Computer freezes up...

[MournSanity]

It just happens randomly. It freezes up the screen. CTRL+ALT+DLT won't work, and it just freezes. Sometimes when I am listening to music, the music keeps playing!

Anyways, anybody familiar with this problem? Here are my specs:

1.4 GHz AMD Athlon Thunderbird 266 FSB
EPoX 8K7A motherboard
512 MB Crucial DDR

Yea, those are the main parts that may be screwed up. Any suggestions?

 

[minendo]

Have you checked the Tech Support Checklist.

Also what kind of HSF are you using on the CPU? What kind of cooling do you have in your case? Ambient temps?

 

[bruincal]

maybe you have an OS corruption? try reinstalling the OS? if your music continues to play after a freeze... it might not be hardware related .... cause if it was a hardware-based crash, most likely your entire system would just freeze up and everything would stop. maybe check what programs are running in the background? my system used to freeze up all the time, until i uninstalled roxio goback 3 and everything was all fine...

 

[tbalon]

You might want to try "USBMan.com" for help. I hear that USB can cause freezing in certain cases.

 

[DaiShan]

definitely check usb man, you have a via chipset in there, they have some filter patches and bios repairs that work (the only way I could get my kt7a stable with usb)

 

[fatwombat]

oh my gosh i have the exact same problem... only i am running with a 1600XP with 256mb ddr crucial ram
yea i am not using usb and my computer keeps locking up...
i am running win98se...
this is really annoying
hypersonic... maybe we can compare maybe pinpoint the problem
could it be because of the motherboard drivers?
my temperature is a bit high... i am not sure i am reading it correctly but its like 30C to 50C or something
this would occur even right after i turned on the computer (totally random)... when everything is suppose to be cool
i am running logitech cordless optical freedrom (not through usb tho), creative soundcard, ibm 20GB, ati radeon 7000 ve, linksys network card, enermax 350ps and volcano 5 hsf

 

[MournSanity]

^--- I also have an enermax case...

Thank you for all the replies everyone. My CPU and Case temp is always cool, around 40C, so I don't think that woul be the problem. I bet it is something running in the background...

 

[fatwombat]

i dont think its a heating issue... my case is open and gets lots of ventilation...
hypersonic... when does ur computer freezes? (mine for some reason seems to freeze when i am moving the mouse around... it never freezes when i am idling the comp or just listening to music)
also what kind of mouse do you use?

 

[MournSanity]

Mine also freezes when I am moving the mouse around :|

I have an Optical Logitech connected through a PS/2...

 

[DaiShan]

have you guys tried any of those fixes on usb man? they don't only pertain to usb devices (they have some bios tweaks to make your system more stable), you might also want to do a search for the pci latency patch, that has been known to increase stability.

 

[HardwareFreek]

You won't get haeting problems with Athlon
s till you start going over 70Deg, my OC'ed athlon runs at 67Deg on the desktop & thats with a monster cooler & Artic silver!!

 

[chaswood]

<< My CPU and Case temp is always cool, around 40C >>



There are lots of reasons why a system can lock up, and heat is a good place to start checking. I'm curious about your response that your CPU and case both being at 40C. There will always be a difference between them (unless you're using something like a water cooler), as this article shows:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1571

My suggestion is to download SiSoft Sandra (a great piece of free software) and run some of its tests to check your system's temperatures. It also has many other troubleshooting tools that might help pinpoint the problem. The "Tune-Up Wizard" will give you lots of good information.

 

[MournSanity]

I'll download Sisoft Sandra, thanks.

Oh, and when I meant the temps are around 40 C, I meant...Uh..They wew around 40 C Like the Case is 35C and the Athlon is 41C I think...I need to install another fan

 

[superfob99]

You might also want to check you video card drivers and make sure its not a video card related problem. I've had the same problem before while playing real media files where the screen would freeze but the sound would continue to play on.