Computer freeze, HDD light on, P4C800-E Deluxe

[CptDobey]

Hello to all,

First of all: I'm a French speaking person. Bad English ahead. As a side effect it was also difficult for me to "google" for my issue as I do not know exactly what to ask. I read you regulary but this is my first post. I hope I am in the good forum.

For about two weeks now I have a serious issue with my pc.

In short: it freezes completely, with the red hdd light on but without any HDD activity. I have to turn the power off. I do not get any BSoD.

In detail:
Config:
P4C800-E Deluxe (1023)
4 Sata HDD, two of them in Raid 0. The System is not on the Raid Array.
1GB of ram
Soudblaster Audigy LS
Plextor Premium, PX-708A, 116A2
nVidia 6800 GT Point of View
XP home Sp2.
Everything is up-to date with the latest bios / firmware / driver.

Two weeks ago I replaced my Audigy LS card with a X-Fi one. And the issue begins. Before the installation, I do not have any issue. The actual conf is exactly the same as it was before the bug occurred. The config was faultless for at least a month before the bug started.

After 10 to 15 minutes of up-time, the PC freeze completely with the red HDD light on, I have to turn the power off. When I turn it on, it will be good for the rest of the day. The issue only occurs once a day, or after a long (undetermined) power-off time.

I remove the X-Fi card and uninstalled all I can. Creative told me there no known issue between the X-Fi and my mother board. I do not think the X-Fi not its drive are the root cause. The fact it only happens once a day let me think it's a hardware issue, not a software one.

I run various stuff: Symantec, Panda, Addaware, Spybot, Seagate DiskDoctor, MemTest86… but everything looks fine.

Temperature are about 38°C for the CPU and 24°C for the MB.

Yesterday I replace the SATA cable and reload the bios default settings (then reconfigure it the way it use to be). The onboard sound cars is disabled in bios for ages. I will give it a try this evening.

As it only bugs once a day or so, it is not easy to test

I'm ready to re-install, or change some hardware, but I would like to be sure it will solve my issue. Format/install or expenses for nothing is not welcome

Many, many thanks in advance for your help !

Phil

 

[pat]

On my system, completely reinstall the OS take less than 40 minutes. So... you won't see me working out a bug for 2 day...

If you don't need the array, unplug it just to see if it could cause some kind of conflict with the new sound card.

Did you completly uninstall the drivers for the old card befor installing the new one?

 

[chuckshissle]

yeah remove the old sound card program and disable the onboard audio if the mobo has it. Then reinstall the card and software again.

 

[CptDobey]

Did you completly uninstall the drivers for the old card befor installing the new one?

To be honest, I do not know how to completly remove the driver. How can I achieve this ?

I used the uninstall option avaible in the control panel (add/remove software) but it was the extra applications, not the driver.

I will also un-plug the raid array and the "not needed" stuff, and will see what happened.

I will also re-install the sound driver properly. It cannot hurt

Thanks !

 

[fainis]

you should also check the power source.....
well if you want to check that out remove some hardware....that you do not use for the moment and try again...if the problem remains ..the power is ok...
add-on card like sound cards require 5V or 3.3V from the mother board...make sure you have plenty of power (voltage*amperage) on that rail...other cards like pci express usualy require 12V ......

 

[CptDobey]

I have run many test (hdd, HDD S.M.A.R.T., memtest,...), and I found nothing.

Then I removed everything but the main components (2 hdd, 1 video card, 1 soud card, 1 dvd burner). I change some SATA cable. I also re-installed properly all drivers and remove the "not-used-anymore" ones. I also cleaned the prefetch directory.

The PC runs fine since saturday.

Sooooooooooo...
It was either an incompatibility with a "not-yet" connected device such as the RAID array, a CD burner, ... A "bug" in the SATA cable I changed. Or it was the power supply which is going badly. I do have the feeling the issue is the power supply.

I will re-connect the RAID array, but I will use another power source for it. Thus I will know better.

I will let you know.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[fainis]

anytime....let us know when you find the problem...power could be a problem when you have all that hardware.......
good luck