Intermittent hangs

[DaveO]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin Intel P3
733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using Seagate 36GB LVD
drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes more. Once
it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power buttons.

I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs each time I
run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates BIOS from
Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to date. I have
more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never right?

Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing the
freeze? I'm stupmed.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hi DaveO.
2 suggestions. 1.Go into Admin Tools\Event viewer see what if any errors are
showing up. 2. Go into C:\Windows system32 and run Dr Watson as soon as you
start the machine, then if\when it falls over, restart and check Dr Watson`s
log file. best wishes..J

"DaveO" <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote in message
news:l35fe.1638$Dn.984@trndny02...
>I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin Intel P3
> 733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using Seagate 36GB LVD
> drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes more. Once
> it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power buttons.
>
> I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs each time I
> run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates BIOS from
> Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to date. I
> have
> more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never right?
>
> Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing the
> freeze? I'm stupmed.
>
> Thanks!

 

[Apollo]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"DaveO" <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote in message
news:l35fe.1638$Dn.984@trndny02...
>I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin
>Intel P3
> 733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using
> Seagate 36GB LVD
> drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes
> more. Once
> it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power
> buttons.
>
> I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs
> each time I
> run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates
> BIOS from
> Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to
> date. I have
> more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never
> right?
>
> Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing
> the
> freeze? I'm stupmed.
>

On an Abit board of that age it could well be bad capacitors on
the motherboard, check for these first.
Google for;
abit bad capacitors
abit VP-6 capacitors
Identifying bad caps;
http://badcaps.net/ident/

Could be memory;
Test the memory with memtest86 for a couple of hours.
http://www.memtest86.com/

Could be PSU;
Test the voltages with the system running using a DMM, or swap it
out if you have a spare lying around.

--
Ian

 

[DaveO]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"Apollo" <ian_dunbar6@hot[un-munge-me]mail.com> wrote in
news:3e4aejF152v7U1@individual.net:

>
> "DaveO" <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote in message
> news:l35fe.1638$Dn.984@trndny02...
>>I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin
>>Intel P3
>> 733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using
>> Seagate 36GB LVD
>> drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes
>> more. Once
>> it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power
>> buttons.
>>
>> I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs
>> each time I
>> run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates
>> BIOS from
>> Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to
>> date. I have
>> more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never
>> right?
>>
>> Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing
>> the
>> freeze? I'm stupmed.
>>
>
> On an Abit board of that age it could well be bad capacitors on
> the motherboard, check for these first.
> Google for;
> abit bad capacitors
> abit VP-6 capacitors
> Identifying bad caps;
> http://badcaps.net/ident/
>
> Could be memory;
> Test the memory with memtest86 for a couple of hours.
> http://www.memtest86.com/
>
> Could be PSU;
> Test the voltages with the system running using a DMM, or swap it
> out if you have a spare lying around.
>

As a matter of fact I already had the caps replaced at BadCaps less than
a year ago where they also ran a burn-in for a couple of days using my
CPUs and memory, so I'm fairly confident the capicitor issue is
resolved. Since they ran a burn-in on the mobo can I also assume the
same with the memory too?

PSU is new and came with the Antec case, it's an Antec TruePower 430watt
PSU. I'm not ruling it out but it is farily new.

I have looked at the event viewer and nothing interesting, same with Dr
Watson...it's so strange, the system will just freeze, lights, hard disk
activity, everything. Then I have to reset or power cycle it...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hi DaveO, you`ve got a weird one here, you could try Control Alt Delete, see
what tasks you`ve got running, see if there`s anything suspicious, possibly
a virus, it`s giving me a headache, night night..J

"DaveO" <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote in message
news:l35fe.1638$Dn.984@trndny02...
>I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin Intel P3
> 733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using Seagate 36GB LVD
> drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes more. Once
> it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power buttons.
>
> I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs each time I
> run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates BIOS from
> Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to date. I
> have
> more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never right?
>
> Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing the
> freeze? I'm stupmed.
>
> Thanks!

 

[Apollo]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"DaveO" <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote in message
news:wb8fe.3275$w56.707@trndny08...
> "Apollo" <ian_dunbar6@hot[un-munge-me]mail.com> wrote in
> news:3e4aejF152v7U1@individual.net:
>
>
> As a matter of fact I already had the caps replaced at BadCaps
> less than
> a year ago where they also ran a burn-in for a couple of days
> using my
> CPUs and memory, so I'm fairly confident the capicitor issue is
> resolved. Since they ran a burn-in on the mobo can I also assume
> the
> same with the memory too?
>

I can't see it being the caps then, unless they only changed
certain ones and left one or two old ones in there. BadCaps seem
to have a good enough reputation, so they probably did a thourough
job.
Memory (or controller) can go bad at any time, run memtest86, it's
free, it's the best memory diagnostic tool and all it'll cost you
is a couple of hours.

> PSU is new and came with the Antec case, it's an Antec TruePower
> 430watt
> PSU. I'm not ruling it out but it is farily new.
>
> I have looked at the event viewer and nothing interesting, same
> with Dr
> Watson...it's so strange, the system will just freeze, lights,
> hard disk
> activity, everything. Then I have to reset or power cycle it...

To help eliminate a software problem you could try a Linux livecd,
Knoppix is good. Run this for as long as possible doing a variety
of things and see if you can bring the system down.
http://www.knoppix.org/

--
Ian

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 07 May 2005 18:56:28 GMT, DaveO <NoThanks@spam.net>
wrote:


>As a matter of fact I already had the caps replaced at BadCaps less than
>a year ago where they also ran a burn-in for a couple of days using my
>CPUs and memory, so I'm fairly confident the capicitor issue is
>resolved. Since they ran a burn-in on the mobo can I also assume the
>same with the memory too?

You can't assume any test done ~ a year ago is a valid
determination of the system's state today.
Presumably you can tell which caps were replaced and which
weren't. If there are some of same make still on the board
in high-current (power supply functions, larger caps) areas
like AGP or memory (assuming all CPU VRM caps were replaced)
then suspect them, examine them closely.

Try pulling out all the memory but one module.
Run memtest86 on all modules together and only 1 module...
for several hours.

>
>PSU is new and came with the Antec case, it's an Antec TruePower 430watt
>PSU. I'm not ruling it out but it is farily new.

Probably fine but if you have a multimeter to take
measurements...


>
>I have looked at the event viewer and nothing interesting, same with Dr
>Watson...it's so strange, the system will just freeze, lights, hard disk
>activity, everything. Then I have to reset or power cycle it...

Had you done a clean install of the OS since that bad cap
issue? Due to the prior system instability anything written
to the drive during that period is potentially corrupt.

Even so, the ATI video cards often have driver quirks
(though ATI is not alone in this but perhaps it's more
common than another brand) so it might be prudent to install
newest DirectX version (again) and newest ATI driver.

Try to reproduce problem while monitoring temps and
voltages. Take side panel off case and point a desk fan at
it THEN try to reproduce the problem again. The testing
software you mentioned might be finding an unrelated
problem, the more "poking and probing" one does the more
anomolies might be found in a system that otherwise worked
fine- let alone one with a significant problem.

Also try pulling out a CPU and underclocking the other one.
Goal is to reduce the variables, the power, the speeds, and
find a commonality.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

All the suggestions so far are logical.
I once had a system that did what urs is doing, back in the Win98 days.
Turned out to be a flakey video card of all things; sometimes worked,
sometimes didnt, but it showed its Dark Side by random total system
freezups. I replaced the card as part of a frustrating component by
component removal/switch to see if it was a hardware problem on the old
clunker. If nothing else fixes urs, try swapping the video card.

DaveO wrote:
> I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin Intel P3
> 733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using Seagate 36GB LVD
> drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes more. Once
> it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power buttons.
>
> I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs each time I
> run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates BIOS from
> Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to date. I have
> more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never right?
>
> Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing the
> freeze? I'm stupmed.
>
> Thanks!

 

[Phisherman]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 07 May 2005 15:22:57 GMT, DaveO <NoThanks@spam.net> wrote:

>I have PC running Win XP-Pro, Abit VP-6 mobo, ATI AIW 9600, twin Intel P3
>733MHZ processors, 1GB mem, booting off AHA-2940U2B using Seagate 36GB LVD
>drives. My system hangs/freezes at least once a day, sometimes more. Once
>it does the only thing I can do is hit the reset or power buttons.
>
>I bought Smith Micro CheckIT and ran some tests. My PC hangs each time I
>run the Graphics test. All others run fine. I have the lates BIOS from
>Abit, latest drivers from ATI, pretty much everything is up to date. I have
>more or less eliminated the OS as a suspect, but never say never right?
>
>Anyone have any ideas? Anything I can run to see what is causing the
>freeze? I'm stupmed.
>
>Thanks!

More troubleshooting. Try safe mode. Maybe a heat issue--try placing
a desk fan blowing directly on the open chasis. Try removing half the
memory, then the other half (if you have at least two sticks). Try
swapping out for known good parts.