Athlons suck, can anyone help? mine keeps freezing

[compme101]

Well heres the deal, I have had this Custom built computer i bought from a certified computer store and for close to 2 months now the computer constantly TOTALLY freezes and TOTALLY locks up where i cannot even do ctrl + alt + del... I am wondering if anyone knows how to please help me fix this problem, i brought it back to the people and they cannot understand why its doing this, i tried updating my drivers for everything. Heres the system i have

AMD Athlon (classic K7) 950Mhz
256 RAM Micron Tech PC133
ATI XPERT 2000 (rage 128 chipset) video card 32mb
Sound Blaster Live! sound card
MCI Miscrostar K7Pro (AMD 750 chipset) mainboard

Please let me know what i need to do to stop it from freezing and locking up all the time, thanks.

 

[erub]

what OS are you using? when does it freeze up? I have an Athlon Classic 650 on an AMD 750 motherboard (Asus K7M) and it used to freeze up under win2k like you described whenever I updated the drivers to the detoantors from the MS defaults. However this was fixed when I put in a Voodoo3 3000.

 

[compme101]

i have windows 98 second edition, and i use to have a geforece video card in it i chagned to the ATI, i also changed to better memory i use to have 128 i also put in a 300 watt power supply.

 

[compme101]

and the computer freezes up , it could be anywhere but usually its when im starting windows up for the first time after a long break it freezes at the bootup of starting windows i have to shut it off, it freezes when i try to play most 3d games, mainly i play everquest and it always freezes on that and it pisses me off.

 

[ndee]

First of all, why does the Athlon suck? If you start a thread like this, you get flamed, and don't intend to get a lot of help.

But we're one family here over at anandtech.com so, try to up the Voltage. If the Voltage isn't enough in my rig, the computer just freezes sometimes. Next thing, did you change ANYTHING that could "ruin" a running system, like driver update, etc.?

 

[duragezic]

Since it is a classic athlon, does it have a good heatsink and fan? Heat could be the problem even though it isn't overclocked...

 

[compme101]

well i haqve a 300 watt power supply im not really advanced in the hardware area, but i thought 300 watts was good right?, and also i dont think i ruined anything i didnt go and delete any drivers or BIOS or anytyhing, is there anything u guys can think of to what might be cauing this?

 

[Packet]

It could very well be the VIA 4in1 drivers. had the problem on one of my systems, and installing the latest (for some reason it took several tries to get it all done) 4in1 and everything kinda cleared itself up.

 

[Budman]

<< I have had this Custom built computer i bought from a certified computer store and for close to 2 months now the computer constantly TOTALLY freezes and TOTALLY locks up where i cannot even do ctrl + alt + del... >>



Well If it was me i would bring the PC back to the computer shop &amp; let them Fix it.

If you start poking around in there &amp; mess things up it might void their warranty.

Just bring the pc back to the store &amp; let them deal with it,you paid good money for a working pc &amp; it's their problem not yours.

 

[compme101]

ya but isnt that for the VIA Chipset the KX133 chipset or somethig i have the very first AMD 750 chipset that came out... the VIA 4 in 1 drivers wouldnt work for mine would they?

 

[MattStone]

I agree with Budman...your first course of action should be to take it back to the place that you got it and let them look at it.

 

[Adul]

I am surprised the athlon classic is still floating around, anyways, make them fix it. If they can't build you a stable system then they should replace what ever is defective with your system to make it stable. Something is definitely not up to par.

 

[desertdweller]

I had a problem like this with my Athlon. I'm running a Gigabyte
GA-71 with the AMD chipset and I noticed that on my board the fan
for the Athlon covers up half the sink for the motherboard chip and
on my board the motherboard chip was overheating. (just touch it with
your finger to tell) I bought a $5.00 blower type fan from Radio Shack
and positioned it to blow directly onto the m/b chip and haven't had
that problem since. I also had that problem with a K6-2 mother board
that the cache was bad on. The board would run fine at 66mhz bus settings
but the cache couldn't handle the 100mhz the board was designed to run
on and that locked it up. You might try disabling your cache in the bios and see if it still locks up.

 

[compme101]

I have taken it back 4 times and they ran diagnostics testing and they say that cant find the problem, and they said that they would replace the athlon and motherboard with a p3 or thunderbird but i have to pay, i am pissed i dont know what to do all =(

 

[Jgtdragon]

Try format your Harddrive and install Windows2000. If the problem still exist with Win2k, then some of your parts do not like each other.

 

[DesignDawg]

Punctuation. The wave of the future.

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[shawnmos]

LOL!

 

[Budman]

Then return it back for a 5th time and then a 6th 7th,Return it until the fix the problem.

And you shouldnt have to pay 1cent,it's their fault they sold you a defective product.

tell them to change the ram,Athlon systems can be picky about ram.

 

[cvlegion]

Actually, I have had more problems in Win2000 with Athlon Classics. Win98 should do fine, I think.

What type of P/S do you have? It doesn't matter so much how much power you have but what matters is the amount of noise in the line. If it is a POS then, it could be any wattage and the Athlon wouldn't work well.

Micron RAM would not be a problem for a Classic Athlon.

The only think that I can think of is a heat issue. Do you have the retail heatsink/fan on or a different one. Open up your case and make sure that it isn't the case ambient temp.

Up the voltage as someone said before, see if that affects the stability.

Otherwise, I would say it probably is driver. I had a lot of problems with my Classic Athlon with some drivers. You could try a re-format and stick with the reference drivers on Win98 and what came with all of your components and see if that fixes everything. Otherwise I would say that the instability is some hardware problem.

 

[NesuD]

probably have the superbypass and the 2x agp enabled in the bios the ati cards seem to exibit problems when that happens.

 

[Fatdog]

I have a classic 750 on the K7pro board, and I was getting random lockups as well. After trying all kinds of 'suggestions', I disabled superbypass in the bios and that cured my problems. I've been fine ever since. What version bios are you running?

 

[Toad]

I say just keep taking it back until those jerks fix it. Assuming you haven't done anything to the machine youself, it's obviously a hardware problem or something THEY did wrong while building it. Make them Fix it!!!!!

What they are doing is totally screwing you over. You pay money for a machine which never works right from the start, and then they want you to pay more to fix their own mistake.

If they won't fix it for free, then I would recommend never setting foot in that store again. I would also take every opportunity I find to let people know how unhappy you were with them and what they did to you. I've delt with places like that before and it makes me really mad. That is a very unprofessional way to treat someone, and any store that does doesn't deserve to stay in business.

The last job I had, I worked for a guy repairing computers and making the rounds to all the business we supported. We delt with one company who was very good at first. Great service, great prices, and very supportive of what we did. All the stytems we sold people came out of that store. We spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars with them, and all of a sudden they turned into real jerks. We found out from someone who used to work there, that their new policy was to deny all warranty claims at least twice, even if it was valid. I have no tolerance for places like that. Needless to say, when they started that garbage we never spent another cent in that store again.

Sorry I kind of went off on that one . I hope this experience doesn't turn you off to AMD products. They really do make a great processor. It's almost certainly the store's falut the way it sounds. Anyway, best of luck in getting your rig fixed!

 

[NesuD]

Look Toad if it is the superbypass problem and i certainly sounds like it is all it needs is a bios setting change

 

[Pocatello]

I think your computer builder is BSing you. They built a defective product, make them fix it or ask for your money back. It could be that the Motherboard doesn't like 2X AGP or faulty RAM or other weird stuffs.

 

[damocles]

It sounds like the PC guys are giving you a snowjob. Write down all the details and the number of times you have been in to see them and send them a letter asking them for a written response as to why they are unable to provide you with a stable PC.

Letters tend to freak companies out more than phonecalls.

If they don't do anything after receiving a letter start considering a good way yo build a case. It is probable that the good people on these forums can find a cure for you, but you should never have to put up with that sort of BS.

Also, can you set Win98 to record a bootlog that would show the error on startup?