- Aug 23, 2001
- 135
- 0
- 18,680
(Also posted in CPU forum.. I'm desperate here)
Hi Friends,
I got the blues.. I built a computer with old parts lying around for my girlfriend and have hit a serious problem. Given that they're old parts, this is geared to you Veterans:
The motherboard is an MSI VIA Apollo Pro266 with Crucial 512 MB DDR266. The processor is a Pentium III 933. 300W Power Supply. I've tried a couple of Video cards. Here's the deal.. OS is Windows ME (yeah I know) installed freshly formatted HD (twice).
The computer works like a charm, but only in 16 color mode! Anything above that, and the computer will work for a couple of minutes max before going through a bizarre lock-up. What usually happens is, the screen will briefly (less than half a second) go to black, then the picture will be restored. Sometimes, the active window will be minimized upon restoration. Then, perhaps, the computer will remain functional. Inevitably, however, it'll go to black again, come back, and freeze (no mouse pointer response). This only happens when graphics are greater than 16 colors (not 16 bit, just 16 damn EGA colors).
At first I thought the CPU was overheating, so I put a beefy fan on with AS5. Then I thought it was the graphics card (Radeon 9600), so I put a brand-new old school GeForce MX4000 on it. Same thing.
I'm running out of ideas, and the computer needs to be up and running urgently. What sort of lock-up is this? What could be causing it? What can I do? I've done plenty of OS re-installations and harddrive wipes. The CPU and mobo weren't in the best of storage conditions, and the CPU die looks a little worn, but the computer can handle multiple programs, downloads, and all sorts of CPU intensive apps at once in 16 color mode. Please help ASAP guys.. You always come through for me.
Thanks so much
<font color=blue> Be good to each other! </font color=blue>
Hi Friends,
I got the blues.. I built a computer with old parts lying around for my girlfriend and have hit a serious problem. Given that they're old parts, this is geared to you Veterans:
The motherboard is an MSI VIA Apollo Pro266 with Crucial 512 MB DDR266. The processor is a Pentium III 933. 300W Power Supply. I've tried a couple of Video cards. Here's the deal.. OS is Windows ME (yeah I know) installed freshly formatted HD (twice).
The computer works like a charm, but only in 16 color mode! Anything above that, and the computer will work for a couple of minutes max before going through a bizarre lock-up. What usually happens is, the screen will briefly (less than half a second) go to black, then the picture will be restored. Sometimes, the active window will be minimized upon restoration. Then, perhaps, the computer will remain functional. Inevitably, however, it'll go to black again, come back, and freeze (no mouse pointer response). This only happens when graphics are greater than 16 colors (not 16 bit, just 16 damn EGA colors).
At first I thought the CPU was overheating, so I put a beefy fan on with AS5. Then I thought it was the graphics card (Radeon 9600), so I put a brand-new old school GeForce MX4000 on it. Same thing.
I'm running out of ideas, and the computer needs to be up and running urgently. What sort of lock-up is this? What could be causing it? What can I do? I've done plenty of OS re-installations and harddrive wipes. The CPU and mobo weren't in the best of storage conditions, and the CPU die looks a little worn, but the computer can handle multiple programs, downloads, and all sorts of CPU intensive apps at once in 16 color mode. Please help ASAP guys.. You always come through for me.
Thanks so much
<font color=blue> Be good to each other! </font color=blue>
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