System locking up randomly

Karl

Karl

Karl

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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.
 
Could be your RAM if you have two sticks in try one and see if it happens then try the other... if it freezes with one in and not with other you know its one of your sticks of RAM

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

This sounds to me like a faulty or dieing power supply, have you got a spare power supply at hand to plug into the machine and try? When a PSU is on its way out it can cause variations across its rails which are big enough to cause windows to 'hang' until one day the PSU will just not turn on. When using the disk for the first time the disk has a power spike while it spins up its platters and moves the head over ready to read, this could be a big enough spike to panic the PSU.

That would be my first guess anyway, bit hard without seeing the machine.

Thanks
Mike
 
Safe mode.

If it doesnt lockup in safe mode then I would say its your drivers.

Also take a look in eventvwr and check the system logs for and errors pointing to bad blocks on your hard disk.
 
Rangler said:
If it doesnt lockup in safe mode then I would say its your drivers.

Also take a look in eventvwr and check the system logs for and errors pointing to bad blocks on your hard disk.
Click to expand...

Not really

When in safe mode windows doesnt utalise graphics drivers etc and relies on standard drives found within the windows I386 area which means the system doesnt use the hardware correctly thus meaning no strain on the PSU hence my original guess at a power supply.

If it was drivers then why after a reformat is the machine still playing up? even before windows is running? just some things to think about.

Mike
 
TheNuju said:
Not really

When in safe mode windows doesnt utalise graphics drivers etc and relies on standard drives found within the windows I386 area which means the system doesnt use the hardware correctly thus meaning no strain on the PSU hence my original guess at a power supply.

If it was drivers then why after a reformat is the machine still playing up? even before windows is running? just some things to think about.

Mike
Click to expand...

Indeed didnt think of it like that.. In that case check you eventlog SYSTEM for any oddities.
 
Rangler said:
Indeed didnt think of it like that.. In that case check you eventlog SYSTEM for any oddities.
Click to expand...

Ah yes very true and well thought of, I completly forgot about this. Sometimes hardware devices flag up issues when they experience problems such as power loss or power spikes. You may well find that GFX or even SMART on a disk has reported a power issue or similar.

Might be worth a quick check to see if theres any logs near or on the time of a freeze, the only problem I can see is that if it is power the power spike's are bad enough to cause a hang hence the device would be unable to add to the eventlog as the machine isnt functioning.

Regards
Mike
 
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!
 
Have you tried updating your hardware drivers?

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

Have you another HDD that you can try?

Have you done a chkdsk on the system volume?

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

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.
 
MilanoChris said:
Have you tried updating your hardware drivers?
Click to expand...
A valid suggestion, although it's just started happening out of the blue.

MilanoChris said:
When you did the reinstall did you do a full format and not a quick one?
Click to expand...
I did a quick one, but I take it that you're inferring that it may be a HDD problem?

MilanoChris said:
Have you another HDD that you can try?
Click to expand...

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

MilanoChris said:
Have you done a chkdsk on the system volume?
Click to expand...
I haven't no. I'll try that. :)

MilanoChris said:
When you reinstalled, did you install drivers from your driver discs or did you download the latest versions?
Click to expand...

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

MilanoChris said:
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.
Click to expand...

I'll try the PSU then, followed by HD checks. :)
 
You might want to check for bulging or leaking capacitors on the motherboard, they can cause very random problems if they start to go.
 
I'd suggest a full format mate if chkdsk churns out any errors. A HDD on it's way out tends to give random lockups, I had this problem a short while ago and a full format did the trick.

Good luck.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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