New P4 System: Lockups!

[Valaire]

I just built a new P4-based system and am having random lockups. I have not used this computer at all for gaming.

It likes to lockup when it is idle, when I'm typing, clicking a hyperlink, or watching a DVD on ATI's multimedia center 8.8.

The computer has the latest drivers and software. It has the updated chipset utility from Intel, USB 2.0 drivers, performance boost drivers, service pack 1 and all Windows updates, and latest hardware drivers and firmware. The only software on the computer is for dvd copying, partition magic, multimedia center 8.8, remote wonder software, and diskeeper 8.0 pro.

There are a few scenarios I can think of:

1. The Remote Wonder is already somewhat buggy in that it crashes when I try to close the dvd player with it. It also has a background process running at all times to catch infrared signal. I'm hoping ATI hasn't released drivers that would do that to a new computer.

2. The catalyst 3.10 drivers seem fine. I installed the chipset drivers, then directx9.0b, then the catalyst suite. I have not played any games with it but from what I tell the installation was not problematic.

3. I have 1 gig of Kingston RAM installed, and it's not in dual ddr mode (not supported). Is this a problem? I think it is unlikely only because I bought the memory in a bundle and they burn it in for a day and run tests with benchmarks to certify normal operation.

4. The PSU is an Antec, either 400W or 350W (I actually can't remember off-hand, but I will re-post later with a definite answer. Either way, Antec is a reputable brand.

5. As a sidenote, the computer froze once while doing Windows Update and now one of the updates, entitled 'Update to Service Pack 1' always fails when I try to install it. Everything else seems installed fine.

The thing that keeps getting me is that it definitely doesn't follow a pattern of locking up when CPU utilization is high, suggesting overheating, because it happens frequently when left idle. This is now the second type I've had to type this all out cause it froze on me earlier, so now I'm typing in wordpad and constantly saving.

I've followed a few suggestions on making the video card more stable, like removing fast writes and setting a smaller aperture size but it has no effect. I am desperate to do anything I can to help alleviate this problem today, because I built this computer for a family member and they know nothing about computers, and I'm leaving on a plane tomorrow.

-----------------------------
Here are the specs:

Intel 2.6C P4
ASUS P4PE-X Mobo
2 x Kingston DDR400 512MB
ATI Radeon 9600 AIW
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Lite-On DVD-R
Teac FDD
Western Digital 120 GB 8 MB Buffer

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

- Chad

 

[o1die]

Look for any irq conflicts in the device manager (red or yellow exclamation marks next to a device). If you find any, try uninstalling the device and let windows reinstall it during bootup. If you have asus probe installed, look for any unusual readings out of spec.

 

[fariss]

Fluctuating voltages from a failing PSU can cause random reboot & freezes. Try a different PSU.

 

[Crashman]

Usually random lockups with no or little load are a result of voltage fluctuation or memory issues. If you're relatively certain your power supply isn't the culprit, try manually setting higher latency values for your RAM and see if it clears things up.

There used to be similar problems caused by resource conflicts or use of VIA chipsets, but you're using an Intel chipset and recent OS's have pretty much done away with resource conflicts. Of course setting your BIOS to "PNP OS-NO" is still a good idea.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Valaire]

Well, other than it being an Antec, I have no specific evidence to cite that says it isn't the PSU.

However, since the ATI MM 8.8 seems to be very buggy, and the remote software constantly freezes, I'm testing stability with and without the remote software active.

The memory is pretty slow to begin with, at CAS 3, so the only thing I could do was change the 7T to 8T. Turbo and other performance modes have been off.

Hopefully I will learn some more tomorrow before I leave. Kinda got slowed down today dealing with an onslaught of spyware of all things very soon after I reinstalled Windows XP and before I had ad-aware and other utilities installed.

- Chad

 

[Valaire]

Another interesting fact: The computer likes to freeze when I am trying to burn DVD's. Works fine with CD's, but when making backups of DVD's using DVD X Copy Platinum, it freezes on an erratic basis.

I have slowly got it to read a source DVD, then to begin copying to a DVD-R, and each time it lasts longer than the previous, but still can't quite make it.

I do believe using the computer while it's burning actually makes it more stable, but that could be my imagination.

 

[jammydodger]

This is going to sound very odd, but try typing 'msconfig' in the run dialog box. Once the MS config window appears, click on the services tab. See if you have 'logical disk manager adminastrative services' as one of your services, if it try unchecking the tickbox. I had a similar problem on my computer and unchecking this this seemed to make everything work fine.

Remember to recheck the tickbox if your computer still freezes, as it could be an important service.

[Insert witty comment here]

 

[JP5]

Your best bet is to try a differnt PSU and memory

 

[blah]

your best bet try to get an AMD system.

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