Do you think I need a new mobo?

[absinthe]

Okay . . . frustrated. Brief as I can be, my system (Epox 8k5a2 mobo with Athlon 1400 XP - not overclocked- with 256 MB of Crucial PC2700) for some time now has experienced freeze-ups. By freeze, I mean a system halt so severe that even the CapsLock key indicator on the keyboard will not change. Everything on the monitor just stops.

In this thread (where you can read about my problem in more detail), I came to the realization that I'd been using a woefully inadequate power supply for some time. I was advised that such a P/S could cause that kind of a problem so decided to replace it.

When I got my new 450 watt Allied AMD-approved P/S, I noted that the P/S I had been using was not 250 watts (as reported in the above thread) but only 200 watts!! I thought, yay, I've surely solved the problem. I also bought a new 120 GB Western Dig. HDD and intended to do a fresh install of XP.

I added in all my new components (including a new DVD burner drive -- the NEC 2500A) and attempted to boot from CD. Everything went fine until Windows Setup began to copy files to my new HDD. Suddenly, a freeze. It froze at 31% copied. I tried this again several times and it never even got that far again.

I'm running out of steam (and cash) here and am wondering if I really need a new motherboard. Firstly, do you think a bad CPU could possibly be the problem? I mean, a bad CPU wouldn't cause a hardware freeze like this would it?? Also, I don't think my RAM is bad. I've ran memtest386 for some time without any errors. Then there's the video card (MSI GeForce) -- but that couldn't cause this kind of freeze either, or am I wrong? And surely it's not the sound card (hey, I'm just trying to eliminate everything else here).

I've triple-checked the IDE cables and made super-sure that all master/slave jumper settings are correct. I've even reset the BIOS to optimized defaults, and I have the latest firmware.

I was browsing the forums and someone mentioned in this thread that his Epox mobo had a 2-year warranty and that Epox replaced it!! My mobo was purchased in 9/2002, so could this be an option?

Lastly, if I do need to purchase a new mobo, what is recommended, keeping budget in mind?

I don't know what else to do. I only know that if I buy a new mobo and it doesn't work I'll be pulling out my hair.

pleeeeaaaasse advise,

=Aaron

Oh, and I don't think it's an overheating problem. Far as I can tell, temps never get above 40º C.

 

[mechBgon]

Hmm...

Here are some random suggestions:

• Inspect your ATX connector on your motherboard visually for signs of melting/arcing
• Inspect the capacitors on the motherboard for bulging or leaking of fluids (they should be cylindrical and not bulged at either end)
• If your WD is by itself on a cable, then jumper it for Single Drive (usually this means removing the jumper completely) and put it at the far end of the cable from the motherboard, not the middle plug
• Try just one optical drive, and then the other one if you still have problems
• Inspect your Windows CD for scratches/smudges/damage
• Check your new power supply to ensure that its slide switch is set for the right voltage for your region (115V/230V)
• Confirm that your heatsink is installed the right direction, and hopefully you're using high-quality thermal grease such as Arctic Silver or Coolermaster/Shin-Etsu? If you have a Thunderbird Athlon, they have no thermal-shutdown circuit, so you gotta be careful to do stuff right (what heatsink/fan unit you got there?)

As a general principle, if you're running into major issues then you want to eliminate as many variables as you can. That means one hard drive, one optical drive, no sound card, no extra stuff. Get the essentials going and then start adding more stuff as necessary.

 

[absinthe]

Thanks for the ideas, mechBgon.

I work nights and sleep all day, so I'm going to have another go when I get out of bed this afternoon. Anyway, I just now tried removing the jumper altogether from the West.Dig. HDD and putting it on an IDE by its lonesome. Also made the DVD-RW drive the master on the other cable and tried installing that way. Again, a freeze-up when Setup starts to copy files. arrrhg.

The ATX connector looks okay. The only real problem I can see is a lot of dust in the box. Well, not a lot, but some.

My heatsink is a Thermalright AX-7, with a Sunon 50 cfm fan. I do recall that it was an SOB to put on, but it ran just fine for over a year, even playing Warcraft III rather heavily. I'll have to literally tear everything out to get a closer look. I could even take some pics and link to them if you think that would be helpful. I do own a tube of Arctic Silver, but I don't think I ever opened it. I remeber that it arrived late and I had already installed the heatsink/fan with the little sticky square that came with it, and it was running fine, and having been such a bitch to get on I didn't much fancy taking it back off.

BTW, love your visual assembly guide. In fact, I used it just before installing my new stuff. I only assemble a new pc every 18 months or so, and in the interim I always forget important little details.

Again, I must stress that this problem is not unique to this installation. It happened constantly before, with my old configuration, which is why I decided to upgrade the hardware in the first place. I especially had problems before when using p2p file-sharing apps, and the freeze-ups would always begin shortly after a queued file would begin to download.

Ah, and one other thing: my CPU is an Athlon 1600 (not 1400, which I wrote above).

=Aaron

 

[absinthe]

mechBgon,

An update. Things look good . . .

I used your advice in conjunction with some tips from Epox tech support. Basically, I took the whole shebang apart completely. It was MUCHO dusty in there, so I dug out my handy can of compressed air and used almost the whole can cleaning up the case and board. I also individually sprayed all the fans, cards, and connectors.

I took out all the cards. I even took off the heatsink/fan, wiped off the old thermal compound and applied fresh Arctic Silver 3, and put it back. I temporarily removed the lithium battery so as to reset the CMOS. I did notice a few capacitors that looked a little brownish on top and one that looked to be bulging just slightly.

With only the new hard drive, the video card, a CD-ROM (for installing Windows), and a stick of RAM, I turned it on. I've been able to install XP without a hitch. I'm amazed. I've been up for quite some time now and need to go to bed for a while, but when I get up I'm going to complete my XP install and add back my hardware piece by piece. If I get freezes again when I start downloading with p2p apps, I'll try moving the LAN card to another slot, further away from the SoundBlaster card.

My wife was so tired of hearing me whine, she said to just go ahead and buy what I need to fix the thing. Too bad it looks like I got it working . . . I was really starting to want a whole new system

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: absinthe
Too bad it looks like I got it working . . . I was really starting to want a whole new system

I know what you mean.. I've had 3 systems since one equal to yours! and I am upgrading again soon.. people know where most of my money goes