Computer Hangs anytime and anywhere

clean the heatsink and remove the dust

check capacitors for residue on top of the motherboard - leaky caps cause instability

but i recon your power supply is more than likely the suspect here

Hey hellboy,

I already cleaned heat sink lot of times , there was not any dust on it.

capacitors on mobo seems fine.

As i already told when I tried by changing power supply sometime ago, problem remain same.

------------------------------------


I have question: When ever I cleaned heatsink copper portion, some sort of black color I seen on cloth or cotton. What that is ithat copper errode ?

Can heatsink behave like electronics components ( i mean like they have self life).

I already applied every time when I clean. I did not used artic silver thermal paste. I don't think P4 processor needs artic silver.

I have unbranded thermal paste that i applied evertime I clean CPU.

hmmm Ram is ok, may be mobo problem or heat sink, I have doubt on heat sink more. Why ?

Ans: Some times when Ipress power button to start the computer it does not start, mobo light glows ,processor turn on in CPU evrything is on but no display on TFT, So What I do, Turn off everything unlock the heatsink and again lock the heat sink, you know the 478 heat sink socket, it has two white strands to lock, so simply unlock and lock the heatsink.

Then I turn on the computer and it starts, no doubt after sometime again it will hang. Very rare when it does not hang.

Are you sure ?

Can you tell me which section of mobo create prob/reason of this prob/on which behalf your saying this ?



thanks,
manan

Hmmm, I already checked , all capictors are in good situation, no one leaky or browny.

I think Heat sink is culprit ? Cannot be ?

Becz sometime after hang pc does not start and then I unlock and lock heat sink and then computer starts.

ok sounds like a connection between your processor and your motherboard...

now youve got two options...

replace the board, the heatsink or the cpu...

i still recon its the motherboard but i have got some in stock to try out

ok

hard drives causing this sort of problem is not common - hanging the bios but not a possibility.

Try replacing the hard disk cable - is it a Sata or IDE

a hard disk failing like this would normally be

Boot device not found etc but it is a Seagate and they have been known to have some firmware errors...

Get all the details of the hard disk from the sticker and report it here.

its an old hard disk by any standard...

a 40 gig hard disk was around 8-10 years ago and could be failing but the whole machine is old...

my monies on the motherboard - somethings not right on the power phase to the cpu in my opionion... maybe its time to replace the whole system

heck you could get one hell of a better system for 2-300 dollars

@ hellboy,

I am not using that system anymore, I got two new latest system with Core i processors. That system is used by my parents to learn computer They don't know abt computer so i decided to keep that system for that purpose only.

Its 6 years old PC actually.


@Hexit
problem is abt system hangs randomly not turn off randomly.

This system has 1.128 GB Ram Latency is not much difference between them. I know Ram will operate at lesser frequency, if system has two different frequency modules.

One is PC-2700 (166Mhz) - 128 MB , #Latency - 2.5 clocks
Other is PC-3200 (200Mhz) - 1 GB , # Latency - 3.0 Clock

Overall: 166MHz, # Latency 2.5 Clocks


[ initially system comes with 12b MB ram lol sounds strange these days, but at that time its sufficent] Then I upgraded to 1 GB more.

Window XP(32 bit) is installed on this system, Caps are ok. I did not find anything broken/bluged at top.

i have just reread the whole post and you have already tried everything else i was gonna suggest... but i see davcon asked you to run chkdsk which you did and the problem went away for a short time...
this is because the hdd mapped out the bad sectors, but over time it created more. so you can assume the hdd is failing. to be sure run the tests again. again it should map out any bad sectors and seem to work for a while at least. then it will happen again...

eventually what will happen is that you will have no more recovery space on the hdd and it will fail properly. my guess is that the power supply is causing power spikes in the hdd and burning the disk the resulting bad sectors, also power spikes would also shut down the pc...

if the hdd is failing then it will need to be replaced but if the psu is causing it to fail then you will have to replace both.

Hmmm Today only one time computer freeze, I used computer for nearly 4-5 hours. Problem is reduced much, I don't know how.

In few days I am going to install fresh window. Completely format the HDD all drives and then will test HDD using segate software.


1. I tried replacing PSU
2. I already test Memory.
3. Heating is not the problem, becz if computer hang or shutdown becz of heating prob next time when it we turn on it produces particular sound sequence an d even msg appear on screen before POST.
4. I monitored HDD temp is normal. I don't think there is any sensor for CPU temp in P4.
5.Mobo caps are absoultely fine. Cann't say if any other Hardware defect is there.
6. Already cleaned lot of times, Heat Sink+CPU and every time I applied fresh Thermal paste.
7.CPU fan is working fine as I can see.
8. One side of chasis is open, So I dont think there is hot air or heating problem inside chasis as P4 procesor does not produce much heat.
9.Already tried to remove all cables,RAM units,processor,fans,HDD,CD Drive from mobo and reconnect them.
10 Few months ago when i try to install OS, at that time also it ill hang in between [You know how irritating it is when Pc hangs during Os installation lol] Will try to reinstall OS in few days again.
11. There is not the problem of drivers[updated] or any software I suppose. Becz system freeze anywhere anytime.

thanks,

who makes the motherboard - is it a foxconn

is there any markings on the motherboard it self...

cant find any trace of the board that what cpuz gives up

unplug the hard disk

reset the pc for a while spazmodically and see if it hangs at the bios

if it does then its not the hard disk

i had a cd drive fail once - it had a circuit board fault which caused the booting issue - one of those cheap ones - an obscure make - cant remember but theyve gone bust now so its not important anymore. ages ago that !

with onboard video cards it uses the ram of the machine - take out the odd memory and see if it boots ok then swap memory chips and see what happends..

as i say if i think its the motherboard but hey ho, if its the same motherboard that E-Machines used then they were problematic with motherboard issues.

There was not any marking on the system. Can you give nay clue what sort of marking you are talking about. Only intel logo and board name and barcode is printed on circuite board.

I already removed the CD drive So this option is also neglected than becz of CD drive this freezing problem arose.

As i told these days its did not hang much today it hang which is tun on PC[ after complete login when desktop window comes] then i restart the PC usig reset switch and work conti for 2 hours it did not hang.

So in such situation, its difficult to weather system hang in bios by removing HDD.

Already tried by swaping RAM earlier at that time it does not effect the Hang ups, they remain same

its normally in white writing on the board or on a sticker with a bar code on it...

it can be quite subtle but atleast we could have further insite to what board you have.

you could reflash the bios if we knew exactly what board you have

but hey get a Asrock socket 478 on ebay for about 30 dollars if this is the answer to your problems...

try a ide hard disk - someone you know must have a 80 gig or something knocking around..

download burn in test pro - theres a free trial - google it and see what happends

my bad i misread your post...

@westom

I already tested PSU as i mentioned, even tried by changing SMPS with higher wattage.

I said i will double check PSU again.

My heatsink is totally cleaned.

Sorry for wrong info.

Ok Today i keep system on in BIOS without HDD, HDD data cable was unconnected. and yes system hangs in BIOS. and also during CHDSK it shows " 0 KB in bad sectors."

I suppose HDD is fine.

@ westom
I will update PSU results tomorrow, after testing PSU with multimeter.

What do you mean by "those who better know computers cannot provide assistance due to insufficient information."

You mean that i do testing is not worth or nothing anyone can predict from such testing ?

Even SMPS wattage prob also one of the reason os sytem shut down and hangs. [ Try to use Dedicated Gfx on your system and use less wattage SMPS you will results ]

thanks,

Normal is for a good supply to fail in what is otherwise a good system. Normal is for a defective supply to boot and run a computer for months or even a year. Swapping (testing by subjective reasoning) leads to speculative conclusions. Does not provide the hard facts required to have definitive answers.

I cannot say anything useful from tests done by swapping parts. It is too speculative. Will only result in replies from others who only understand a 'yes or no' world. The real world is ternary: 'yes, no, or maybe'.

To provide a useful answer, I need hard facts such as numbers. I cannot add anything from testing that creates doubts.

For example, the power supply could have been defective when installed. Still booted a computer. Then caused failure months later after the warranty expired. But the meter would have seen the defect immediately. Long before the defect causes any failures.

A first thing we must unteach some techs is shotgunning. Diagnostics that only provide 'maybe' answers. We need faster answers - without doubts. In most cases, that always means numbers.

@ Wolfram23

I am electronics guy I have Multimeter. and I will post HWmonitor result too if feasible(sensors)

@westom

and yes I already did testing with multimeter 6 months ago that time SMPS was ok, then at that time I try to replace SMPS too, but no use, thats why I am saying in above posts that i already did that and I will do these test again.

If SMPS will ok then whats your next move (for test)?

Can you plz explain it in easy words/procedure So that everyone can understand what actually you mean, no offencee

Use the meter as described to measure those six wires. Post the resulting three digit numbers. A reply may define information from those numbers that you did not even know exists. I don't know how I can make this any easier. Numbers using that posted procedure is necessary for a useful reply.