New system, experiencing lock ups

[Quinnyrrd]

I just put together a system, and everything works fine except for full screen DX apps which cause unpredictable system freezes. Here's the hardware:

Soyo K7VTA mobo w/latest bios and drivers
AMD Duron 700 retail
Enlight 250W power supply
128MB PC133 CAS3 Crucial memory
STB Velocity 4400 (TNT based)
Running Win98 and DX8

I tried various versions of nvidia reference drivers for the TNT card, and I removed the sound card and had the same problems. There aren't any IRQ conficts, and I haven't experienced any problems whatsoever while doing word processing/web browsing etc. The CPU temp hits a peak of around 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a little on the warm side but not unacceptable. I tried tweaking the core voltage of the CPU a little, and that didn't help either.

The only three games I've tried are Dark Reign, Quake2, and the Fallout Tactics demo. Another strange thing is the frequency of the freezes; I played Dark Reign for several hours once with no problems, but the next day I booted it up and it froze almost immediately. Neither Dark Reign or Quake2 should be much of a strain on the CPU (especially because the CPU is probably waiting for the TNT most of the time in Quake2), so right now I'm kind of leaning towards some kind of incompatibility with the mobo and the TNT card.

Any other opinions as to the cause of this problem would be greatly appreciated. I'm probably overlooking something obvious

Thanks

 

[Mem]

The very first day I installed my then TNT card into my MSI K7T PRO board I had lockups & freezes in 3d games only,anyway I went into Bios & changed the memory speed settings & it`s been rock solid since then (apart from a T-bird going faulty after 6 weeks) you could also make sure fastwrites are disabled & all video shadowing is disabled,btw what Via drivers are you using?

 

[Quinnyrrd]

I tried disabling AGP4x in bios already... what do you mean by the memory speed? I have the frequency set at 133MHz and the CAS latency set to 3 (which is what the memory is rated at).

I snagged the latest 4-in-1 drivers from VIA's website. Version 4.25a I think? I don't know what the individual driver versions for AGP, ATAPI etc. are offhand.

 

[Mem]

Memory speed should look like 10ns or 8ns etc in Bios ,I know you use good ram infact I use the CAS2 version of Crucial so try changing down to slower speed & see if that improves stability.You could also try running at 100mhz just to see if that also improves stability as well,also I recommend keeping PCI slot1 (next to AGP )empty this can sometimes solve problems with AGP cards.

 

[EvilKnevil]

Hi Quinnyrd!

Got the same mobo as you..running a D700.

I too am experienceing random lockups..I have posted a thread in the forums...check it out here:

random freezes, hanging etc

Had this problem since Christmas! I could sur f around forhours with no prob..but when I'doad PhotoShop 5 or Championship Manager 2001, it would hang randomly..as in frozen. Other times I can do some image editing or play the game with no problems at all.

I changed my RAM to PC133, got a 300W PSU already...still ewxperience some hangs..argh hehe

 

[Quinnyrrd]

Update:

I downloaded SiSoft Sandra and kept running the CPU benchmark for about fifteen minutes straight and did the same with the memory benchmark and experienced no problems. Then I loaded the Fallout Tactics demo and it locked up after a minute or two. This leads me to believe that the problem isn't the CPU or the memory (I tried running the memory at 100MHz too, didn't help). The only thing I can think of is some kind of a conflict with the video card; wish I had another video card laying around so I could test this theory. I'd hate to drop money on new video card only to find out that this wasn't the problem at all.

The PCI slot next to the AGP slot is already empty BTW

 

[bigcfromcinci]

Make sure your video card isn't sharing an IRQ with another device, I had the same problem,had to end up moving my nic card down 1 pci slot !!!Everything was cool then

 

[EvilKnevil]

hi guys

well..i can reproduce theh anging this way:

Load Photoshop 5.5

Load a 11MB PSD file..no problems..can edit/save it

Then load another PSD file- a 9MB one..and it hung!

sheesh..my old Celery300/BX combo could've handled this easily!!!

oh well..just for the record here are my system specs:

Duron 700
Soyo SY-K7VTA
128 MB PC133 + 2x64MB PC100
15GB ATA66 Maxtor (Master)
2.5GB ATA33 Maxtor
32X CDROM
3Dfx Voodoo3 2000
Supra 56i Internal modem

Running Win2000 PRO SP-1

 

[EvilKnevil]

Hi there...

posted some developments in my freezing saga here:

random freezes, hanging etc

do check it out

thanks