courier V.Everything

Anyone got any ideas?

Most of the time the machine is fine. These 16 occurances have happened over about 3 months, but it still is annoying.


Cheers all.





Fatal Error #449: Unable to process the "Go to Hell" command specified.

 

[4Ryan6]

Check your CPU temps in the CMOS health:
Above 70c = Danger and probably the problem
60c to 70c = Not Good at all
50c to 60c = Acceptable and probably not the problem
40c to 50c = Good
below 40c = Excellent

Open the case and check everything inside, blow out the dust with canned air, check the seating of all PCI cards and the RAM, actually remove and reseat the RAM, check all the M/B mounting screws for tightness, and that all cables are firmly seated.

Test the RAM, you can get a memory testing program from <A HREF="http://www.bootdisk.com" target="_new">http://www.bootdisk.com</A>

Run System File Checker to see if any system files are damaged, and update all your periferals to the latest drivers.

Is the machine Overclocked?

What is the OP/SYS?

You should be running a minimum of 300W with the Power Supply are you?

Check for IRQ conflicts, Win2K or WinXP Disregard this.

You listed 256Mb of RAM is that one module or two 128Mb?

Theres a lot of reasons you are experiencing this problem but the only way to resolve it is through a process of elimination until you discover the problem. Post your efforts and the missing information.





<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[Playbus]

Thanks 4ryan6.

I checked out the things you mentioned. Here's the info.

CPU temp (after 3 hours of operation) -- 48 deg c

I took apart the system and re-assembled it at the weekend,
everything is in place nice and tight.

I'll download the RAM testing program you recommended tonight.

OS is Win2K

The machine is not overclocked in any way.

The PSU is 350W

The RAM configuration is 2x128Mb PC133 DIMMs

Systems files report OK and I have d/loaded latest drivers for hardware.




Fatal Error #449: Unable to process the "Go to Hell" command specified.

 

[4Ryan6]

Try pulling one of the RAM modules and just run 128Mb and see if it continues to mess up, I had some RAM it was PNY Label but the modules were manufactured by Samsung, they tested fine with Memtest and they worked just fine individually, but in pairs they malfunctioned in the Win2k environment, theres other RAM besides Samsung that does that also.

Run DirectX diagnostics and see if it finds any problems with the Sound and Video Cards.

I feel for you its a pain in the butt when everything you try comes up OK, but the problem still is there, when it crashes do you get any error messages?




<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[Playbus]

No error messages, the crash I am getting is really severe. The PC will just suddenly reset itself, as if I had pressed the reset button, but instead of booting up again on it's own it freezes on the BIOS screen until I turn it off completely and then back on.

My other PC (which does not suffer from this problem) has 1x256mb DIMM installed and also runs Win2k -- so I swapped the RAM between the two machines. Neither has crashed since, but then sometimes I won't get a crash for weeks and then suddenly it'll start crashing every 10 minutes. So I think I need to run it like that for awhile to really see if it has helped.

DirectX diagnostics came up fine.

Thanks for helping me out with this. It's much appreciated.

Fatal Error #449: Unable to process the "Go to Hell" command specified.

 

[4Ryan6]

When I had the RAM problem not running in pairs, I was so frustrated I was ready to throw the computer in the nearest river, It took days to pin down the problem, for some reason it didn't malfunction at first, since then I ran across an article about it, and it said that it could even happen with RAM manufactured by the same company but different Lot#s.



<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>