Faulty CPU?

[S.B.]

My computer has started to freeze after a few minutes when I play a
3D game (the picture is still there but frozen as is the mouse pointer
and everything else. I've tested and or replaced everything except the
motherboard and the CPU (OS, HDD, PSU, cables memory, video card,
cooling, so I'm wondering if this kind of effect is associated with a faulty
CPU. I'd have expected nothing on the monitor at all if it was that rather
than the motherboard. Any advice?

Gigabyte GA-VAX not overclocked; no bulging or distorted capacitors
Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred with Arctic Silver
1GB Crucial ECC tested
Enermax 350W and Zalman 400W PSU
Seagate and Samsung HDDs
MSI GF2 and GF4 4200 with various drivers
Plenty of cooling
Win98 and XP with updated drivers

 

[philo]

My computer has started to freeze after a few minutes when I play a
3D game (the picture is still there but frozen as is the mouse pointer
and everything else. I've tested and or replaced everything except the
motherboard and the CPU (OS, HDD, PSU, cables memory, video card,
cooling, so I'm wondering if this kind of effect is associated with a faulty
CPU. I'd have expected nothing on the monitor at all if it was that rather
than the motherboard. Any advice?

Gigabyte GA-VAX not overclocked; no bulging or distorted capacitors
Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred with Arctic Silver
1GB Crucial ECC tested
Enermax 350W and Zalman 400W PSU
Seagate and Samsung HDDs
MSI GF2 and GF4 4200 with various drivers
Plenty of cooling
Win98 and XP with updated drivers

do a temp test on the cpu...
it's possible it's overheating...

if that's ok...it could be your video software

 

[kony]

My computer has started to freeze after a few minutes when I play a
3D game (the picture is still there but frozen as is the mouse pointer
and everything else. I've tested and or replaced everything except the
motherboard and the CPU (OS, HDD, PSU, cables memory, video card,
cooling, so I'm wondering if this kind of effect is associated with a faulty
CPU. I'd have expected nothing on the monitor at all if it was that rather
than the motherboard. Any advice?

Gigabyte GA-VAX not overclocked; no bulging or distorted capacitors
Athlon XP 2400 Thoroughbred with Arctic Silver
1GB Crucial ECC tested
Enermax 350W and Zalman 400W PSU
Seagate and Samsung HDDs
MSI GF2 and GF4 4200 with various drivers
Plenty of cooling
Win98 and XP with updated drivers

If it only freezes during games it's not liekly to be the CPU. This is
assuming you've ran some stress tests, some other load.

Actually it's not likely to be the CPU compared to the board no matter
when it happens... boards fail at least 10X as often as CPUs, failing
some sort of heatsink/mounting/cooling problem.

 

[S.B.]

S.B. wrote:

If it only freezes during games it's not liekly to be the CPU. This is
assuming you've ran some stress tests, some other load.

I've run 3DMark2001 and it freezes a few minutes in.

Actually it's not likely to be the CPU compared to the board no matter
when it happens... boards fail at least 10X as often as CPUs, failing
some sort of heatsink/mounting/cooling problem.

Motherboard Monitor 5 says it's running cool. Looks like the board - agh!
Thanks for the reply.

 

[S.B.]

"S.B." wrote...

do a temp test on the cpu...
it's possible it's overheating...

No, it's cool.

if that's ok...it could be your video software

Tried various NVidia drivers and always the same. Does a frozen but not
blank screen sound like a CPU failure to you? I'd have expected the whole
computer to die. I'm suspecting the motherboard; maybe using CpuIdle has
stressed it?
Thanks for the reply.

 

[philo]

Tried various NVidia drivers and always the same. Does a frozen but not
blank screen sound like a CPU failure to you? I'd have expected the whole
computer to die. I'm suspecting the motherboard; maybe using CpuIdle has
stressed it?

Are your using other video software such as Direct X ?

It's not too likely the cpu itself could cause the problem

 

[RedBack]

Are your using other video software such as Direct X ?

It's not too likely the cpu itself could cause the problem

Have you tested the memory?
search google for "memtest86" then run it.

RedBack

 

[S.B.]

Are your using other video software such as Direct X ?

Yes, DirectX 9.0a "No problems found".

It's not too likely the cpu itself could cause the problem

Seems not. Must be the motherboard. I think I'll try an
Asus A7N8X or -X. Any idea of the difference? I can't
make it out from their website.

 

[S.B.]

Have you tested the memory?
search google for "memtest86" then run it.

Yes, I let that run for 10 hours without any evident end in
sight before stopping it. No errors came up in that time.

 

[Trent©]

Yes, DirectX 9.0a "No problems found".


Seems not. Must be the motherboard. I think I'll try an
Asus A7N8X or -X. Any idea of the difference? I can't
make it out from their website.

Its very unlikely that it would be the mainboard...when only running
the games.

I'd suspect a video/driver problem...or some other software problem.
Did you RTFM?...or do a Google search for that game or games?


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[S.B.]

Its very unlikely that it would be the mainboard...when only running
the games.

It does occasionally freeze when on the Web or when the screen-
saver is running, but games bring it to a head almost immediately.

I'd suspect a video/driver problem...or some other software problem.

Well, with a fresh, clean install of XP on a new HDD and trying various
graphics drivers and with nothing else running in the background, it still
happens.

Did you RTFM?...

Yes, but I couldn't find the page "When your computer suddenly starts to
freeze when playing a game and you've made no software or hardware
changes and you've checked or replaced the power supply, memory,
hard drive, graphics card, cables and cooling, the cause is..."

or do a Google search for that game or games?

It worked fine with the same games before the problem appeared.

Have a nice week...

Thank you. You too.

 

[kony]

I've run 3DMark2001 and it freezes a few minutes in.

No, I mean something NOT utilizing DirectX or the video card drivers' 3D.

A stress test, not a game or video benchmark.

Some might stress the CPU like Folding@Home, Seti, CPUBurn... a Google
search for those titles or "stress test" should find hits.

 

[Trent©]

It does occasionally freeze when on the Web or when the screen-
saver is running, but games bring it to a head almost immediately.

Boot into a DOS system disk. Don't use any operating system, per se.
See if you can get it to freeze.

Well, with a fresh, clean install of XP on a new HDD and trying various
graphics drivers and with nothing else running in the background, it still
happens.

Any Windows or Norton updates lately?

Yes, but I couldn't find the page "When your computer suddenly starts to
freeze when playing a game and you've made no software or hardware
changes and you've checked or replaced the power supply, memory,
hard drive, graphics card, cables and cooling, the cause is..."

ROTFLMAO !!!

Did you try these chapters?...

Running your computer with Norton software.

Problems after installing Windows updates.

It worked fine with the same games before the problem appeared.

More and more, it sounds like software. If yer runnin' Acrobat, get
the latest update. Are you using a dial-up account?...or still have
that ability installed?

Again...try running thru a DOS boot...and/or running with a minimal
VGA driver.

But if you don't find it, I guess there's nothing left but the
mainboard.

Good luck.


Have a nice week...

Trent

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!

 

[Keith Davies]

added more and better fans it help a little bit, but still went back to same
problems
my motherboard is an abit the cpu is a athlon xp2200+ max speed 2250mhz i
under clocked it and now its running at 1800mhz and that at last seams to
have done the trick Give it a go worked for me

 

[kony]

My Computer did the very same thing it crashed or froze in 3d games, I
added more and better fans it help a little bit, but still went back to same
problems
my motherboard is an abit the cpu is a athlon xp2200+ max speed 2250mhz i
under clocked it and now its running at 1800mhz and that at last seams to
have done the trick Give it a go worked for me

An XP2200 is not "supposed" to run at 2250Mhz... would be a very
significant overclock. 1800MHz is the correct, spec'd speed for an
XP2200

 

[Keith Davies]

An XP2200 is not "supposed" to run at 2250Mhz... would be a very
significant overclock. 1800MHz is the correct, spec'd speed for an
XP2200

Boody hell Bought my computer from microdirect in manchester they must have
sold it to me overclocked , It,s been a pain in the arse since i bought it 5
months ago and only by chance did i mess about with the cpu speed and get it
to settle down after I bought fans for cpu new graphics card and spent hours
days months trying to solve my crashing computer only got one word for
Microdirect bunch of W-----s

 

[kony]

Boody hell Bought my computer from microdirect in manchester they must have
sold it to me overclocked , It,s been a pain in the arse since i bought it 5
months ago and only by chance did i mess about with the cpu speed and get it
to settle down after I bought fans for cpu new graphics card and spent hours
days months trying to solve my crashing computer only got one word for
Microdirect bunch of W-----s

Well if it was running at all at 2250MHz, you might find it's stable at
that overclocked speed if you raised the CPU core voltage a bit.

Providing your motherboard supports DDR333 FSB (166MHz clock) speed,
everything besides the CPU would be back in spec at the 2250MHz CPU
speed... though this isn't an overclocking newsgroup so you take your
chances based upon the research you put into it.