wfbberzerker
Lifer
i posted a little while back about a problem i was having with my computer freezing up, and i have sort of an update with more specifics.
- it seems to happen randomly (ive noticed it several times while playing diablo 2, civilization 3, in internet explorer, kazaa lite, or just sitting on the desktop. the one common thing occurring *to my knowledge* is that i'm actively moving or clicking the mouse when it occurs
-when the freeze happens, the screen goes blank for a moment, then puts up a screen of vertical stripes of color (and the colors seem to be coming from whatever program i was using, so it kinda looks like a distorted image of what was on the screen). occasionally there will be a block of white where the cursor was on the screen.
-during this time, the mouse/keyboard doesn't function, and ctrl-alt-del doesn't work (although the keyboard lights still work i.e. i can do capslock). the only way to fix it is to reset the computer.
-after resetting the computer, about half of the time, the loading screen of the bios and windows will be distorted, but as soon as the actual windows shell loads up w/ the desktop and all, its back to normal.
i'm pretty sure that it's not a software/driver issue, because i've reformatted twice, and it still occurs. however, i have noticed this:
-after a few days without any problems, after i installed diablo 2, the freezing cropped up again, but not just during the game, also in windows.
-i'm pretty sure it's not ram, because i tried using only one stick (i have 2 sticks of 256mb pc2100), and swapping them around in the slots. i did run mem test86, BUT when i came back it was frozen at 13% with the cursor in the lower left blinking. i dont know whether or not this means the ram is bad, or what.
-i'm running windows 2000 w/ service pack 4, and i have (to my knowledge) the latest drivers for all of my components.
do any of you have any clue whats going on here? it seems to me that its either a video card problem or a motherboard problem, but i suppose it could be the ram, so i might RMA both sticks back to crucial just to be safe.
what should i do here?
p.s. my rig is the "my gaming rig" link in my sig.
- it seems to happen randomly (ive noticed it several times while playing diablo 2, civilization 3, in internet explorer, kazaa lite, or just sitting on the desktop. the one common thing occurring *to my knowledge* is that i'm actively moving or clicking the mouse when it occurs
-when the freeze happens, the screen goes blank for a moment, then puts up a screen of vertical stripes of color (and the colors seem to be coming from whatever program i was using, so it kinda looks like a distorted image of what was on the screen). occasionally there will be a block of white where the cursor was on the screen.
-during this time, the mouse/keyboard doesn't function, and ctrl-alt-del doesn't work (although the keyboard lights still work i.e. i can do capslock). the only way to fix it is to reset the computer.
-after resetting the computer, about half of the time, the loading screen of the bios and windows will be distorted, but as soon as the actual windows shell loads up w/ the desktop and all, its back to normal.
i'm pretty sure that it's not a software/driver issue, because i've reformatted twice, and it still occurs. however, i have noticed this:
-after a few days without any problems, after i installed diablo 2, the freezing cropped up again, but not just during the game, also in windows.
-i'm pretty sure it's not ram, because i tried using only one stick (i have 2 sticks of 256mb pc2100), and swapping them around in the slots. i did run mem test86, BUT when i came back it was frozen at 13% with the cursor in the lower left blinking. i dont know whether or not this means the ram is bad, or what.
-i'm running windows 2000 w/ service pack 4, and i have (to my knowledge) the latest drivers for all of my components.
do any of you have any clue whats going on here? it seems to me that its either a video card problem or a motherboard problem, but i suppose it could be the ram, so i might RMA both sticks back to crucial just to be safe.
what should i do here?
p.s. my rig is the "my gaming rig" link in my sig.
