- Mar 4, 2007
- 2
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My basic system setup is as follows:
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Mobo
AMG Athlon 2800 CPU (not over clocked)
Antec SmartPower 400W PSU (~1 year old)
Samsung PC3200 2 X 256MB DDR
The system is connected to an APC XS 1000UPS and I don't recall any major power events that would have impacted the system.
The system was working with no problems for about 3-4 years, and within the past few days I have been experiencing seemingly random system freezes, requiring a reboot of the system. I have checked a number of possible software issues, but there does not appear to be any connection with the applications running when the system freezes, nor have I installed any new software recently. I have done thorough checks for viruses and spyware, and I am confident that is not the root of my problem either. Sometimes the system will freeze when I log into Windows (XP 2002, with SP1), other times it will run upwards of 12 hours before freezing, and anywhere in between.
Some issues I am flagging are the PSU, or at least a power issue. I have an ASUS monitoring program on the PC and was able to capture the power stream graph you see HERE
. The +5V fluctuates between 4.998V on the high end (never reaching or exceeding 5V) and down below 4.7V on the low end (outside of the stated +/- 5% spec on the PSU). Is it possible the fluctuations on the 5V line are creating havoc on my system? As an alternative, is it possible there is a MoBo issue that is causing the problem with the 5V line? I'm really not quite sure how that works, but thought it could be an area to consider.
Another area I am considering is the RAM. The Asus board tells me during the POST whether the system passed or failed the memory test. In the past, it would occasionally fail, but more often than not it would pass (I'd guess 95% pass rate). Lately, the amount of fails have increased. I know someone will be quick to point out that this means I should replace the RAM anyways, but I do not know how superficial the memory test is or is not, and if it truly is having an impact on the stability of the system. Thoughts on this aspect?
One final area I checked was disabling the integrated 3Com NIC, in favor of the nVidia NIC that is also on the board. I did a quick search and saw some references to issues with the integrated 3Com NICs on some ASUS boards. The volume of freezes have appeared to drop off, but they continue so I do not feel that was the culprit, or at least the only culprit.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully someone can offer some insight and things I may be able to check out.
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Mobo
AMG Athlon 2800 CPU (not over clocked)
Antec SmartPower 400W PSU (~1 year old)
Samsung PC3200 2 X 256MB DDR
The system is connected to an APC XS 1000UPS and I don't recall any major power events that would have impacted the system.
The system was working with no problems for about 3-4 years, and within the past few days I have been experiencing seemingly random system freezes, requiring a reboot of the system. I have checked a number of possible software issues, but there does not appear to be any connection with the applications running when the system freezes, nor have I installed any new software recently. I have done thorough checks for viruses and spyware, and I am confident that is not the root of my problem either. Sometimes the system will freeze when I log into Windows (XP 2002, with SP1), other times it will run upwards of 12 hours before freezing, and anywhere in between.
Some issues I am flagging are the PSU, or at least a power issue. I have an ASUS monitoring program on the PC and was able to capture the power stream graph you see HERE

Another area I am considering is the RAM. The Asus board tells me during the POST whether the system passed or failed the memory test. In the past, it would occasionally fail, but more often than not it would pass (I'd guess 95% pass rate). Lately, the amount of fails have increased. I know someone will be quick to point out that this means I should replace the RAM anyways, but I do not know how superficial the memory test is or is not, and if it truly is having an impact on the stability of the system. Thoughts on this aspect?
One final area I checked was disabling the integrated 3Com NIC, in favor of the nVidia NIC that is also on the board. I did a quick search and saw some references to issues with the integrated 3Com NICs on some ASUS boards. The volume of freezes have appeared to drop off, but they continue so I do not feel that was the culprit, or at least the only culprit.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully someone can offer some insight and things I may be able to check out.