Custom Computer Crashing under NO load!?

[jaykemurd]

So I recently built my computer, with the intentions of gaming and mid-level audio recording. Built with:
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 939, 160 GB 7200RPM HDD, GeForce 6600GT PCIe 256MB, 512 MB PC400 DDR, and M-Audio Delta 1010LT PCI card. Now that I have the computer running a "full specs", I love it. It's quite fast and can handle anything I throw at it. However, a few days ago, I made a change in the hard drive interface type. I went from PIO to wonderful DMA/133, which is the only access type worth a crap for real-time audio recording. So things were still going good, but now the computer will lock up. I have to restart it manually. What happens is I won't touch the mouse or KB for a few minutes, while recording audio, and the screen will go black and the computer will freeze. Seems like a hard-lock. It's pretty annoying. Now it even freezes with eveything still on the screen. Either way, I loose my data, and that SUCKS a whole lot!. Take into consideration, I'm not pushing this computer to it's max in ANY way!

 

[zyzplasmaz]

you sound like this guy http://www.vonglahn.com/udma_pio.htm (quick google search....)

is the hd ide or sata? if it's IDE did you check the jumper is set to master on the hd before you installed windows?
are you sure all the drivers are installed? like the nforce drivers for the motherboard? maybe update the bios?

 

[parlee]

it sounds like the video card is locking up... check the temps to make sure its not baking... usually when a screen just randomly blacks out (its usually under stress) its because the video errored in some way.

when u get back into windows does it give an error message? it should tell you exactly what failed... that would help narrow down the problem. id say check ur video temps to rule that out... is it overclocked at all?

 

[cowboytech]

in bios what are your wakeup setting? In power management what are your sleep and hibernate setting etc.
Have you checked for hot components?
Oh ya, do your lights flicker at your place very often?

 

[Hawkeye22]

Why was the hd running in PIO mode in the first place?

It sounds like an incorrect IDE driver or the drive was having issues and windows throttled it back.

If your board has a nforce4 chipset, you might not want to use the nvidia IDE drivers. Use microsofts IDE drivers instead.

 

[parlee]

im still saying its heat over anything, because the thing is... his system boots fine, so it isnt harddrive related, if it was it wouldnt boot at all. it gets into windows and he has it recording without touching anything for a few minutes and then it blacks out.. theres probably somthing restricting the airflow or the video card fan may have just died... before u mess with drivers or anything, check temps, then open ur face to see if all ur fans are running. if all seems well, touch the heatsink on ur video card to make sure its not burning.. if it seems to be overheating, try doing the music recording with the side panel off... if it still freezes, put a window fan on the side of ur computer and see if it freezes, if it doesnt, ur overheating...

 

[jaykemurd]

Thanks a lot guys...OK, here's what you wanted to know. I should have sufficient cooling (92mm Exhaust, 80mm Intake, dual 80mm on PSU). I don't think it's video related either, I can run games like FEAR and DOOM 3 almost maxed and have NO problems.
The access interface was set automatically to PIO for some reason. When I attempted to change the interface the first time, it downgraded it back to PIO. So I opened the case and check the IDE cables, etc. The second time I attempted to change the access type, it worked, and still is. But now the odd hard-locks are occuring. How would I go about viewing all my system temps?

 

[Hawkeye22]

I don't see any CD/DVD drives on your spec list, but if you have anything else on the IDE channel with that hard drive, I'd try temporarily disconnecting the IDE cable from it so that the HD is the only thing running on IDE. Sometimes a defective drive on the channel will cause problems for other devices.

 

[jaykemurd]

Good advice, but my hard disk and cd/dvd drive are on seperate channels!

 

[jaykemurd]

As a matter of fact, my lights do flicker often. Sometimes when an appliance comes on, sometimes not. Could this have something to do with it?

 

[cowboytech]

Ouch, if your lights flicker, you are going to have, software issues and hardware failures. A friend had his computer plugged into the same circuit as his refrigerator, and every time the fridge came on the lights in the whole house would dim. Needless to say he had a faulty motor in the fridge and with it sucking all the current it deprived other things that were on, doesn't really matter here. You have a problem with current. You should get a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) they have a battery in them and feed your computer a constant voltage. It sounds like it might be to late and you have some injured (weakened) parts and confused software.

 

[jaykemurd]

Wow, great news! :x
I don't want to believe my computer has any irreversible damage!
Nonetheless, what size (wattage) UPS would ya'll reccomend for a single computer, CRT monitor, and AV reciever?
Thanks for the help so far!

 

[ches111]

I am not sure you have an issue that could besolved with a UPS. You enabled your hardware in a new way. Have you checked device manager for errors or for the yellow "?"

 

[jaykemurd]

As a matter of fact, I just noticed in my device manager, there was one yellow "?". It was for something along the lines of "multimedia controller". I think that might just be from my new MP3 player.

 

[cowboytech]

I agree, I don't think a UPS would cure this. I have just fixed so many only to have them return again, that I bring up the current issue. (this case appears to be hardware interface change related, so software channels need changed, repaired)
It looks like you have him in the, repair hardware interfaces, then you will take him to the repair software. Keep up the good work!

 

[jaykemurd]

I agree, I don't think a UPS would cure this. I have just fixed so many only to have them return again, that I bring up the current issue. (this case appears to be hardware interface change related, so software channels need changed, repaired)
It looks like you have him in the, repair hardware interfaces, then you will take him to the repair software. Keep up the good work!

Sorry, but what?

 

[cowboytech]

Hi, I was trying to say that the "issue" = seems to be related to an interface change (when you told the machine to change the rules it used to communicate with the hardware (in this case the hard drive). One of the helpers has you looking at your devices, to identify the hardware issues that you need to deal with. After you have cured the hardware issues, then we will try and help you repair your software issues that haven't kept up with the hardware changes.
And in reality it may take less time to do a repair of the op system. But I don't try that unless I know I am dealing with a clean system (you know, No, spys hijackers, viruses etc...)

 

[jaykemurd]

So the IDE master seems to be staying in the correct interface so far. However, the computer will be running AWESOME then when I attempt to play a game (CS:S, DOD:S) it becomes very boggy and slow.....like it's not accessing the hard drive fast enough. So could there be physical damage to my HDD?

 

[cowboytech]

Since it run's AWESOME, then, no, it doesn't sound like any hardware problem. It sounds like you might need to overwrite the games so that they work more efficiently with the new hardware configuration.

 

[jaykemurd]

Since it run's AWESOME, then, no, it doesn't sound like any hardware problem. It sounds like you might need to overwrite the games so that they work more efficiently with the new hardware configuration.

Excellent, I will give it a shot!

 

[jaykemurd]

Since it run's AWESOME, then, no, it doesn't sound like any hardware problem. It sounds like you might need to overwrite the games so that they work more efficiently with the new hardware configuration.

UPDATE:
I "fixed" the games I play and now everything seems to work fine! I just ordered a Voltage sablizer to help prevent any future problems. Thanks a lot for the help fellas!

 

[ches111]

What was the prob?

Details man Details

 

[jaykemurd]

What was the prob?

Details man Details

I'll try to expalin this headache of a problem best I can...
Just built this new computer, and everything, once I finished building it, worked flawlessly. After about 2 weeks I noticed the performace suddenly drop and the computer became rather unstable. I checked my IDE master settings and found that windows had downgraded my access interface to PIO (which blows hardcore) from UDMA/133. I can reset the interface to UDMA/133, but it only seems to stay that way for short periods of time. I have been told that my harddrive and/or other devices could be damaged, which woukld be caused by power fluctuations in my house. I'm not positive about all these claims my HDD is damaged, but there doens't seem to be a good expl;aination for this HORRID problem.