System Keeps Freezing

[xFlankerx]

My System: (As in my sig)

Abit AV8 Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice @2.0Ghz
1GB (2x512MB) Corsair ValueSelect DDR400
45GB Seagate Barracuda UltraATA/100
eVGA GeForce FX5200.

Ever since I built the system, it keeps freezing at certain points. I can replicate the conditions everytime.

The first freezing I saw was when I was installing Windows 2000Pro. The system would freeze when the "Setup is starting Windows 2000" message would come up. I managed to get past that by installing Red Hat Linux and then installing Windows 2000Pro.

Inside Windows, the system freezes most commonly when I try and start Everest: Home. It ALWAYS freezes when Everest is "Scanning PCI Devices." Other times it freezes are when I'm starting 3DMark03, 3DMark05, and SpeedFan.

It also freezes during gameplay in Battlefield 2 and Sims 2.

Also, I've noticed it freeze when I'm loading something or telling the computer to search for something.

It has never frozen during regular internet surfing.

Could this be caused, in any way, by the processor?

The Idle temps are always under 40*C.

On a side note, and perhaps to help you figure out the problem, my video card is quite old and has been sitting in an extremely dirty case for almost a year. It is covered in dust. Since dust acts as an insulator of heat, could the video card overheating cause system freezing at the points I showed?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[wpshooter]

The first thing I would do would be to get the dust cleaned out of that case.

Then I would get a cleaning CD and clean the CD drive.

Then take both sides and the front panel off on the case and get either a small desktop fan or a floor fan and place it so it can blow air directly into the side of the PC as it is running. Then run the system and test for freezing while the fan is providing extra cooling/air flow to see if your problem is being caused by overheating.

If problem still persists, I would get diagnostic software from hard drive manufacturer and test drive.

I assume you have the latest software drivers for all of the components of your system. It does not sound like it is a driver problem because you said it locked during the initial installation of the operating system.

Could be defective hardware, either CD drive, video card, or hard drive. We hope it is not the M/B.

 

[xFlankerx]

The case isn't dusty at all, brand new computer, but I transferred the vid card out of my other computer, so that is very dirty. The first thing I will try to do is to clean that.

I don't think its the CD drive because it freezes even when the CD drive isn't reading anything, like Everest, the 3DMarks, and Battlefield 2 Demo version.

As for the house-fan thing, I already tried opening the side and blowing an extremely powerful 300mm fan into the case. It sent my system temps to 25*C, but it would still freeze.

Hard Drive can be rules out, since I've switched HDDs and still the problem persists.

I'm guessing its the video card, and I hope its not the motherboard.

 

[xFlankerx]

Bump.

 

[xFlankerx]

...

 

[amdskip]

What power supply are you using? Sounds like that is your problem. I'm guessing it's whatever came with your case which unless its expensive it won't be sufficient/powerful enough.

 

[fishbits]

What power supply are you using? Sounds like that is your problem.

That's what I'm thinking, ran into something similar so maybe someone can verify it for me. A64 3500+, 6800 GT, MSI NEO 2, 1GB ram. Everything ran fine, but my power supply died (was getting on in years). Pulled a power supply from another system in the house and that worked, but bought another ps to have a backup, and bought a UPS because my neighborhood power flickers every now and then. Hooked up the system to the UPS, but not the monitor as it drew too much power it seems as the system still reset when UPS was unplugged and battery kicked on. Oh yeah, UPS has an indicator light that claims it doesn't like what it's seeing in household power, but seems to work fine otherwise.

Main point is I guess that a few things changed at the same time. Sometimes when starting up a game though, the system would get stuttery, maybe snap out of it a time or two, then freeze. Or have the screen where it looks like the desktop is interlaced and fit to fill a 320x240 screen with the cursor out of alignment. Or play seemingly fine for ten minutes to several hours (seemed to depend on game) then lock up.

Anywho, feared my XP had gotten gunked up, but didn't want to do a reinstall, then got to thinking about the ps. Opened up the new one without much hope, since I didn't spend an arm and a leg for a great one. It said fewer watts than the current one, but was beefier in the heft dept. At lunch put in the new one and fired up a 3d game. Game seemed to get much farther along than it had before with the other ps. Was still doing fine when I had to shut it off and leave. I'm hoping that's what the problem was and that it won't return. If it does though, should I get a better ps than this one, or is my trouble likely to be found elsewhere?

 

[xFlankerx]

Originally posted by: amdskip
What power supply are you using? Sounds like that is your problem. I'm guessing it's whatever came with your case which unless its expensive it won't be sufficient/powerful enough.

I contacted AMD support with the problem. They said that the 11A on my +12V rail were too little for an A64 system

The Support Person suggested This PSU..

Will it suffice?

 

[amdskip]

That might be ok but I would personally get something a little better. Do a search for power supplies in general hardware and there will be all kinds of threads.

 

[rhino56]

sparkle 530 will be a good one, its made by fortron, same thing really.

 

[operaman1]

At that price point the Fortron you chose is perfect. Most computers do not use more than 270-350 Watts of power. Power is evenly distributed on the 12 Volt rail (remember you cannot have more than 20A per rail which is why most don't go above 18A. So the dual rail split is great. I believe that PSU runs at around 71-74% efficiency between 250-350-watts so you are good to go) All of these big numbers thrown around is ridiculous (i.e. 600 watt this,etc.) I do own a Powerstream in my sig but it is truly overkill to be honest...

 

[rhino56]

i have an antec 550, i like it for its versatility. its stable, adjustable rails, and can run my gaming rig with a small pelt and not have a problem. i always suggest a overkill to compensate for upgrades in the future. the newer nvidia cards are complete power hogs.

 

[operaman1]

I use this site as they pretty much are the only reliable site for to measure PSU's....

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section4.html

Being that this is probably one of a VERY FEW accurate sources for PSU measurement and what people REALLY need I will take what the experts say thanks...

To clarify this: MOST people at Anandtech will never use an SLI system. Even so, he wants a PSU to run his present system. 45 shipped seems quit reasonable and the PSU he is getting will run any non-SLI system with ease.

 

[xFlankerx]

Power Supply did not solve the problem. Installed it correctly, the system works, but the freezing is there exactly the same.

 

[ronach]

It was suggested to me by someone, awhile back on another forum when I had a similar problem, to add .1 or if necessary .2 volts to my ram voltage in the bios. This step fixed my problem ASAP. I recall the techy saying that Corsair ram needs a lil volts addition to run smoothly, in my case he was right.
On the subject of power Supplies, I know some guys like to run their systems on the edge with as low of an output Pwr Supply, that will do the job. This is fine if you like to run on THE EDGE. No system designer who is designing his OWN system, would do this. He would design in an adequate reserve of pwr to allow for future expansion, SO, if you HAVE to go out and buy a new Pwr Supply, get one that will do the job for your NEXT system build, if you can afford it. If not, let your wallet be your guide for now.

 

[xFlankerx]

Increasing vdimm didn't work =/