What causes spontaneous lock-ups?

[GasX]

I just built a PC for my brother and am having problems with it. I did a complete reinstall of the OS (WinXP Home) and all software this weekend becuase the HDD file system got fuxored up. It still has one annoying and potentially very bad problem.

It locks-up. Not when you do something specific and not after a predictable amount of time. It just locks up anywhere from 5 minutes to 90 minutes after booting up. The only remedy to the problem is hitting the reset switch. ctrl-alt-del doesn't even work.

What is a likely cause of the problem?

 

[AMDPwred]

// Looks around for others to answer first...

Well, you've got me. That's like asking why the earth is round...

 

[GasX]

Maybe just a list of possible causes to base trouble shooting on?

Would a poorly seated HSF cause this?

 

[yllus]

Maybe you could do a base installation of just WinXP and Q3A looping to stress test, and see if it's a software problem first off. If even that little doesn't work, check out:

1) Heat issues
2) Bad memory modules
3) Power supply woes

Of the three I doubt it's an heat issue but you never know. Good luck and keep us advised!

 

[Migroo]

Osully is right. The 3 things he mentioned are the ones I would have suggested.

If you have the front/rear/psu fans, then I'd look into your chip temps. However because the lockups are random, I'd suggest power supply.

Bad memory is likely to cause more lockups when the PC is having to access the memory.. (I think)

 

[GasX]

When I was at my brother's apartment yesterday, we were downloading the WinXP update files and it froze twice. I can't imagine downlaoding to be a hyper intensive task for the CPU.

Perhaps that suggests the PSU or RAM as culprit?

 

[teddymines]

If you could find a repeatable scenario that locks it up, that would help. I suggest Prime95 (ducks to avoid flying 75gxp) because it will max out your cpu and tax your memory pretty hard. Then try the opposite where you just leave it on for a long time, and see if it locks up over time.

 

[GasX]

Another Theory:

This PC was driven 3 hours to my parents where I gave it to my brother. He then drove it 3 hours to his place. The problems showed up then. He checked to make sure everything was seated properly - EXCEPT the HSF and CPU.

If the CPU has somehow become loose or if the seal on the HSF is not as good as it was, would that possibly cause this problem?

 

[yllus]

The three times I've majorly moved my system around the CPU's gotten unseated and freaked me out when I start up and see four red diagnostic LEDs on my motherboard (bless you MSI). A Slot 1 board with a slocket and Golden Orb on top tends to move around quite easily! Take the CPU all the way out and reseat it, see if that works first. If it's the same problem, reseat the HSF (I'm always wary about doing this since we all know what happens if a HSF isn't sitting properly on an AMD CPU).

However if this was the problem the system probably just wouldn't start or would implode, but it's worth a try!

 

[theplanb]

And while you are resitting it, take a closer look on your CPU core.. you never know ..

 

[GasX]

Does the morning crew have anything to add?

 

[Tominator]

Sounds like an IDE buss problem to me...

System specs?

 

[GasX]

256MB Kingston SDRAM
Athlon 950MHz Socket-A
Shuttle AK12A Mobo (made by ECS, but supposed to be same board)
AOpen Medium Tower
integrated sound
Philips 12X CDRW
40GB 7200 RPM Western Digital
Floppy Drive
Conexant Modem
Hercules 4000XT Kryo II vid card
external Zip
LinkSys NIC

WinXP Home

 

[Tominator]

Fiest thing I'd try is using the Western Digital disk to disable the ATA66/100 feature. There is a menu in the software used to configure the drive. If the mb is not ATA 66/100 capable with the feature enabled random freezes can be the result. Every new Western Digital drive I've seen had the feature enabled by default.

If that did not slove the freezes, disable the on-board sound and try that.

 

[edfcmc]

I would first do the following:

double check all connections. (PCI cards, atx power connectors)
Reseat memory.
reseat video card
be careful about reseating HSF and CPU (socket-a cpus are prone to damage if constantly removed from the socket and if extreme care isnt taken)
check to make sure the Fan on the heatsink is turning at full speed and not clogged with dust and dirt.

check the memory with a program like docmemory or memtest86
can get them here

link for docmemory

link for memtest 86

 

[Flat]

I would tend to think the HDD is overheating

 

[GasX]

It seems that running a room fan into the open case has solved the problem. Clear it is a cooling issue. Now I just need to get him some case fans.

Thanks everyone for the help!!!