new lead on my lockup problem?

[WRV]

Thanks to several of you who have tried to help me with my problem. (That being frequent lockups after CPU upgrade to Athlon XP1800+. Another symptom is sometimes when I try to shut down the system, I instead get a dark screen with flashing cursor in upper left of screen- I have to reset again to even shut down properly) Some of the advice its outside my comfort zone, but I have found a fresh lead that may give a clue.

After my latest lockup, when I again reset the computer, I am confronted with a dark (DOS like) screen with the following message:

Attention
Out of Range
H:15.7KHZ
V:35.0HZ

I reset the P/C again, Windows has loaded normally, and back to the forum I come once again.

Thanks for your thoughts as to how I get out of this recurring lockup problem.

 

[Scout]

I haven't seen your previous posts, so without more information it's tough to give advice. Lockups are often associated with some sort driver problem. So step one would be to ensure you have all the latest for your particular operating system. Also, make sure, if you're using Windows, you're using a recent enough version of DirectX from Microsoft to work properly with your video driver. (free download from Microsoft)

The shutdown with the flashing cursor in the corner is fairly typical of Windows systems. I get it occasionally on Both Win98SE as well as WinME. It's some kind of bugaboo in the shutdown process where it sometimes doesn't make it all the way through. I wouldn't worry about it unless it does it all the time.

Your out of range message seems to refer to your horizontal and vertical refresh on your monitor and yes, those figures are quite a bit out of range too low. Seeing this, I would be suspicious of something going on with your video card. You might try changing that out and see if it fixes your lockups problem.

Another thing that can cause lockups are a flakey BIOS. Make sure you flash to the latest version from your motherboard manufacturer and be sure it is compatible with your Athlon XP.

If you're still getting lockups, you may have a hardware problem and switching things is about the only way to proceed. For instance, bad memory can create problems. Switch your peripheral cards, etc.

Finally, there is also the potential of an overheating CPU due to a poorly installed or inadequate heatsink. Check the mounting and use heat paste. Make sure you have good case ventillation and use monitoring software to keep tab on heat.

Good luck!


Scout
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