Problems with computer freezing at random

[Milito01]

Well, ive never run into a problem like this. I have a celeron300a/bh6 combo which was at one time overclocked, but I ran into some problems, and it will not O/C anymore. Everyonce in a while, when i turn on my computer, it will simply freeze at the screen that says my soundcard drivers are loading up. Other times i will turn on the computer and it will run fine. Sometimes i turn it on and it freezes in 15 seconds in windows, and other times like now, it will run fine for a long time. It will also freeze if I run video games. I wondering: Is this random freezing due to my Motherboard? Did I fry it trying to overclock? Or could it be due to my slightly busted-up hard drive? I am certain that it is hardware related, because i have reinstalled windows and updated drivers millions of times. I am desperate for help, and cannot afford to upgrade parts that would not be the solution to the problem. If you have any tips or have any questions that would help you help me, I would appreciate it very much.

 

[Techwhore]

damaging your mobo is always a possibility, though it's a hard thing to do. They're more durable than you'd think... it does sound like a hardware problem and to be more specific a hd problem. You had mentioned that it was "busted up"? What exactly does that mean? Have you run scandisk on it? defraged it? If errors come up in scandisk and can't be resolved, i suggest you get some low level formatting software, every hard drive manufacturer has some software on their sites. A low level format should bring your hard disk back to a retail box state, unlike a normal format. Before you even go through that hassle though, i suggest you borrows someone's hd and pop it into your machine to confirm that is the problem, borrow it for a few days if need be. Hope i was of some help, good luck

 

[Milito01]

Hey, thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Ive never done a "low format" before, but the suggestion of borrowing a hard drive seems like a very decent idea. Whenever i run scan disk, the program cannot finish, because of some reason or another. Sometimes it says "scandisk has had to restart 10 times because something is writing to the disk", when nothing else is open. Or, ill come back to find that scandisk discovered an error, but it is frozen by the time i get back. The reason i was concerned about my Mobo is because i cannot overclock to 450 mhz anymore without it crashing, and im not certain why. I think i might have pushed it too hard, but I cant figure out what the prob is.

 

[Techwhore]

ok, well if scandisk can't complete it's definitely a hd prob. However, you should not run scandisk inside of windows, it's not a true scandisk seeing as you can't scan what's open. You should always restart in ms-dos mode or do it from a boot disk for effectiveness... as for your mobo... odds are it's just a heat issue. By any chance did u o/c it in the winter and now that it's summer you can't? Room temperature does affect your machine's temp and it's always better to be cool, not just for overclocking. If o/cing is a concern for you, post exactly what happens when you o/c and turn the machine on along with giving your system specs. Chances are if you add a better heatsink and more fans you can do it.

 

[vi edit]

Out of curiosity, can you reboot your PC and see how many IRQ's are being shared?

 

[Milito01]

Thx again for the reply. Last night i decided to go for the low format with the Hard Drive, but i wasnt sure what series Maxtor drive i had, and the LF software said it was critical to run it with the correct series. Nevertheless, I ran maxtor's diagnostics programs all the way through; including the write test, effectively wiping out all of the info, so I thought that would be sufficient. I reinstalled Win98SE and ran scandisk last night IN windows, and I woke up to a black screen with a mouse pointer. I hit ctrl+alt+del and got the B.S.O.D. I cannot figure out why scandisk will not complete within windows. You suggest rebooting in MS-Dos and running scandisk? I will try that soon, is it as effective as the "thorough" version within windows? In response to the O/C questions, i jumped on the Celeron/whopper bandwaggon back in the day, and I have 4 fans directly on the cpu, with another fan hovering above it. I have a SuperMicro 750a case with plenty of cooling, so i dont believe thats the issue. At one point i had it at 450, and got a little greedy. I tried to boost it to 504 mhz...but that didnt work, and Ive wondered if that was what started these probs ive been having. I will retry the O/Cing and try to post the Blue Screen Of Death error, because I cannot remember it right now. I will also try to list my shared IRQ's, although im not 100% sure how to do that. Well...i dont think its possible to get a longer post so i will shut up now. 😀

 

[Milito01]

Here are my specs:
Cereron 300a @66mhz bus
Creative Labs RivaTNT
Maxtor 5400 7.2gig
Tekram DC390 pci scsi controller
TBS Montego A3Dxstream Sound
Cardinal COnnecta 56k v90

Pretty crappy for now-a-days, eh? Anyways, i o/c'd it with this setup:
CPU SOFTMENU II SETTINGS:
Trubo😀isabled
External Clock: 100mhz
blah
Sel100/66# Signal: low <---what the hell is this anyways
Agpclck/cpuclk: 2/3
voltage: 2.30v

I tried it a number of times:
-froze on startup with black screen first
-worked in safe mode for 20 secs/explorer crashes
-windows protection error on bootup, auto shutdown
-I shut it off for a few secs, then i booted into windows for 5 seconds and it froze

I realize im being very wordy, im just trying to provide sufficient information. Thx

 

[Techwhore]

i'm not too experienced with maxtor's diagnostic software, but if it is possible to find your hd series, do so and low level that bad boy. Low leveling is pretty much a be-all-end-all solution for hd problems. To get your series, take out your hd, and search for the model number on maxtor's page, they'll tell you all the specs and series. As for scandisk, it's not worth it to run it in windows (even the thorough) because you can't scan files already in use and thus can't correct them if need be and when you're in windows you're using a ton of files regardless of what you're doing. It is always best to do it from a dos prompt.
Ok, now for the o/cing, i really don't know why you can't do it now, you left out your pci clk, is it at 1/3? Stupid question, but are you using pc100 memory? My housemate has a 300a that he used to o/c, he had to use a peltzier to get it to 450 and for some reason he can no longer o/c it for stability reasons. I guess it's just a sensitive chip. If you're concerned with o/cing, i'm sure you know someone with a celery, p2 or p3... try it on their board and see if u can post. LMK

 

[eia430]

Milto can I suggest a couple of things? First off remove (clean contacts) and reinstall all your cards and memory. Replace only the video card, your cpu set to 300mhz standard volt standard bus. So now you should have the scsi card removed your modem removed and your sound card removed. Do a fdisk on your drive then reformat it then reinstall the OS again. Now you should be back to basics... only the HD, cdrom, vidcard, mem, and nothing else. Is it still having the same problem? if yes then it's one of the components has gone bad so you replace and test till the problem goes away. If the problem has gone away then you install and test the removed components (soundcard,scsi,modem,etc)one at a time till the problem pops up again. This is the last resort process of elimination method of tracking down a problem. Hope it helped good luck..🙂

 

[Mem]

Milito01 ,to list your IRQs go to program, then accesories to system tools &amp; last to system information,at the top left there is system information,under this hardware resources look down until you see IRQs click it &amp; it will give you a list which you can print out also check on conflicts/sharing this will give you a list on what are shared(don`t worry if you get a few hardware devices listed here,mine as quite a few),it does not mean there is a problem ,more of a guide on what is shared etc.I to also have Win98.

🙂