new motherboard or something else? edit - replaced motherboard, still the same crazy problems

[Chubbz]

i received my abit at7 and its been hardlocking left and right, im not sure what the problem may be, but its not blue screens of death or anything, the whole computer just locks, nothing can move, what is usually the problem when things like this happen?

[EDIT]I ended up replacing the motherboard, and I have the same exact problems... Here are my system specs:

Athlon XP 1700+
Abit AT7
ATI TV Wonder
GeForce2 MX(cuz it wouldnt boot up with my radeon 8500, but it boots up fine with my other computer)
Intel NIC
Maxtor 60GB Quiet Drive
Toshiba DVD
Plexwriter 24x
Samsung PC2700 512MB DDR

My ONBOARD NIC STILL doesnt work, cant overclock for CRAP, locks up, everything is the same even with the new motherboard, im thinking maybe it could be the TV Wonder[/EDIT]

 

[Finite]

Most likely cause is an overheating componet. Just a few items that could be overheating are the processor of course and then there is the video card. Another thing could be memory or also the powersupply. Have you tried booting the system with only the essentials? Remove everything accept the mem, video card and hard drive and see what happens. When you say its locking up on you is it in windows when it happens. What kind of video card is it and what driver do you have installed? Did you just swap the motherboard with the old one? If so reinstall windows, or if its 2000 or XP run a repair. Good luck.

 

[Chubbz]

this is a brand new system with a radeon 8500 with the latest latest drivers from rage3d.com, im pretty its not a heat problem, my alpha pal8045 keeps my CPU always under 43 C. I'm just going to replace the motherboard unless you have some more ideas

 

[Asecino]

If you haven't already checked make sure all your component connections were made correctly. Such as your Keyboard and mouse. It is easy to reverse them and plug into the wrong port, this will cause an immediate lock up as soon as you boot into windows. If this is not it double or triple check all the connections inside your computer. Sometimes this still isn't enough and it is easier to unplug everthing and and start over plugging everything in again, one at a time making sure all connections are made securely and correctly. In all my years building computers these are some of the most common problems, not necessarily a bad motherboard.

 

[Chubbz]

I ended up replacing the motherboard, and I have the same exact problems... Here are my system specs:

Athlon XP 1700+
Abit AT7
ATI TV Wonder
GeForce2 MX(cuz it wouldnt boot up with my radeon 8500, but it boots up fine with my other computer)
Intel NIC
Maxtor 60GB Quiet Drive
Toshiba DVD
Plexwriter 24x
Samsung PC2700 512MB DDR

My ONBOARD NIC STILL doesnt work, cant overclock for CRAP, locks up, everything is the same even with the new motherboard, im thinking maybe it could be the TV Wonder

 

[mechBgon]

What brand and model of power supply you got in there? If you haven't already, check the 110V/220V switch on the back of the PSU if you just got it. Also, try a different stick of RAM if possible, and/or back the RAM down to PC2100 speeds if you haven't tried that already. If you've been toying with the advanced RAM timings, try having the BIOS set everything back to "Optimal" or "Default" settings to start with.

 

[Chubbz]

I got an antec 430watt true power supply, and can you elaborate on the 110V/220V business? I dont have any other RAM to try but if i get some, should i just put it in and see if it freezes?

 

[dunkster]

What Finite said.

Start with optical drives and nic removed. If OK, add devices one-at-a-time until you isolate the problem device. At that point, determine if the device is the problem or if the real problem is an interrupt conflict for the problem device.

Bus voltages OK with all devices installed?

Hope this helps!

 

[Chubbz]

alright ill try that out, but once i isolate the problem, should i mess with the IRQ's? the only extra thing i have in there right now is the NIC and the video card. It still froze on me last night. I think maybe its the NIC because when i try to use the onboard lan it works then stops working. can you give any more help based on this?

 

[mechBgon]

On the back of most power supplies, you will find a recessed switch that can be switched between 110V or 220V. Since your profile shows you live in the United States, you will want it at 110V.

You'd think the system wouldn't run at all if the PSU were set to 220V, but I knew a guy whose computer kept randomly rebooting, and this was the problem. At least it's easy to check. However, I think the other reasons mentioned will probably end up being the solution.

 

[Chubbz]

is there a program out there that will instantly crash systems if the computer isnt stable?

 

[Barrei]

Chubbz if the screen is locking its usually indicative of a video card problem , try upping agp voltage to see if that helps.

 

[Chubbz]

oh my god that might work!
but how do i up the voltage for the video card? with the Abit at7?

 

[Barrei]

If your bios doesn't support it I don't know how else you would do it.

 

[Chubbz]

what is the voltage usually at? mine is at 1.55 V, is that too low?

 

[Chubbz]

goddamn, this is still buggin me, any help?

 

[Barrei]

That is stock voltage on a agp 4x card, in my bios you can up the agp voltage by +.1v to +.3v but I'm not familiar with your mobo so if you go into bios and it isn't there , then your mobo doesn't support voltage increase to agp.

 

[Chubbz]

well that sux, i wish there was SOMEONE who will be my savior, not that i dont appreciate all the help youve given me guys, but the problems are still there and i wish i can fly out of this window here and rescue people from their troubles

 

[cleanerPA]

Chubbz-
I don't know how much of this you've already tried, but this is how I go about troubleshooting stuff like this:

Strip down the computer to nothing but CPU, memory and video card, see if it POSTs okay.

Once it's stripped down, go into setup and verify that all of your settings are correct- do not overclock anything
at this time, possibly use the "safe" defaults to make sure everything will work okay.

Add HD, same thing- see if everything runs okay.

Add CD drive, install OS

Once you've installed the OS, add each additional component individually, with a cold reboot between
each component.

Have you checked to see if there are any incompatibilities w/ your keyboard or mouse? I've had that problem
where the computer locks up, or seems to lock up, turned out my keyboard connection was funky- disconnecting
and reconnecting fixed it. With the AT7, you've got all USB, right? That makes it more likely, IMHO, that you have
some sort of USB problem.

Also, if you can, considering it's a brand-new board, download the latest BIOS updates and install that ASAP.
Abit seems to be bad about early BIOS releases, stuff gets fixed with the revisions.

One other thing- make sure your memory is well seated- don't know if they've changed the spec on the DIMMS,
but my KG7R was ridiculously difficult to seat memory into- had to press so hard that I was worried I'd crack the
PCB before they seated properly. My CPU socket was a bit funky too, don't know what they did when they made
my MB, but the memory and CPU were a bit tricky to seat properly.

Also, what OS are you running? With that system, I hope you're running 2k or XP. The error logs can be really
helpful in determining if there is a problem in the OS, can't do that w/ 98 or ME.

Pls. post an update to your problem- I was thinking about getting that MB just as a curiosity, but if it's that
problematic, hmmm. Try stripping the system down, starting over and see if a full reformat/reinstall of the OS
fixes your problem.

 

[Chubbz]

alrighty ill try it out, mihgt take a while though, but ill do it