ASRock P4M266A problem

[SPaulovic]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and I would like to make use
of some professional help from your site.

One month ago I bought a new office-pc with these
components:

Pentium Celeron 2400
256 MB RAM(PC266)CL2.5
ExcelStor Technology J340 40 GB 7200rpm
ATI 9200SE
XP Home Edition Service Pack 1
Mainboard ASRock P4M266A V1.9
American Megatrends Inc. P1.90, 15.09.2003
VIA Chipsatz P4M266A, newest Hyperion driver is installed

I have the following problem with this new pc:
After some hours of work my pc freezes instantly.
The mouse does not respond anymore and I have to reset
my pc.

I already looked for a solution to this problem.
On the German tomshardware site many people say that
this might be a problem with the power supply.
I've got a 300W power supply.

To stress my components I used Prime 95 while observing
the mainboard values with motherboard monitor 5.
The values are OK (temperature and voltage).
I can't reproduce the problem.

At first I thought that the onboard graphics card
can cause this problem, so I bought a cheap ATI 9200SE.
The problem is still occuring.
The only difference is that I can turn off the computer
properly, this had not been the case when the integrated graphics card was enabled.

I would be very glad if somebody could help me with
this specific problem or at least give me some short hint.

SPaulovic

 

[Crashman]

I'm sorry to tell you this, but your entire system is garbage. It looks like they compiled the worst parts they could find. A 3 year old, used, high end PIII system would be faster, cheaper, and more reliable. I'm not exagerating either.

<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>

 

[ChipDeath]

Set MBM5 up to continually log to file, every 20 or 30 seconds or so, for 100 entries. Just leave it running in the background while you continue as normal.

This way you can see if there was a sudden drop in voltage or a spike just prior to crashing. if it all looks normal then your PSU is probably ok. I would do that just to rule it out for sure.

If that's not the problem, I suspect you're simply a victim of a VIA chipset, and the best advice I can give is to try different driver revisions, not just the latest.

I have a PC with a VIA chipset here at work and I had to work my way back from 4-in-1 Version 451 all the way back thru 448, 445, and finally 435 before I got it even remotely stable, although it's still not amazing but it only crashes every couple of days if I don't stress it too much, which is a lot better than about once an hour as it was.



---
<font color=red>Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.</font color=red>

 

[SPaulovic]

Thank you for your advice.
I will try to observe the voltage and temperature with
MBM5. You seem to have lots of experience with the VIA drivers.

In which applications does the computer freeze?
If I knew this, I could reproduce the crash to see
if the problem is based on a specific application.
Most times my PC freezes while browsing the internet.
Once there was even a complete restart, out of the blue.

Which mainboard is a good alternativ to the one I have?
In my old computer I have a ASUS mainboard. I think
that I should change the ASRock mainboard.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I agree with Crashman. You better sell the whole system and buy a new one according to our suggestion

----------------
<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new">My Website</A></b>

<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new">My Rig & 3DMark score</A></b>

 

[SPaulovic]

I regard my pc as an intelligent typewriter.
For writing texts and browsing the internet this
pc is too fast. I also have an old P3-800.
When I browse the internet with the old PC I can boil
a tea.

The poor performance cannot be compared with the
(fast) Celeron 2400.

Nevertheless I thank you guys for your (helpful) messages.

 

[pat]

Open the side of your computer and run it like this. If it works, then you may have a heat problem. Maybe your case is not too well vented and it get too hot inside. If it is ok with the side open, just add some fan to have fresh air to get inside your case.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!