New windows 7 install crashing on older system; hardware problem?

[enwar3]

Just installed windows 7 on an older system I built: X2 3800 on an epox 9NPA+ ultra (socket 939). It was running fine for the first day or so (didn't install any hardware drivers for the motherboard, graphics card, or anything since everything seemed to work) but now the computer randomly shuts off. Is this a hardware problem? I thought perhaps some of my hardware might be too old to work with 7....?

 

[Slugbait]

Yeah, it's probably a hardware problem. When a system shuts down like that, it's usually due to heat. The first thing I would check is the heatsink: make sure the grease is properly applied, and that the heatsink is properly secured.

nForce4 Ultra is supposed to be NT6-compatible, although it appears to me that nVidia doesn't support it anymore. However, I'm willing to bet Win7 was tested again nForce4 Ultra, tho'...lots of MS dogfooders and that army of beta testers likely had more than a handful of mobos with nForce4.

Just the same, you're playing with fire if you're not installing chipset drivers and video drivers, etc. Just because the OS seems to run fine for the first day or two doesn't mean it was actually running fine during the first day or two.

 

[enwar3]

Yeah, it's probably a hardware problem. When a system shuts down like that, it's usually due to heat. The first thing I would check is the heatsink: make sure the grease is properly applied, and that the heatsink is properly secured.

nForce4 Ultra is supposed to be NT6-compatible, although it appears to me that nVidia doesn't support it anymore. However, I'm willing to bet Win7 was tested again nForce4 Ultra, tho'...lots of MS dogfooders and that army of beta testers likely had more than a handful of mobos with nForce4.

Just the same, you're playing with fire if you're not installing chipset drivers and video drivers, etc. Just because the OS seems to run fine for the first day or two doesn't mean it was actually running fine during the first day or two.

Good advice. But all the drivers are for XP (the hardware is so old that I don't think they have drivers for 7), so would it be better than nothing?

I doubt it's heat because I use that computer everyday and it ran fine with XP. 7 doesn't run much hotter, so if it was a heat problem I feel like I would've seen it before.

 

[Slugbait]

But all the drivers are for XP (the hardware is so old that I don't think they have drivers for 7), so would it be better than nothing?

Hard to say...for the chipset, my answer is "maybe". Or you might need to hunt down out-of -band drivers for specific components, such as the PCI bridge or NIC, directly from nVidia's suppliers. For example, I couldn't get AC-3/DTS to work via COAX from my Asus P4S533-MX to my receiver (nor could anyone else, we all got PCM), and Asus stopped updating their drivers for this mobo. The sound chip manufacturer doesn't provide drivers. So I had to use an old Audigy and analog cables to get 5.1 surround.

But one day I found newer drivers for the same mobo sound chip "family" at MSI's website. Once those drivers were installed, the blue light on my ES receiver came on and I was in shock...then I retired that HTPC about eight months later. Eh...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Check for bulging capacitors.

 

[KGB]

Check for bulging capacitors.

Yep! Always good advice.