What Can Cause this Problem with this Symptom?

[BDawg]

Lately, my computer has been completely freezing in Win XP. Video stays on the screen, but the system has frozen. There doesn't appear to be rhyme or reason as to why and when it freezes. Sometimes it freezes in screen saver, sometimes while loading Windows and sometimes while in a random application. Of course, there's nothing in the system logs.

One of my troubleshooting ideas (after removing SP1 and my Anti-virus software) was to boot off of the XP CD and into the ran a full checkdisk on the HD. Luckily after it finished, my system froze. So that points to a hardware problem.

Am I correct in assuming that a motherboard or processor problem would not freeze the computer with video intact? I've taken out one of my sticks of ram to see what happens. Are PCI cards and video card the only other pieces of hardware that will freeze a system with video intact?

 

[BDawg]

Nobody? Anybody?

 

[chiron]

I used to have a similar problem. Found out (eventually) that I had a dodgy power coupling for my cdrom, and it would randomly "disconnect" the cdrom's power, and, with Win2k thinking I'd purposely done that, it threw a hissy-fit and died. Might want to check all the cables.

Other than that, you may have a dodgy IDE cable that's been bent too much, and a wire strand is broken, but sometimes fails under load.

Other that that, give me your computer, and you buy a new one

 

[WarmAndSCSI]

It could be your graphics card overheating or your CPU overheating or even bad memory. Another cause could be a faulty PSU. There are many possibilities.

Am I correct in assuming that a motherboard or processor problem would not freeze the computer with video intact? I've taken out one of my sticks of ram to see what happens. Are PCI cards and video card the only other pieces of hardware that will freeze a system with video intact?

Actually, it would leave the last screen buffer contents until you reset the power.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: TheUnhappyCamper
It could be your graphics card overheating or your CPU overheating or even bad memory. Another cause could be a faulty PSU. There are many possibilities.

Am I correct in assuming that a motherboard or processor problem would not freeze the computer with video intact? I've taken out one of my sticks of ram to see what happens. Are PCI cards and video card the only other pieces of hardware that will freeze a system with video intact?

Actually, it would leave the last screen buffer contents until you reset the power.

Wouldn't a PS problem make the screen go black since the MB would no longer get power?

Would a IDE cable (or device power) cause the recovery console to freak too? I didn't think it recognized the CD drives.

 

[BDawg]

Well, I've swaped out everything except the PSU, the MB, the CPU, and the HD. I'll try the PSU, but that's all the parts I have left.

Oddly enough, when the system freezes, the fans are all still running and the video cards info lights are still on (Leadtek TDH).

 

[BDawg]

Apparently, the problem is with the frequency of the MB or the CPU. I get odd freezes when I have the FSB set to the typical 133, but if I lower it to 100 (700 MHz PIII ) I can run stable.

Any ideas why I'm having trouble running at 133 after 2 years of doing so?

I checked the HSF and it's connected well, I have plenty of air flow, and my CPU has never hit above 55C. Is my CPU just decided to be finicky?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BDawg
Apparently, the problem is with the frequency of the MB or the CPU. I get odd freezes when I have the FSB set to the typical 133, but if I lower it to 100 (700 MHz PIII ) I can run stable.

Any ideas why I'm having trouble running at 133 after 2 years of doing so?

I checked the HSF and it's connected well, I have plenty of air flow, and my CPU has never hit above 55C. Is my CPU just decided to be finicky?

AHA, you are O/C'ing.

It looks like your PIII700E will no longer run at 933Mhz stably. It happens . . . I suspect your voltage is turned up. Time to back down the FSB or crank up the voltage until you (eventually - sooner, not later) burn out the CPU.

Upgrade time?

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: BDawg
Apparently, the problem is with the frequency of the MB or the CPU. I get odd freezes when I have the FSB set to the typical 133, but if I lower it to 100 (700 MHz PIII ) I can run stable.

Any ideas why I'm having trouble running at 133 after 2 years of doing so?

I checked the HSF and it's connected well, I have plenty of air flow, and my CPU has never hit above 55C. Is my CPU just decided to be finicky?

AHA, you are O/C'ing.

It looks like your PIII700E will no longer run at 933Mhz stably. It happens . . . I suspect your voltage is turned up. Time to back down the FSB or crank up the voltage until you (eventually - sooner, not later) burn out the CPU.

Upgrade time?

No, I'm not OCing. It's a retail 933/133 (7x multiplier). My MB (Abit SH6) allows FSB adjustments and I dropped it down to 100MHz, where it's running stable.

And unfortunately, no upgrade until I get a new job.

Edit: And the voltage has always been at the stock 1.70 V (I think that's the value).

 

[apoppin]

Well then, I'd suggest calling Intel . . . is it Retail or OEM? - retail has a 3 year warranty, you can probably still RMA it.

If it's OEM, I'd push the voltage up to 1.8v just as though I were O/C'ing - it might give you stability @933Mhz until you do upgrade.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

EDIT: Are you SURE it isn't your video card that IS overclocked that is causing the problems? - back it down to default and turn back up your CPU to 933.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: apoppin
Well then, I'd suggest calling Intel . . . is it Retail or OEM? - retail has a 3 year warranty, you can probably still RMA it.

If it's OEM, I'd push the voltage up to 1.8v just as though I were O/C'ing - it might give you stability @933Mhz until you do upgrade.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

EDIT: Are you SURE it isn't your video card that IS overclocked that is causing the problems? - back it down to default and turn back up your CPU to 933.

Video card has been reclocked to normal GF3Ti200 speeds since this started. Plus, the freezes happen when the card is out and I'm using the i815 video.

The CPU was from the Aptiva I bought when I was with IBM. IBM's warranty is only a year, so I doubt they'll help.

I thought about bumping the voltage up, but was worried about the extra heat. I'll give it a shot though.

 

[apoppin]

Since you have little to lose - unless you like 700Mhz - up the voltage.

But go really slow . . . try as a patient O/C'er would +.1v or .2v increases at a time until you achieve stability.

Damn, those PIIIs are still high in price . . . Pricewatch is reporting:

$106 Pentium III 1.13GHz 133MHz bus
$100 - Pentium III 1GHz
$106 Pentium III 933

Of course, you could buy a PIII700E for about $85 and O/C it to 933 . . .

If your PIII fails, they are on our FS/T forums used for about $50-$70.



Good luck!!!


EDIT: BTW, 55C is a bit high for a stock P3. Is the heatsink firmly seated - using the stock Intel pad or heatsink grease (perhaps it is dried out)?

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: apoppin
Since you have little to lose - unless you like 700Mhz - up the voltage.

But go really slow . . . try as a patient O/C'er would +.1v or .2v increases at a time until you achieve stability.

Damn, those PIIIs are still high in price . . . Pricewatch is reporting:

$106 Pentium III 1.13GHz 133MHz bus
$100 - Pentium III 1GHz
$106 Pentium III 933

Of course, you could buy a PIII700E for about $85 and O/C it to 933 . . .

If your PIII fails, they are on our FS/T forums used for about $50-$70.



Good luck!!!

I couldn't boot at 133MHz FSB, 133MHz CPU, and 100MHz memory at 1.8 V,

but I can at 133/133/133.

How safe is running my CPU at 1.8 instead of 1.7?

The problem with buying a new chip is that I have a Slot 1 motherboard, so I'd have to find a chip and a slotket.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Markfw]

Too bad you aren't near a Fry's. They have a ECS K7S5A with a XP1800+ almost every other week, BOTH for $119. You could use everything else from your old system. (PSU is a ???, depends on how good your old one is) You would only need a cpu fan/Heatsink for about $12 more.

 

[apoppin]

1.8v was always considered a "safe" core voltage for the PIIIs O/C .

What are your temps?

Of course, overvoltage will shorten your CPU's life . . . if it is already having stability problems it may be sooner than later.

However, it is an excellent "stopgap" solution that costs no money now.


EDIT: Intel's vcore spec for your 933 CPU is 1.65-1.75v. Running yours at 1.8v is fine. If it works, it may solve your problem. Let us know.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Too bad you aren't near a Fry's. They have a ECS K7S5A with a XP1800+ almost every other week, BOTH for $119. You could use everything else from your old system. (PSU is a ???, depends on how good your old one is) You would only need a cpu fan/Heatsink for about $12 more.

PSU is a 300W Sparkle

I tried to buy good stuff when I got this.

Can you run an XP1800+ on SDRAM?

Maybe if I have to buy a new CPU, I'll check online for deals.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: apoppin
1.8v was always considered a "safe" core voltage for the PIIIs O/C .

What are your temps?

Of course, overvoltage will shorten your CPU's life . . . if it is already having stability problems it may be sooner than later.

However, it is an excellent "stopgap" solution that costs no money now.


EDIT: Intel's vcore spec for your 933 CPU is 1.65-1.75v. Running yours at 1.8v is fine. If it works, it may solve your problem. Let us know.

It worked at 933/1.8 for a period of time...long than at 1.7, but it ended up freezing. Looks like I'm stuck at running stable at 700MHz.