Computer freezes

[Guest]

I'm running a PIII 1.0ghz on asus mobo, 20gb hd, 396mb ram, geforce 2 TI 64mb agp card, soundblaster 512pci sound card. All of a sudden Thursday afternoon my computer starts locking up. It has been happening in apps, and while idle at the desktop. It starts out freezing after about 1 hour, then on restarting it, it freezes at 30 minutes, then 15 minutes then locks on restart. I have reformatted my hard drive, installed win98se, have all the newest drivers for cards, removed memory chips and replaced them. Checked all cards for proper placement, have nothing but explorer and systray in background and asus pcprobe shows cpu heat as normal and all fans are working. Also when it freezes the monitor also makes a steady beep tone. When restarting I have to hard boot it, cause the reset and power buttons arent functioning. I have been told the problem maybe in the mobo or in the video card. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas about this ??? Thanks in advance!

 

[ycs46241]

in device manager are you showing any resource sharing?

 

[Guest]

Nope

 

[ycs46241]

have you tried just one dimm, 128mb, to see if memory has gone bad?

 

[Guest]

Took out a 128 chip and replaced it with a new 128 I had, still nothing. I'm gona remove the 256 and leave the brand new 128 in just to see what happens.

 

[khha4113]

Also when it freezes the monitor also makes a steady beep tone.

I didn't know monitor can do that. Are you sure it's monitor and not Asus mobo's temp sensor?

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[Guest]

Ok memory switching didnt work Have to wait to test the mobo sensor till next lock up, but im pretty sure it was coming from the direction of the monitor.

 

[Guest]

what should the ideal cpu temp be?? Just checking. Mine is around 95-100deg which asus probe says is ok.

 

[Guest]

Checked and the noise was coming from the monitor.

 

[Scout]

Go in and check the CPU temp in the BIOS hardware monitor. Sometimes the Asus probe gives incorrect readings. Better yet, download Motherboard Monitor and use that instead!

Your problem with the progressively shorter times till lockup sounds like you're overheating. I would go ahead and remount your Heat Sink & Fan just to be sure you are well seated on the CPU.

Scout

 

[Guest]

Ok bios shows temps are all fine. Would this happen all of a sudden?? I've had the computer for 6 months with no problems??

 

[Scout]

I assume you're running Windows, right? Something may have gotten corrupted in there so you may need to go in and reload Windows. You're right, computers usually don't just all of a sudden decide to stop working. Usually, you have problems after you install some new software or upgrade drivers and so forth. Doesn't sound like you've done that, so perhaps it's some sort of Windows or driver corruption.

The things that sounds strange here is the progressively shorter times to freeze. That really sounds like a heat related problem. Could be something heating up other than the CPU... power supply going bad maybe... Wish I could give you more...

Scout

 

[Guest]

Ok, update, I removed my nvidia geforce 2 TI 3d 64mb agp card. And my comp has been running with no lockups for over 5 hours. Guess that points to the 3d card overheating, or having some other type of problem???

 

[Scout]

I suppose that's possible, but I've never heard of the GeForce2 cards overheating unless you overclock em'.

When you said you had all the latest drivers for the cards, are you using the generic Nvidia drivers or the card manufacturer's specific drivers? In using Nvidia's generic drivers, I have run into problems occasionally, so you might try the drivers offered on the manufacturer's web site and see if that helps.

Scout

 

[lamer_gamer]

I originally posted my reply in the cpu forum:

I'm assuming the temps you give are in F not C?! I hope so! Asus probe is known for not being very accurate reading temps. MBM5 is better. Strange that the temps reported in BIOS and Asus probe are different. I thought hardware monitors got their readings from the BIOS. Also strange that everything works with your 2d card. What drivers are you using for your 3d card? Do you know your case temps? Remove the side from your comp and place a small fan blowing into the case. If that solves your problem then you know heat is probably the source of the lockups.
Just something to try.
Good luck!

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