Computer about to be thrown out of the window
in [Hardware]
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From: Duane Arnold on 6 Feb 2005 16:23 Dr. Harvie Wahl-Banghor wrote: > If you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant, what do you > do?
From: Mxsmanic on 6 Feb 2005 16:29 Trent SC writes: > Thanks for the reply. As I said, the memory is different, I'm now using the > on-board graphics instead of a graphics card, the hard drives are different > and the operating system is new, and yet the symptoms are the same as > before, so I'm not sure how your suggestions apply in this situation. You can probably safely exclude everything that has changed: graphics card, disk, RAM, OS and applications. So ... what has _not_ changed? The source of the problem must reside in some part of the system that has not changed. Motherboard, network card, other PCI or similar extension cards, BIOS settings, etc. It's probably something that is not continuously used, since the machine hangs almost at random. Something that hasn't changed has a problem and hangs the machine when it is used. I'd say extension cards should be looked at first, hardware and software. With those ruled out, there's not much else left besides tne motherboard, and the processor itself. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly.
From: philo on 6 Feb 2005 16:31 "Trent SC" <trent(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:36nenjF4p9m8hU1(a)individual.net... > Bloody computers! > > My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: > ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 > graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v > 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more information? > > It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when > online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took > the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics card > and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with a > spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it all > went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with a > pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. > > The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation > of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took > fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to > hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in Tiles > view format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it hung, so I > just took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I > lost it completely. > > This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new hard > drive and new system and application software. The only common factors > which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and processor. try underclocking the machine slightly i'd also use the original (or another video card) rather than on-board
From: Trent SC on 6 Feb 2005 16:27 >>> Bloody computers! >>> >>> My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: >>> ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 >>> graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular >>> v 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more >>> information? >>> >>> It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when >>> online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took >>> the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics >>> card and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive >>> with a spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case >>> it all went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 >>> with a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. >>> >>> The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the >>> installation of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and >>> while SP2 took fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, >>> it's continued to hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing >>> over an icon in Tiles view format. And I didn't get a chance to go >>> online before it hung, so I just took out the new hard drive and shoved >>> the old one back in before I lost it completely. >>> >>> This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new >>> hard drive and new system and application software. The only common >>> factors which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and >>> processor. There are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and >>> CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only think that there must be >>> something fundamental going on in the motherboard or processor, but if >>> anyone else has any brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear >>> them! >> You should really try different memory or check if you bios can set >> slower timings for the memory. >> Also, if possible, disable some chacheing (video or system bios) and >> check if it can help you. > > In agreeement with Michael do try different RAM, or try installation with > the old stick (128 ?) or just the new chip. The hang is probably from a > bad memory address in one of the chips. I'll give it a go, although the problem was occurring with the old memory, and that's now in a drawer - the computer has a new 256 and 128 stick, so we're talking about completely different memory. Thanks also to the other post - how do I disable L2 cache, please? TIA
From: Trent SC on 6 Feb 2005 16:45
>> Thanks for the reply. As I said, the memory is different, I'm now using >> the >> on-board graphics instead of a graphics card, the hard drives are >> different >> and the operating system is new, and yet the symptoms are the same as >> before, so I'm not sure how your suggestions apply in this situation. > > You can probably safely exclude everything that has changed: graphics > card, disk, RAM, OS and applications. So ... what has _not_ changed? > The source of the problem must reside in some part of the system that > has not changed. Motherboard, network card, other PCI or similar > extension cards, BIOS settings, etc. It's probably something that is > not continuously used, since the machine hangs almost at random. > Something that hasn't changed has a problem and hangs the machine when > it is used. I'd say extension cards should be looked at first, hardware > and software. With those ruled out, there's not much else left besides > tne motherboard, and the processor itself. There's only an HSP56 modem on the machine (no NIC) and the machine has frozen with that both enabled and disabled in the BIOS. So it MUST be either PSU, CPU or motherboard. |