Help! Problem w/System: Intermittent, Brief Lock-Ups.

[Dan]

I need some help on this one because I'm at my wits end.

I built a system last November that has been running fine -- until now. I did some upgrades three days ago and now it locks up at random. You can be online, in Word, Excel, etc., makes no difference. Everything freezes for less than 15 seconds and then it snaps back.

Here's the system's original configuration:

Motherboard: Shuttle AK12 with KT133 Chipset
CPU: AMD Duron 750MHz
Heatsink & Fan: Cooler Master DP5-6H51
Memory: 256MB PC-133 SDRAM (one stick)
Hard Drive: 30GB Maxtor (IDE 1 Master)
Floppy Drive 1.44MB Mitsumi
CDROM Drive: 52x BTC (IDE 1 Slave)
CD-RW Drive: 8/4/32x Iomega (IDE 2 Master)
Video Card: ATI Rage IIc 8MB, AGP
Sound: Integrated
Fax/Modem: PCTel v.90 PCI
Keyboard: Eagle Touch Multimedia
Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse w/Scroll Wheel
Case: ATX Mid-Tower w/300 watt power supply
OS: WinXP Pro

Nothing is overclocked and it's not a CPU heat issue.

Because of some other problems my customer was having (CD-ROM not working, disconnects while online and trouble using Outlook's calendar) I made the following changes:

--> Set the BTC 52x CD-ROM as the IDE 2 Slave
--> Replaced the PCTel v.90 modem with an Intel v.92 modem
--> Upgraded from Office 2000 to Office XP.

It was after those changes that the customer says the freezes began.

I saw the freezes for myself the next day and they were maddening, to say the least.

Later, when I had the system back at my place, I made the following changes:

--> Reinstalled WinXP (figured it couldn't hurt

).
--> Replaced the BTC 52x CD-ROM with another BTC 52x CD-ROM.
--> Reset the CD-ROM as the IDE 1 Slave
--> Created a new Outlook account and imported all her contacts, calendar entries, etc.

After that I didn't have any more freezes and figured the problem (along with a few others) was resolved.

I delivered the system back to the customer the next day and set it up at her site. While I was there I configured a new ZIP and Scanner that she bought, reset her dial-up connection, etc. All told, I ran the system for 3 hours with no freezes or lock-ups.

Now less than 24 hours later, the customer is sending me frantic e-mails, complaining that the system is locking up on her like crazy.

I'm probably missing something simple but what is it???

 

[risen]

Doubt this will help but thought I would mention it. When I was running win 98 I had a similar problem. Drove me nuts for a month or two. I slowly figured out the floppy drive was running every once in a while. I reinstalled windows a number of times and finally figured out it was because I had a short cut on my desk top to the floppy drive. It was for a batch program to save certain files. The last time it did it I asked myself what had I recently done and realized I had added the short cut. As soon as I deleted the file I never had trouble again. Hope it helps.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the input. The woman has a desktop littered with icons but none are an FDD shorcut.

 

[Dan]

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[Dan]

Still need some help here....

 

[Dan]

Helllooo....

 

[meefmah]

Dan: Have you tried removing the modem?

 

[Dan]

No, I haven't tried removing the modem. I'll be on site in a few hours to resolve this problem and that's one of the first things I try.

 

[Dan]

Alrighty then....

I'm on-site. When I first arrived, the system began locking up as soon as I went online. Just for kicks I uninstalled/reinstalled the modem.

I also deactivated the firewall.

In my earlier posts I forgot to mention another change I'd made to the system: I replaced Symantec's SystemWorks 2002 with OnTrack's System Utilities 4.0. When I installed the latter I did a complete install, which included it's "NetDefense" firewall.

Since removing the firewall I've been on and off-line several times, uninstalled a program, installed a program, ran a CPU stability test for 20 minutes, played Solitaire and shut down the system 6 times. Throughout, I haven't experienced any lock-ups or freezes.

Could it really be as simple as that?

 

[Demonicon]

In a word, yes