System locking up randomly

[Karl]

Hi, bit of a problem here that may only have the sad conclusion of me procuring more hardware. I've put it here instead of a more specific forum in case it's not what I think it might be.

My Abit NF7 motherboard's chipset fan was making a horrendous noise which I'm told that this model makes when the fan's about to die. So off came the fan, and I replaced it by arctic silver epoxying a Zalman Fanless Nortbridge Cooler (ZM-NB47J) on. The bond wasn't terrific although it stuck effectively, and I enjoyed a normal working PC for quite some time.

However, I made this modification in the middle of July, and now in the middle of October, my PC starts locking up for no real reason.

At first it started happening in the windows loading screen, the loading bar getting stuck, but it eventually getting through. Then at one point, one monitor died, but it then came back to life.

The locks are then random and can happen in seconds or in minutes depending on whether it's idling or installing something. Sometimes even on bootup. They are all now happening when in windows, but not long after it's gone through and is still loading applications.

I formatted and stuck a new copy of Windows XP SP2 on there, and it crashed the same way intermittently.

Yesterday I took a hairdryer to the heatsink, and got it off. I then removed the old epoxy from both the chipset and the heatsink, and re-applied a much better coat of arctic silver epoxy. I reattached the heatsink, but I'm getting the same problems.

Is this a case of my graphics card going, or the motherboard's chipset? No other fans have died, but I was wondering if one monitor briefly dying (not even working on the BIOS post) might point a clue?

Thanks for any help,

Karl.

 

[Karl]

I'll give that a go when I get back tonight.

It's also worth mentioning that when booting into Safe mode, it wouldn't crash. Does that help, or make things worse?

 

[Karl]

okay, tried taking out all the RAM in turn, same problem. it may not be a heat issue, because it varies when it crashes, but it's happening from cold too now. When I first boot up, if I try clicking around and doing disk intensive stuff (Just opening directories, etc), it freezes on me. Any further thoughts?

How likely is it to be a GFX problem as opposed to a mobo problem? I'm seriously tempted to scrap the whole rig and just get a new PC from Dell.

 

[Karl]

Any further thoughts? I'll try a new graphics card tonight, but it's looking less and less likely.

 

[Karl]

Okay guys, I'll check that out tonight. I don't have another PSU that's powerful enough to try with, but I'll check for errors.

I'll let you know!

 

[Karl]

Have you tried updating your hardware drivers?

A valid suggestion, although it's just started happening out of the blue.

When you did the reinstall did you do a full format and not a quick one?

I did a quick one, but I take it that you're inferring that it may be a HDD problem?

Have you another HDD that you can try?

No, but it's another suggestion after I check the PSU (which I do have)

Have you done a chkdsk on the system volume?

I haven't no. I'll try that.

When you reinstalled, did you install drivers from your driver discs or did you download the latest versions?

Again, bit weird if I suddenly get lockups after having the same drivers for 2 years.

Could be a multitude of things, however I'd be inclined to say that it could be your PSU if you've done all of the above but to no avail.

I'll try the PSU then, followed by HD checks.

 

[Karl]

I can't see any bulging or leaking capacitors, and I've now just put in a different PSU I got which has produced the same problems as before.

It's still locking up with a new PSU! ARGH! Any further suggestions?

 

[Karl]

Okay! It's now crashing in windows setup (DOS), so is it me, or is this sounding like more and more of a graphics card issue? Or perhaps motherboard? Definately not RAM remember.

 

[Karl]

Come on, surely this has narrowed it down?

 

[Karl]

no on board GFX to try, and I'm not overclocking.

 

[Karl]

Replaced the motherboard, put the old PSU back in, and I've only had one lockup since. I'm not sure if that was an anomoly, so I've left it idling overnight without any problems and haven't experienced any since.

I'll keep you posted on whether it actually stays working or not!

 

[Karl]

Lockups became frequent once again, but didn't happen in safe mode.

I played with drivers for hours including just putting in the ones that've always worked straight off the CD. Same lockups.

I bought a new graphics card, installed it, put on the standard mobo drivers and the standard graphics card driver, and haven't experienced a lockup since.

How much of the responsibility could be apportioned to the motherboard and how much to the graphics card I'm not sure, but they were both cumulatively responsible for the fault. It all just died on its arse within a day!

Still, fixed now.

Thanks very much for all your suggestions!