Extremely unstable system

[ideaboy]

I'll try to be brief. I upgrade my boss's ECS motherboard with a 533 Celeron PPGA and an inexspensive slotket. BIOS flash went well and computer ran "perfect" at my house. Gave it back to my boss and it continually freezes when he is on the internet, kids are playing a game or even burning a CD. I brought it back to my house and again it works "perfectly". Now I am stumped. Thought it my be line conditioner so he plugged it in without the Curtis line conditioner but still used the power strip. Still froze up when he was on the net. I ran the computer at my house for 6 hours straight withou a problem. We both have the same cable internet connection. Any thought from Anandtechers!!!!!

 

[j@cko]

very strange problem indeed...
never heard of this before...

 

[Jaxx]

try plugging just the essentials into the strip ... PC and monitor. leave out everything else. i may have come across this problem a long time ago. hope it works.

(explaination: seems like the PC is not getting enough "power" or so it seems when i tried to diagnose this situation before)

 

[ideaboy]

Tried only plugging in the essentials. Still locks up. I should also mention that when I have the computer at my house I am using a different monitor, mouse and keyboard. The strange thing is my boss did not have this problem with his original Celeron 333 chip. It seems to have developed after the upgrade. But again, I don't have any of those problems when I have the COU at my house. I've asked my boss to try different outlets in his house, I even said try a neighbors house.

 

[lonewolfz28]

Is there an exorcist in the house? Seriously though, operator error? Have YOU used it at his house and witnessed the lock ups. Not calling your boss a liar, mind you. But maybe they're doing something to cause it. Any other differences related to the monitor or changing over to your set-up at home?

 

[jackshit]

Is your boss an impatient double clicker?
Maybe he's opening like eight Iexplorers.

You should prolly go to his hizouse and test, b4 you end up w/o a joab.

 

[goldboyd]

are you doing anything with the system while you're "testing" it? its possible that he's doing a lot of stuff with it and stressing the cpu too much and it over heats or something. and thats something you wont notice unless you're stressing it yourself

 

[Tsaico]

This will sound a little unconventional, but it worked for me. I had a friend with a system that froze on the os splash screen. Everything we brought over, and I opened it up, and booted just fine. Then finally after the fourth time doing this, and out of desperation, I taped a picture of myself inside the case. No problems since, (this was about two months ago). Good luck.... BTW, I hate ECS boards... but don't think that is where the problems lie...

 

[Dan]

I agree with the notion that you should go to your boss' house and try to duplicate the errors yourself. Start by watching him on the Internet and his kids while they play a game so you get a sense of what they are doing when (if) the errors occur.

Using a different monitor and/or keyboard shouldn't make the sort of difference you described. I suppose a different mouse could but that's a very slim possibility. I'm betting on operator error myself. That's why you need to observe what's happening at your boss' location.

 

[ideaboy]

Thanks for all the advice. I have been to his home and checked things out. The strange thing is that the system ran fine while I was there. I ran defran, scandisk and even started the burn process of a music CD. Everything went well. I left before the music CD was finished. My boss said it did not complete correctly and there was an error. He said it was a MSVCRT.dll error. I have not been able to duplicate the errors at my house. I guess I have tried to duplicate the erros at his house but I have not been able to. I think at this point I may go to his house and try to duplicate "NO" errors by using the same equipment I have at home. Like most of the posts, I am lost for an explanation. I am not worried about my job but this is becoming quite frustrating and embarassing. I like the idea of placing my picture inside his computer, just maybe that'll work!!!!!!!!!!!
If I ever figure this out I'll post the results.

 

[ideaboy]

As far as tyring to stress the system, I've done that at my house. Internet running, internet radio playing, music cd playing all atathe same time. No problems encountered. Burned a music CD and a game CD, again no problems. Left my internet connection running while playing MotoCross Madness2. No problems. I just may have to go and live with my boss for a few days to see what the heck is going on!!!!!! lol

 

[Kamak]

I just had a similar prob. with a friends system. Worked fine at my house and crapped out constantly at his. Had an electrician check his wiring at the house and found the circuit he was using didn't have the juice to run even 2 pieces of computer equip. Old house/old wiring.

 

[MrChicken]

I agree with Kamak, look at his electrical. Make sure his voltage is high enough and the outlet is wired correctly.
If that isnt it, as a WAG (Wild A** Guess)swap his keyboard and mouse. This goes off of the assumption that when you use his pc at your place you dont bring the kybrd and mouse with you, but instead you are using your own.
Along time ago I was about the 6th tech to look at a pc that had random lockups. The client was so PO'd that my boss went with me. Everything in the pc had been swapped. The boss looked at it and swapped a couple of parts and after about 10 minutes it locked again. He finally looked at me said "you try". I grabbed the keyboard and shook it, instant lockup, we got the client anther keyboard and that was that.

 

[BigLance]

I think it is the fact that he uses a different monitor mouse etc. than you use on it. Try yours at his house or his stuff at your house. Thats gotta be it... wierd an sucky problem dood !

 

[Finality]

Let him borrow a spare mouse/kb from you. Also put it on a different electrical port like everyone else is saying.

 

[ideaboy]

PROBLEM SOLVED!! I hope. Just spoke to my boss. He took our suggestion and usied a different outlet even though it is in the same room. IT WORKS!!!!!!!!
Same equipment, different outlet, swapped the monitor cord and the CPU cord, not using the power strip or the line conditioner. He said it has worked flawlessley, so far.

Thanks fellow Anandtechers for the advice and encouragement. I was begining to doubt my abilities. I'll post back if the situation changes.