I've a real stumper here that I've been spending 2 days trying to TS. Please help confirm my diagnosis before I have to tell the bloke he needs a new mainboard.
System:
Emachines T5230 -> http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5230 With a nVidia G9600GT in it, otherwise stock.
Symptoms:
Systems periodically (15sec to 2min) will experience a 5-60 second "Hang". Some hangs are significant enough to cause a reboot.
What I've done:
So far I've ran a contact thermometer around the inside to check various temperatures with nothing seriously out of whack. (Northbridge HS, Side of the CPU HS, Back of the graphics card, HDD case, a couple of the RAM modules.) Northbridge was ~50dC but problem still occurred when I put an old P2 Fan on it.
So I wanted to see if this was a hardware issue or a software (Windows) issue, so yesterday I installed ubuntu 9.04 on the machine. The install took *3 HOURS* to complete. The problem persisted.
The system had failed about a year ago, so the owner's "Friend" reinstalled windows, and did it poorly (read: He used what I believe is a bootleg Vista CD since the owner never could validate). So today I reinstalled Windows from the OEM CD to see how a fresh install would behave, and the problem persists through a fresh install of Vista. It took *6 HOURS*.
All Power rails are within specs, and I have reset the bios to the manufacturers defaults so I assume the memory timings are correct.
My hypothesis:
I assume the CPU is good since the system can boot, and watching the linux system monitor I see activity on both cores. (during a "Hang" one or the other of the cores will max out). The HDD's SMART doesn't report errors, so I've thrown that out. Memtest86+ did not see any errors. This just leaves me with a Ghost in the Machine somewhere on the mainboard itself. I've visually inspected the MB and can see no busted caps or other obvious signs of damage.
Am I on the right track? Please, I've had to walk away from this one with my tail between my legs for two days in a row now. =(
System:
Emachines T5230 -> http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=T5230 With a nVidia G9600GT in it, otherwise stock.
Symptoms:
Systems periodically (15sec to 2min) will experience a 5-60 second "Hang". Some hangs are significant enough to cause a reboot.
What I've done:
So far I've ran a contact thermometer around the inside to check various temperatures with nothing seriously out of whack. (Northbridge HS, Side of the CPU HS, Back of the graphics card, HDD case, a couple of the RAM modules.) Northbridge was ~50dC but problem still occurred when I put an old P2 Fan on it.
So I wanted to see if this was a hardware issue or a software (Windows) issue, so yesterday I installed ubuntu 9.04 on the machine. The install took *3 HOURS* to complete. The problem persisted.
The system had failed about a year ago, so the owner's "Friend" reinstalled windows, and did it poorly (read: He used what I believe is a bootleg Vista CD since the owner never could validate). So today I reinstalled Windows from the OEM CD to see how a fresh install would behave, and the problem persists through a fresh install of Vista. It took *6 HOURS*.
All Power rails are within specs, and I have reset the bios to the manufacturers defaults so I assume the memory timings are correct.
My hypothesis:
I assume the CPU is good since the system can boot, and watching the linux system monitor I see activity on both cores. (during a "Hang" one or the other of the cores will max out). The HDD's SMART doesn't report errors, so I've thrown that out. Memtest86+ did not see any errors. This just leaves me with a Ghost in the Machine somewhere on the mainboard itself. I've visually inspected the MB and can see no busted caps or other obvious signs of damage.
Am I on the right track? Please, I've had to walk away from this one with my tail between my legs for two days in a row now. =(
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