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Random FULL lockup, not OS, please help

L

Leezell13

Junior Member
First, the system:
MSI Pro 2A
AMD 1.0G
Geforce2 GTS
IBM 30GB
Plextor 12/10/32
Creative Live Platinum
PCPower&Cooling 375 W Turbocool/400 W Silencer (explain shortly)
Windows XP Build 2526

Now, the problem:

The computer is going into apparent full lockup. Monitor goes into standby mode (click as if power goes off, black screen), the hard drive LED goes on, Cntrl/alt/delete does nothing, RESET button does nothing. I have to unplug the computer to shut it off, and when I plug it back in, it reboots automatically.

And, the history (forgive if a bit detailed, but I'm looking for anything suspicious):

I have been using XP for almost 2 months now, no problems. I replaced the 375 Turbocool with the 400 Silencer on Monday @ around noon. I have had no problems until this morning (Wednesday) at around 10:00. I screwed around online for about 1 hour, then downloaded Wolfenstein MP Test. Played that for about 10 minutes, the shut it off and loaded RA2: Yuri's Revenge (installed yesterday morning). I walked away for a moment while the game's menu screen was up, and then came back to find the above listed problem. I tried the usual tricks to restart, but no game. I unplugged the computer, then plugged back in. NOTHING happened, the PS didn't even do the usual self test. Tried plug/unplug a few more times, nothing. Walked upstairs to get the old 375 PS out (suspecting the new PS was the problem). Did one last plug/unplug, and the computer booted up suddenly. I fired up LiveBios, and downloaded the latest BIOS. Computer rebooted, came back online. Went to get latest VIA drivers, above problem happens. Unplug, replug, go into BIOS. Skip down to check defaults, above problem happens (that's why I am fairly sure it isn't an OS problem). Unplug, take apart computer, put in old 375 Turbocool PS. Plug in, go to check VIA again, above problem happens. Unplug/plug, check CPU temp, temp is 38C/100.4F according to SiSoft. No problems found in anything I can see. I am currently typing this on my laptop, as I'm watching the problem computer to see if it fails on it's own.

So my guess is that I can eliminate the OS and the PS. Do I have a dead MB, or a bad ground, or ? I am resigned to upgrading soon anyway, but want to make certain that I am telling the wife the truth when I say "I HAVE to buy this stuff, the old one's dead!" 😉

Many thanks for any help.

Lee Ezell
 
I dont know that you can eliminate the PS. However... have you checked your GF2 GTS's temperature? It could be causing you trouble. or if you knocked something loose?
 
I agree, I probably can't totally eliminate the PS, but it seems odd that BOTH PS's would go bad instantly.

Haven't check GTS temp, and I don't know how, to be honest. I disregarded it initially, as I wasn't sure how it would affect the system. Let me know how to check temp, and I'll be glad to check it.

BTW, currently typing on faulty computer, running for 20 minutes now without failure. Fingers crossed.

Lee
 
check to see that your graphics card is fully seated in the AGP slot. I know if it is loose this can happen, also try using one of those air-blowing cans and cleaning off the mobo and everything and see if maybe something was being shorted on the motherboard. Definately check Graphics card temps, and check the seating. I had a similiar problem with my Radeon LE and it turned out the be the fact that it wasn't all the way in the slot.

Good Luck!
 
I don't think that it's your OS or your PS (but it may be).

It sounds like the GTS to me.
What drivers are you using? Have you recently changed them?
I had a lot of problems getting the Detonator 4 drivers to work correctly, so I went back to ver. 12.41.

Also, I you don't have a slot fan on the GTS, then I recommend getting one. I have a Prophet II MX (GeForce2 chipset) and have put a slot fan right next to the card.

Good Luck!
 
Okey-dokey, everyone seems to think GTS/dust on motherboard/connections.. Cool, will disassemble the computer and check that.

I am running the latest nVidia XP drivers, just installed last week. As far as heat, never had a problem before (I don't overclock anything on my system), but I will check that after trying dusting and reseating the board.

Any other ideas, please shoot them out there. And many thanks to those who have already contributed.

Lee
 
Just an update:

Computer locked up again shortly after my last post. I went in, pulled the GTS out, cleaned entirely (it was very dusty), and replaced the PS again. Trying again.

Lee
 
Update #2

I think we can rule out the GTS.

I replaced the GTS card with a Voodoo3 2000 PCI card I had in another computer to see what happened. Same problem. Booted fine once, I restarted, locked up about 30 seconds after desktop appeared.

Just in case it makes a difference, I did NOT change drivers at all, etc.

Any ideas on a new direction to go in?

Lee
 
Update #3

Tried doing the ATX Power Supply trick as instructed by PCPower&Cooling tech support. Both power supplies are fine.

Any ideas at all, folks? Or is the MB or CPU just dying?

Lee
 
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