reoccurring PC problem - locking up frequently

[sansanatomy]

hi, anyone who can help me figure out the cause of this problem will earn my respect and admiration!

ok, i have a chaintech 7njl6 socket a motherboard with an athlon XP processor - i believe it's a 2200+ model
im running windows XP-
a few months ago my computer wouldn't even boot properly - it would just hang, bios wouldn't even load.
i tried replacing it part by part, i ended up buying ALL new hardware, except for the RAM and power supply.
that fixed the problem, BUT the computer will still freeze up in XP, sometimes after 10 min of use, sometimes after 10 hours. it just freezes.
that's what it does most of the time - but occasionally it will go to the Blue screen "PAGE_FAULT_IN_UNPAGED_AREA" or something like that. and it says "Writing memory dump to hard drive" or something to that effect at the bottom of the screen. it counts up to 60 or so and then it just freezes.
that happens about 1 out of every 5 times it crashes.
occasionally it also reboots itself, but that's even more rare.

anyone know what might be causing this? is this an internal hard drive problem? i've tried alternating boot drives, that doesn't change anything (i have 4 hd's)

thanks a lot peeps, i really REALLY appreciate your help!

Matt

 

[sansanatomy]

UPDATE:
the new RAM has, and hasn't, solved the problem.

the lockups are occuring far less frequently - about every 10 hrs now.

on the last lockup, i got the 'blue screen,' with the following error message:

IRQL_LESS_OR_EQUAL or something close to that

upon reboot XP wanted to check my H: drive for consistency but i cancelled the check (my H drive is the largest drive - over 100 gb - and it was in use at the time of the lockup... i use it to store my file sharing apps folders)
the H drive had also previously turned out a found.000 folder of 20 gb of now corrupt data. which i am not happy about.
now windows can't even access the H: disk at all. i guess i'll try running some checks on it, if I can.

thoughts?

 

[garebo]

Here' some info:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314063&sd=RMVP

Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

Also, do you have "smart drive" in your bios and is it enabled?

Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

I didnt realize you cant even access your hard drive, so the "smart drive" doesnt apply here.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[sansanatomy]

well, the RAM did not solve the problem. i am still crashing. any ideas are appreciated. thanks!

 

[garebo]

If you can access your bios, see if "smart drive" is enabled. If not enable it.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[sansanatomy]

maybe i should clarify - the system boots and runs fine... it just crashes. a lot. usually after a while though. like approx an hour

ill check for that 'smart drive' - any idea what section of the bios it's in?

 

[garebo]

Depends on what bios you have.
shouldnt be hard to find. You will see the words "smart drive". Its either enabled or disabled, there are no other options. Smart drive will tell you if your hard drive is developing problems and due to crash. Thats why i am asking if you have it enabled or not.
If its enabled then its listed on the first page as you boot up with words something like:
smart drive enabled

Again, thats right on the first or second page on bootup, first page i do believe.
Anyway, you can find it real easy in your bios.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[Wxguesser]

One other thing you may want to look at. Is your CPU fan still spinning? I had a 'puter do the same things as Sans is describing and upon closer inspection, the CPU was overheating due to a dead CPU fan.

You mentioned new RAM. Did you replace all your RAM or just supplement what you already had? No mention of a test or results either.

I would suggest that maybe you could eliminate things by disconnecting everything and just running the 'puter with just RAM, video card, and boot drive to start. If the system seems stable, add one component at a time until the symptoms reappear. If the system is still unstable with the bare minimum, then it's one of the main systems causing the problem. If you have replaced your RAM, I would then suspect the OS and/or Hard Drive or the cabling. Start with the simplest item first, the cable and work from there.

Both Garebo and PCDoc have given you excellent advice. Hopefully you will be able to fix your problem soon.

Jim W. A+
You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!

 

[garebo]

One thing i notice here is a ton of info but nobody working together, makes us all look like amateurs.
I see a dozen things to do and i wonder what has been done, no disrepected intended toward you, SANS, more toward us really.
We throw stuff at you and dont check to see whats been done.
We need to start at the start here.

Sans, think you could take a few minutes and write down what we have asked you to do and what you have actually done, i bet they are 2 different lists, lol, again, no disrespect intended.
But we gotta get on the right track here.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[sansanatomy]

i dont see a smart drive function in bios

also ive already rebuilt and replaced all the parts in my system. i think i explained that in my original post.

the next thing i am trying is new ide cables. then im gonna swap out the power supply with a new one that i already have

 

[garebo]

ok, let us know.
You dont always have a smart drive feature.

This is real frustrating.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[sansanatomy]

LOL you're telling me... i've had this problem for about 9 months.. after about $600 (or more) in new parts.. i still have it

thanks for all the help and suggestions thus far fellas, i appreciate it

 

[garebo]

By the way, are you using a UPS? I NEVER plug any computer, monitor, printer, usb or firewire product directly into a wall socket, been burned by faulty power coming into the house.
You can have faulty power and not even know it, also you can have brown-outs that are really really bad on computers and their parts. You can have power surges as well as brown-outs.
Actually, its so bad at my fairly new house that sometimes i see the lights actually dim a bit then go back where they were as far as brightness.

This could be or could have been your problem all along. I am loathe to mention this as i dont want to sound like a broken record in too many posts.

If it were up to me, there would be a law that at least one UPS must go with a computer upon the sale. To me, thats how important this is. Computers and their parts generally need such a degree of clean power that often they dont get it and the results are very costful and end up with dead parts.
Put another way, before i started using a UPS i had a lot of simultaneous part failure, after using UPS's i have had only one firewire drive go bad on me.

I cant say this is your problem but something you should know about.







Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[qmann]

I have the same motherboard and am having problems as well... mine seems to be CD related actually. I have had similar problems to yours... when i disconnected the CD Drive it actually ran fine.

 

[sansanatomy]

hmm. well i have 2 dvd drives.
garebo all i use is a regular power strip. though some of the wiring in this house (i rent) is questionable. you might be onto something there. i hope not tho.... nothing i can do about that

 

[garebo]

Well, due to the error messages you mentioned at the beginning of your thread, nobody has suggested you take out all your extra pci cards. But since we are still on this same problem and only have the puter running, but not running properly, then i suggest its time to do so.
Take out all unnecessary pci cards and see how it runs, put one back at a time til you find a culprit. In your case its gonna take a long time, right. Think you are getting 10 hours now before a crash?
Also, you should set win xp up so that it blue screens instead of crashes, that way you will get an error message.
Do you know how to do that? Its in your win xp settings. I will have to go do it so i can tell you how, lol.
Back to the UPS. I have mentioned this as you mentioned having a drive with 20mb of corrupted files. Just the sort of thing that you can get with bad power, either brownouts-low power, or spikes or surges of high power. So many, many of us have had too many puter parts ruined. The wise people are NEVER without a UPS and i cant stress this enuf!!!!!
Hows that, did i stress it?
Like i said, you can lose all kinds of hardware, starting with your mobo, your hard drive, video card, on and on, power supply too! And we are powerless as we never really know how bad our power is. Now at my place i hear my UPS go off for a split second or for a second about once a month. So once a month my UPS has saved my system from either failure or corruption. Put another way, i lost more money in parts than the darn USP costs!! Many times over til i got smart and believed what others told me!




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[junkmail11]

Get a little program called CPUZ. Check your memory timings even after you change them in the bios becaaues mine are not holding when checked in windows compared to other computer I have. I am having the same problems as your error messages. I had problems installing Windows XP and have frequent error messages while running it. My ram is running at 2-3-3-7 at 166mhz. Which is way too high since the ram is pc-2100 at 2.5-4-4-8. I went to the bios and am still playing around with it. I'm trying all sorts of combos. Use the expert setting and change things around for yourself. Also check if you are using dual channel or single channel mode. Tell me what you find.