Continued hard lock problem

[eviltoon]

I?ve re-installed my Win 98 OS twice and installed a new Linux system and am experiencing the same freezing (or hard locking) of my computer. I?m wondering if anyone knows which hardware part could be causing the lockup?

After starting a program up, usually Internet explorer, Word, Star Office I will find the monitor frozen after 5 to 45 minutes. I have no control over my mouse, keyboard and ?Ctl-Alt-Del? fails to bring up task manager. Nor will repeated tries shut the computer down. My little green light that indicates processing is dead.

On occasion it will freeze on start up.

Device manager shows no conflicts or troubles.

On occasion, very rarley?after the hard lock, the monitor will fill with thousands of fine lines vertically and horizontally of every colour.

The only thing that never seems to get hung up are video games . Me or the kids can play for hours. Weird.

System ran well for a couple of years. Now, for the last year we?ve been living with this problem.

I?m at a loss. Could it be a video card, motherboard, hard drive, monitor, bios or processor problem?

System: P3 550, 196 sd 100 ram, Matrox g200 and Voodoo 2 video card. Optiquest Q17, Asus P2B(?) motherboard.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Bartman39]

couple of things...?

Video drivers...? (for either card...) I would also try it without the V2...

Which PIII 550 do you have...? If its the older 512K version they got very warm and heat could be your problem...?

 

[Vic]

It could be bad RAM. 196MBs... that's two sticks, correct? One 128 and one 64? Try running each one individually and see if it locks with one and not the other or doesn't lock with either one individually (or to see if the lock-ups continue, then see below). If it is the RAM and the lock-ups stop when using each RAM stick individually, you could pick up a 256MB stick of PC133 (which will work) for around $50

Or your cpu could be getting too hot. P3's have a safety feature in them that shut the cpu down if the temp goes beyond a certain point and will cause a lock-up like you describe. Did this problem begin as the weather started warming up? Does it usually happen when you're doing something intensive? If this is the issue, look into getting a new heatsink fan.

 

[WW]

run memtest86 3.0 for awhile

open the case, see if the fans/openings are full of dust bunnies, clean it out

see if there is a updated bios for your motherboard and drivers for the video card as suggested

reseat all the cards

 

[eviltoon]

Thanks folks. I'll see if fixing the temperature does the trick. My memory is hazey, but I do believe the problems may be tied into the PIII. It's an add on. The system was originally built for a celeron 333. So maybe another fan.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Since your able to game it up for hours without crashing, heat or faulty memory seem unlikely. I was going to suggest a faulty or under powered PSU may be to blame but once again the soild gaming performance makes that unlikely. The suggestion to remove the V2 seems more in order especially with the odd video display issue you have during some lock-ups. Perhaps it's a driver or device conflict or even a saturated PCI bus? Anyways I would definitely start by removing the V2 and if the problem persists by continuing to troubleshoot the other vid card, their drivers and perhaps try the a different PCI slot.

 

[RustyNale]

I'm with DAPUNISHER on this one, it can't be a heat or mem issue if you can game for hours and it's stable. Look to your VooDoo 2 card. Try it in a different slot if it's a pci card. Try updating the drivers for it.