System freezing up

Will re-installing Windows help? Can I just do a Windows repair?
ruthlezz_1 wrote:
What can I do to troubleshoot drivers?
wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:
I should specify that the MOBO is new and just installed. As for the
RAM, I do not know if it is ECC.

Most likely non-ecc. People who have ECC usually know it. And,
statisticly, ecc is rare in home computer systems. Especially in the
'budget' motherboard brands.

The MOBO was installed to replace a Chaintech that would not even run
my XP 2800 for more than 5 minutes. Also, I did not re-install Windows
since my copy would not boot (had a terrible scratch on the CD).

Lots of DVD rental places can possibibly repair the scratch. For a
small fee. They cannot gurarentee sucess, of course.

Which memory test should I run?

www.memtest.org

Thanks!

Given motherboard replacement, driver issues are high on the list of
possible causes.

MAYBE (unlikey) a bad processor. Given history in a failed motherboard.

Also possible: a bad power supply.

ruthlezz_1 wrote:
What can I do to troubleshoot drivers?

Simplify the equation as much as possible by disabling or removing
hardware devices.

Get the correct drivers from the manufacturer of the motherboard... and
of course trhe manufacturer of any cards infolved. Since you probably
kept all your cards, the drivers for them probably haven't changed.
I'd start by visiting Biostar's website. And install the drivers for
your motherboard, starting with the chipset.

ruthlezz_1 wrote:
Will re-installing Windows help?

Starting from scratch WOULD sepearte hardware issues form software
ones. It's a bit drastic just yet, though.

Can I just do a Windows repair?

The best answer I can give at present is "maybe." Repair installs are
iffy.

James Brown wrote:
CBFalconer wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:

Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out why.

It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card
512 MB RAM PC333
Windows XP Pro SP1

Any input is appreciated.

You didn't specify whether or not the RAM is ECC (and enabled).

Irrevant, that motherboard doesnt support it.

Too bad. People should never buy systems without ECC.


If not, it may be bad, or it may have been hit sometime by a cosmic
ray during a disk defrag or other copying, leaving permanent damage.

Have fun explaining how that would cause online gaming to freeze.

You are running some software or other. If that software is
faulty, possibly caused by a memory glitch during loading, or
copying within a defrag, when that fouled instruction is accessed
it may well lock up the entire system. That software includes the
OS proper.

--
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy New Year
Joyeux Noel, Bonne Annee.
Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net)
http://cbfalconer.home.att.net

ruthlezz_1 wrote:
CBFalconer wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:

Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out why.

It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card
512 MB RAM PC333
Windows XP Pro SP1

Any input is appreciated.

You didn't specify whether or not the RAM is ECC (and enabled). If
not, it may be bad, or it may have been hit sometime by a cosmic
ray during a disk defrag or other copying, leaving permanent
damage.

I should specify that the MOBO is new and just installed. As for the
RAM, I do not know if it is ECC.
The MOBO was installed to replace a Chaintech that would not even run
my XP 2800 for more than 5 minutes. Also, I did not re-install Windows
since my copy would not boot (had a terrible scratch on the CD).
Which memory test should I run?

Look up http://www.memtest86.com/. Read the docs. For the ECC,
look at the mboard documentation. If it can handle it you need to
actually install such memory before the bios setup will let you
enable it.

Please don't top-post. I fixed this one. Your answer belongs
after (or intermixed with) the material you quote after snipping
anything not germane to your reply.

--
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy New Year
Joyeux Noel, Bonne Annee.
Chuck F (cbfalconer at maineline dot net)
http://cbfalconer.home.att.net

ruthlezz_1 wrote:
What can I do to troubleshoot drivers?

When I had an ATI video card, the drivers that came on the CD in the box,
caused the computer to crash just when the desktop was about to appear.
The solution was to get the latest driver, downloaded right from the ATI
web site. On average, for each new video card I buy, I test three different
drivers and pick the best of the lot.

http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html (select Radeon, then 9250 from the list)

There are even older versions available:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/x...evious-xp.html

When the ATI driver is installed, and you go to the Display Control
Panel, you'll find a "SmartGART" tab. That tab has some options for
setting up the graphics card. You can set the AGP transfer rate
there. If an AGP 8X setting is not stable, that panel will offer
options to test a slower rate, like 4X or 2X. The change in the transfer
rate is tested and applied, the next time the computer boots, just as the
Windows desktop is about to appear. You have to open the SmartGART tab
again, to see whether the settings "took" or not. If the SmartGART
software tests the video card at the requested new rate, and the
card doesn't like the new settings, the settings will revert to
some other value. SmartGART can be super-annoying when you're trying
to test stuff. Control from the BIOS was a lot more straight forward.

Freezing problems are hard to debug. One case was caused by a bad
Marvell network driver. Bad RAM really shouldn't do it, and you'd
expect a BSOD or a program crash with bad RAM, or even a corrupted
registry. Other reasons for hardware to freeze, is when bus arbitration
fails, and a bus is deadlocked and cannot recover. But in modern systems,
there should be recovery mechanisms for stuff like that. At one time,
a double-bus-fault (two failures to read RAM in a row), would cause the
processor to stop executing, but again, I don't know if that protocol
is still in effect or not.

I just finished debugging a freezing problem on the 440BX chipset, and
my conclusion there was, it was an actual design problem with the 440BX.
In that case, I tested with memtest86+ and with Prime95. Both tests passed,
and I did Prime95 overnight twice, just to be sure. If 4x256MB of RAM
was present, the system would freeze, even doing 2D video stuff. It
didn't even need any 3D to freeze. The clincher for me, was when it froze
in several different OSes. At one time, I had figured the problem was
just with Win98SE, but in fact Linux distros had just as much trouble.
The solution was to run with 2x256MB of memory, and the system is now
able to do as much 3D as I want, in any OS I want. I don't expect
you'll find the same problem with Nforce2, as it is miles ahead of the
chipset I just finished debugging. What you can learn from this
paragraph, is using an alternate OS is useful for determining whether
drivers could be a contributor - if the hardware is just as flaky,
while using something like Linux (Knoppix, Ubuntu, the "live CDs") or
one of the other UNIXes like FreeBSD, then you'd suspect a hardware
problem of some sort.

Paul

wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:
I should specify that the MOBO is new and just installed. As for the
RAM, I do not know if it is ECC.
Most likely non-ecc. People who have ECC usually know it. And,
statisticly, ecc is rare in home computer systems. Especially in the
'budget' motherboard brands.

The MOBO was installed to replace a Chaintech that would not even run
my XP 2800 for more than 5 minutes. Also, I did not re-install Windows
since my copy would not boot (had a terrible scratch on the CD).
Lots of DVD rental places can possibibly repair the scratch. For a
small fee. They cannot gurarentee sucess, of course.

Which memory test should I run?
www.memtest.org

Thanks!
Given motherboard replacement, driver issues are high on the list of
possible causes.

MAYBE (unlikey) a bad processor. Given history in a failed motherboard.

Also possible: a bad power supply.

On 1 Jan 2007 15:57:14 -0800, "ruthlezz_1"
wrote:

Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out why.

Define freeze up.
What at a _minimum_ must you do to recover from this event?
Must it be turned off or will CTRLALTDEL do anything?
Do you get a bluescreen error message? Is it windows OS and
if so, what version.


It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

It would be good to provide more info, like what other times
it freezes, and what these games are (whether running in IE
with Java or ???). Try another browser and other games,
it's possible you have more than one problem as some java
games are buggy and will cause problems.

Also try updating your java if applicable.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card


I would try without the low end ATI video card, or at least
try different ATI drivers if none of the above helps.

Also check the usual things like voltages, temps, fans are
working, cards, cables, etc.

Had anything changed just prior to the onset of the problem?
I have a similar (but mATX with IGP) Biostar M7NCG-400
board, and vaguely recall it has some flaw in the bios which
made it more stable running memory at CAS 2.5 timing, even
with CAS3 memory. It just didn't like CAS3 bios setting at
all for some reason, but would set it if left to the "auto"
or "SPD" (whichever it was) setting in the bios... had to be
manually set to CAS2.5 (or 2.0 with better memory)... but of
course your memory would need be able to run CAS2.5 stabily
too, which I cannot predict, nor can I even predict whether
your M7NCD has the same bios flaw as the M7NCG-400.

On 1 Jan 2007 15:57:14 -0800 Too Much Ying and you will Pay With Yang
then "ruthlezz_1" sent this :

Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out why.

It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card
512 MB RAM PC333
Windows XP Pro SP1

Any input is appreciated.

Ruthlezz

Do you disable your background programs before you launch the game/s?
Try that and at least that will narrow down the possible
program/software conflicts.

Process explorer is free and very useful for seeing what's really
going on in the background,
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Process_Explorer_d4566.html

HTH



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...m?bandID=88558

CBFalconer wrote:
James Brown wrote:
CBFalconer wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:

Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out
why.

It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card
512 MB RAM PC333
Windows XP Pro SP1

Any input is appreciated.

You didn't specify whether or not the RAM is ECC (and enabled).

Irrevant, that motherboard doesnt support it.

Too bad. People should never buy systems without ECC.

They clearly feel otherwise. And pointless with online gaming anyway.

If not, it may be bad, or it may have been hit sometime by a cosmic
ray during a disk defrag or other copying, leaving permanent damage.

Have fun explaining how that would cause online gaming to freeze.

You are running some software or other. If that software is
faulty, possibly caused by a memory glitch during loading, or
copying within a defrag, when that fouled instruction is accessed
it may well lock up the entire system.

But would not lockup randomly as the OP is seeing.
It would lock up completely reproducibly.

That software includes the OS proper.

It would still be a completely reproducible lockup once the file is corrupted.

wrote:
Rod Speed wrote:
wrote:
ruthlezz_1 wrote:
Help! My system freezes up periodically and I cannot figure out
why.

It seems to happen most often when playing games on the internet.

I am running:
AMD XP 2800 Barton w/ 266 fsb
Biostar M7NCD MOBO
PowerColor 9250 256MB Video Card
512 MB RAM PC333
Windows XP Pro SP1

Any input is appreciated.

Ruthlezz


Open up the machine and look for bulging or leaking capacitors. They
look like little soda cans. If any are bulging or leaking, even a
little, they're bad, and you need a new motherboard.

Other causes include, but are not limited to:

Bad ram (test with memtest86+ from www.memtest.org)
Bad hard drive (test with the HDD manufacturer's tool)

That wont produce a freeze.

It can,

Nope.

though I grant you it's rare. Not bad platters--- failing controller.

Nope, still wont produce a freeze, the system will time out.