Problems

demon8991 · 4 Jun 2008 at 13:05

The old beast is on the way out i think...

Spec

Amd Barton 3200+
2gb Crucial 3200 DDR 400
Abit NF7
ATI X800XT PE 256mb
Enermax 480w
2 x WD 7200rpm (120gb & 80gb)

About 6 months ago the computer would completly lock up when playing music or watching a film (using the hard drive constantly) the HDD light stays on constantly and everything locks up, it sometimes jutters to a halt.

I reinstalled everything and formatted the other hard drive, and now its started to do it again but more frequently but it only ever seems to be when playing music on winamp or watching a film saved on my hard drive in media player.

What you guys think?

godinman · 4 Jun 2008 at 13:07

Anything in the error logs?

Exentia · 4 Jun 2008 at 13:08

you using the same HDD? for OS I mean.

bledd · 4 Jun 2008 at 13:19

hard drive or ram i'd try first..

demon8991 · 5 Jun 2008 at 10:02

Swapped my IDE cables last night as it happened again didnt have much of a chance to test it but it hasnt happened since, so ill see how that goes.

Admiral Huddy · 5 Jun 2008 at 10:08

bledd. said:
hard drive or ram i'd try first..

I'd second that.

First, give the system a good clean up.. Delete any apps and files you don't want, run CCleaner, remove any orthaned registry entries, defrag, scandisk etc etc.

Most manufacturers provide disk diagnostic tools to check if the disks are functioning ok.

If that looks ok, then check your memory.

Firstly, download and run the trusted memtest 86+, If it fails, then try different combinations of RAM.. i.e one stick at a time in different banks etc.

Do this and post back.

waveydave79 · 5 Jun 2008 at 10:12

demon8991 said:
Swapped my IDE cables last night as it happened again didnt have much of a chance to test it but it hasnt happened since, so ill see how that goes.

Ive had bad IDE cables cuase errors like this. Whenever it crashes freezes Id also check task manager and check the CPU usage to see if it is software related.

Reset any overclock to default, and memory timings and voltage to the standard settings as well. Id also get the manufacturers tools for your hdd and run tests as a starting point.

demon8991 · 5 Jun 2008 at 12:30

Have defragged the other night so thats all sorted but was still having problems after that.

Yer i am going to run some diagnostics tonight but i am hoping that it was just a dodgy cable as it is very old and one of those rounded ones that i have read can cause problems.