Hello.
Just to let you guys know I'm a fairly savvy computer user and if I'm not familiar with a technical term I can probably figure it out in a hurry. I've been building and tearing down computers for 15 years now. However, I've never been a repair tech and I won't hesitate to say I haven't seen it all.
That said, I put together a problematic computer last year and promptly stopped using it until I had time to get back around to the project--that brings me to the now. It's a new PC in the sense that the components are brand new, but the components are dated. It's a dual-core E5300 with nforce 630i/7100 mobo.(Biostar gf7100p-m7s)
From the moment I fully assembled this machine I had issues with it.
One problem is upon boot from the off state. Every O/S tends to have critical errors which disappear after 1-2 subsequent reboots. It always does this and I figure the moment it stops the rest of my problems will probably go away as well.. if it can be stopped.
The other problem is some of the onboard components. The video card has trouble playing video and locked up my browser constantly(particularly while using flash player). Offline videos and videos in games were problematic and often locked up aps as well. My sound card drivers installed but sound didn't play at all. This has miraculously changed since I came back to the project this year, however, as I can now use flash within firefox on Win2k and it doesn't lock-up. Playback is relatively smooth and sound works. Hulu still locks up and I haven't tested any games yet. I'm guessing I'll turn it on one day and be back to square one, or perhaps a flash version update resolved some problems.
Beyond aps that revolve around the gpu or sound codec, I can basically run win2k or XP without a problem for days at a time.
I tried disconnecting everything, leaving one ram chip and the hard disk connected to the mobo; problems persisted.
I tried looking for bad wiring, bad fans, something grounding out... nothing.
I changed operating systems from Win2k to WinXP to Win7rc and finally back to win2k... problems persisted.
I tried scouring every BIOS option fathomable and set them to the option that would promote stability, to the best of my findings... problems persisted.
I tried various ram timings and ran memtest86 for a few nights... ram's fine.
I tried getting the latest device drivers possible. etc.
In the past I've had various PC problems related to the power supply, but this is a mid-end 380w PSU from antech that I paid somewhere around $75 for clear back in 06. I never used it prior and I trust antech, so I have a hard time believing it's causing me problems. Besides.. PSU issues tend to be more uniform, effecting all components in predictable ways.
Although I doubt this will solve my problem, I'm curious about a couple BIOS options I wasn't exactly clear on:
PPM Mode (native or SMM)
USB Memory Type (shadow or base 640k)
PWM Duty Off(Celcius)
PWM Duty Start(Celcius)
I realize this is a shot in the dark, but any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Just to let you guys know I'm a fairly savvy computer user and if I'm not familiar with a technical term I can probably figure it out in a hurry. I've been building and tearing down computers for 15 years now. However, I've never been a repair tech and I won't hesitate to say I haven't seen it all.
That said, I put together a problematic computer last year and promptly stopped using it until I had time to get back around to the project--that brings me to the now. It's a new PC in the sense that the components are brand new, but the components are dated. It's a dual-core E5300 with nforce 630i/7100 mobo.(Biostar gf7100p-m7s)
From the moment I fully assembled this machine I had issues with it.
One problem is upon boot from the off state. Every O/S tends to have critical errors which disappear after 1-2 subsequent reboots. It always does this and I figure the moment it stops the rest of my problems will probably go away as well.. if it can be stopped.
The other problem is some of the onboard components. The video card has trouble playing video and locked up my browser constantly(particularly while using flash player). Offline videos and videos in games were problematic and often locked up aps as well. My sound card drivers installed but sound didn't play at all. This has miraculously changed since I came back to the project this year, however, as I can now use flash within firefox on Win2k and it doesn't lock-up. Playback is relatively smooth and sound works. Hulu still locks up and I haven't tested any games yet. I'm guessing I'll turn it on one day and be back to square one, or perhaps a flash version update resolved some problems.
Beyond aps that revolve around the gpu or sound codec, I can basically run win2k or XP without a problem for days at a time.
I tried disconnecting everything, leaving one ram chip and the hard disk connected to the mobo; problems persisted.
I tried looking for bad wiring, bad fans, something grounding out... nothing.
I changed operating systems from Win2k to WinXP to Win7rc and finally back to win2k... problems persisted.
I tried scouring every BIOS option fathomable and set them to the option that would promote stability, to the best of my findings... problems persisted.
I tried various ram timings and ran memtest86 for a few nights... ram's fine.
I tried getting the latest device drivers possible. etc.
In the past I've had various PC problems related to the power supply, but this is a mid-end 380w PSU from antech that I paid somewhere around $75 for clear back in 06. I never used it prior and I trust antech, so I have a hard time believing it's causing me problems. Besides.. PSU issues tend to be more uniform, effecting all components in predictable ways.
Although I doubt this will solve my problem, I'm curious about a couple BIOS options I wasn't exactly clear on:
PPM Mode (native or SMM)
USB Memory Type (shadow or base 640k)
PWM Duty Off(Celcius)
PWM Duty Start(Celcius)
I realize this is a shot in the dark, but any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
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