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Problems with computer locking up


epp_b

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I'm having problems with my PC locking up. This is a brand new PC (as of about two weeks) with an ECS 760GX-M motherboard (OMB SiS 760 Video, RealTek AC'97 audio, and RealTek LAN; Sempron 2800+, 1GB RAM minus 128MB shared to video), and a Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM HDD.The problem I'm having is that about once or twice a day -- under normal use -- my computer will completely lock up. It does not accept any input whatsoever (keyboard, mouse, audio, etc.). It also terminates all output, except for video. The only way I can resume a working state is by hard resetting it (something I've already done more times now than I had hoped to in it's entire life span B)).I have tried... - Updating the AGP VxD driver (latest version) - Updating the VGA driver (latest version) - Updating the LAN driver (latest version) - Updating the Audio driver (second-latest version, the latest was on a server that is currently down) - Disabling ZoneAlarm (latest version) - Disabling the audio control applet in the system trayNothing has seemed to work. This may help find a solution, though: a lock-up is guarranteed within minutes or seconds if I am recording an online audio stream from Windows Media Player (and I suspect from any other player as well) using Audacity.Any more ideas?

Edited by epp_b
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Oh, I suppose that's a possibility. Do you know of any applications that can actively read my CPU temperature? The BIOS isn't really good enough because I need to be able to see it when I'm running the processes that cause the lockups.EDIT: Oh, just for more testing...I ran Audacity again to do some more recording and, indeed, within a couple of minutes it locked up again. The point of this was so that I can write down the exact time and look at the event viewer. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the event viewer at the time of the lockup.EDIT 2: I don't know how the CPU could be overheating...it hovers at about 15% when I'm recording in Audacity.

Edited by epp_b
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Oh, I should also say that I had some issues with Yahoo Widget Manager...By installing Yahoo WM on a bootable primary partition, through misconfigurations in the drive letter cache and boot.ini, Windows edited the registry of the alternate bootable primary (and hidden) partition. After uninstalling it (unsuccessfully), installing (unsuccessfully), uninstalling again (unsuccessfully), installing again (unsuccessfully), and uninistalling yet again (unsuccessfully), I manually removed all registry keys matching "Yahoo" (I had no other Yahoo software installed on this installation of XP). The lockups did start happening only after Yahoo WM was installed, but it was installed/uninstalled/mingled with on the first day of my installation which leaves plenty of room open for coincidence.I realize that this has made a mess of the registry (I am going to doing a re-install of XP on Saturday) but I don't see this as being indicitive of a registry misconfiguration. The type of lockups seem more like a hardware and/or drivers issue to me.What do you make of this?

Edited by epp_b
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If you can tell a lockup is coming, ctrl+alt+del to look at the task manager. I've been following on another forum where a few users of XP are having the problem of Windows Explorer shooting up to 100% cpu usage, mostly when they access folders with avi files in them BUT some others seem to have this behavior and it isn't tied in with avi files. Does the usage shoot up to 100%?

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If you can tell a lockup is coming, ctrl+alt+del to look at the task manager. I've been following on another forum where a few users of XP are having the problem of Windows Explorer shooting up to 100% cpu usage, mostly when they access folders with avi files in them BUT some others seem to have this behavior and it isn't tied in with avi files. Does the usage shoot up to 100%?
Nope. I monitored the CPU for a little while when recording a stream using Audacity. It didn't go higher than 20%.
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Who put your heat sink-fan on your CPU? Was it you or the company you bought it from? Is it a $5 dollar HS/F or a $20 dollar one? It does make a huge difference!Heat will kill your CPU! Re-install with proper HS/F compound and if it is a cheapo HS/F, seriously consider a better HS/F.

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Who put your heat sink-fan on your CPU? Was it you or the company you bought it from?
It was the local shop in town that built it, yes.
Is it a $5 dollar HS/F or a $20 dollar one? It does make a huge difference!
I don't know. I could ask.
Heat will kill your CPU! Re-install with proper HS/F compound and if it is a cheapo HS/F, seriously consider a better HS/F.
I did check my CPU temperature in the BIOS. It was sitting at 34 degrees celsius.Hey...if I set a shut-down temperature in my BIOS, that would tell me something, yes?
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The motherboard drivers CD may have a temperature monitoring app. Install that. I have used MBM but the developer has stopped working on it since the summer of 2004 so it may not have your particular motherboard in the software database.

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Your BIOS may have two settings warn or shutdown. Try warn first. Set at 45 c. See what happens. You can then raise it upwards. Did the shop provide you with a ECS CD? There may also be a temp monitoring program on the disk to check temps in Windows. :hmm:

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I just looked at my motherboard CD. It doesn't contain any motherboard monitoring software.
see this too :http://www.lavalys.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t993.htmlThis mainboard is not supported by MBM, I couldn't locate the MBProbe mainboard listing anymore. (that's another temp-monitoring utility).
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Guest LilBambi

If the CPU truly isn't getting too hot (20% over 35 degrees celsius) ... then maybe it's some other hardware element.Maybe use Memory tester software, and/or burn in software to test all the hardware before your 30-90 day return runs out. :hmm:

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Maybe use Memory tester software
Maybe...
and/or burn in software to test all the hardware before your 30-90 day return runs out.
1 year, actually :)Like I said, I'm going to do an OS re-install with the latest drivers and see if it continues to happen. If it does, I'll have to bring into the shop to be looked at :hmm:
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Froze again today ... I checked the CPU temperature in the BIOS immediately afterwards, and it was still at 34C. I'm quite sure there are no thermal issues here.Oh, and for the record, I did open the case to check that the CPU fan is running, and it is.

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You need to take the CPU to 100% and see if your system locks up. There are several programs out there that will tax your CPU at 100%. If your HS/F is sufficient, there should be no problem. All my machines run with the CPU pegged at 100% 24X7. With proper cooling, this is not an issue. When CPU cooling degrades, system issues start popping up.If you take the CPU to 100% and nothing happens, then you know for sure that it is not hardware related.

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Any thoughts about taking it back to the shop that built it?
Yes, I already mentioned that. I'm going to do a complete re-install of XP, the latest drivers, Windows updates and all my applications on Saturday (when I have time). I'll update here later to see if the problem is fixed.
You need to take the CPU to 100% and see if your system locks up.
I have encountered the Firefox 1.5 glitch that runs the CPU up to 100% and left it for about a minute or so. I assume a longer test is probably in order, however.
There are several programs out there that will tax your CPU at 100%. If your HS/F is sufficient, there should be no problem. All my machines run with the CPU pegged at 100% 24X7. With proper cooling, this is not an issue. When CPU cooling degrades, system issues start popping up.
Interesting :hysterical: Do tell why your machines are always at 100% CPU...! :whistling:
If you take the CPU to 100% and nothing happens, then you know for sure that it is not hardware related.
Yup. Edited by epp_b
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I encoded a huge WAV file (think 50MB WAV imported into Audio editor [Audacity], then copied and pasted [not the file, the audio track] five or so times) as a 16K MP3 while loading about 30 tabs simultaneously in Firefox with the cache disabled (and then closing them when they are finished, then opening more tabs...)The CPU was hiked up to 100% for a good 7-10 minutes and I had no problems whatsoever.

Edited by epp_b
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Distributed computing projects...It started in April 1999 with Seti@HomeEnded with completing 9512 work units.My rank out of 5436301 total users is: 34327th place The number of users who have this rank: 2 You have completed more work units than 99.369% of our users. then Genome@Home, Folding@HomeDistributed Folding- finished with #1 team rank and #55 project rank with 396,289,032 WUs.currently D2OL with #2 team rank and #43 project rank

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Them ECS boards are a real bugger when it comes to a PSU ...
Yes, that's a possibility. But did you do a check disk recently? I would try that first now after all you've gone through. (2 years ago I had the same symptoms with a win2k system, brand new; One of the hard disks was dying ... brand new ! go figure.) If that doesn't reveal anything, like muckshifter hinted, the PSU might be the culprit.Who knows? But I would return that machine to where it came from and have them solve these problems if I were you. :ph34r: Edited by striker
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Aw, c'mon you guys, no brand-bashing! :) Actually, I find that, if an ECS board works, it works very well and has very few problems. If it doesn't, then it just plain doesn't. There's very little in-between.

But I would return that machine to where it came from and have them solve these problems if I were you.
That's what I'll have to do if my re-install doesn't fix it.
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