pullarius1

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Apr 6, 2009
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So my computer is acting funny. It keeps locking up for not apparent reason, and I think I have eliminated all the components minus the CPU and motherboard, and I do not really know how to go about diagnosing problems in them. My basic question is how to diagnose motherboard problems.

My computer:
The base is a Dell Dimension 4700, but the only things left from the original computer are the motherboard, case, and CPU.
CPU: Pentium 4, 3gHz
Motherboard: Stock Dell Dimension M3918
Chipset: Intel 2580rev4
Bios: Phoenix V1.10 A10
OS: Windows XP

And just in case I have 3gigs of Crucial RAM (2x 1Gig + 2x512), an EVGA nVidia 9800 with an aftermarket cooling system, and a Raidmax 730W power supply and I just installed (about two weeks ago) a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB

The Symptoms:
These are kind of bizzarely specific, but it happens this way every time.
-My computer starts up just fine, and nothing at all seems fishy.
-Then, after a seemingly random amount of time my (wired) internet connection dies and cannot be restored all it says is "Cannot connect!"
-Soon after, my active window freezes, and does that thing where if you drag other windows over it, it goes blank or captures the trail of the window. Nonetheless, I can still move my mouse, I can make other windows active and then do things like type in them.
-But as soon as I do something like right-click or open a menu or try to bring up the task manager, the entire system locks up.... except my mouse. My computer seems dead at this point. Except for my fans ans power supply, nothing is making any noise at all. It will stay this way indefinitely, or sometimes my motherboard will let out a continuous beep until I shut everything down.
-This will happen even if I am doing nothing at all, but will -not- happen if I leave windows in the login screen.
-I have run memtest and found nothing, and have reseated all the memory. I have updated my BIOS and all the drivers I could think of. I ran a virus check, and looked specifically for the latest worms. Right now my computer is running chkdsk on my hardrives.
-I have never once gotten any sort of error message about anything, and, aside from the lock up, there is no other performance decrease.

I told all of this to a friend who is better than I am, and he said that it sounds like my mobo is dying. What do you think, and how can I test to see if there is anything wrong. Thanks.
 
Solution
Had a friend who eventually replaced his motherboard, after a technician diagnosed that it died. One thing he noticed was that everything started slowing down, especially basic tasks. If the anti-worm solution suggested by soto21 doesn't work, would it be possible for you to try the good ol' XP reinstall? :p

POOCHE001

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Mar 9, 2009
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besides using you virus protection on your computer have you tried using ms malicious software removal tool
it worked great for me
i had similer problems and afterwards they was gone
 

r_manic

Administrator
Had a friend who eventually replaced his motherboard, after a technician diagnosed that it died. One thing he noticed was that everything started slowing down, especially basic tasks. If the anti-worm solution suggested by soto21 doesn't work, would it be possible for you to try the good ol' XP reinstall? :p
 
Solution

mamw93

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Jan 16, 2009
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18,980
You're bottle necking bad with that video card and a Pentium 4. Most likely the CPU. Most people think, "But it's worked fine fore the past five years so it can't be bad." Though truth be known the CPU was fine for the time but as programs advance so does the intensity. It could be that you CPU is under to much load and it freezes because of it. Since you are so close to a new computer buy an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, ASUS motherboard and a case and enjoy being "future proof" for the nest few years or so.