New PC freezes - likely causes?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gilligan Monger
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Gilligan Monger

A new PC, made from existing parts, all of which were working in different
systems a month ago, seems perfectly stable with the exception of locking up
irrepairably occasionally. It passes all stress tests and seems usually to
freeze when idle. According to MBM, the 12volt line is often as low as 11.7v
when the system locks up. Is this a likely cause? The PSU is a decent
quality 400w Leadman with 18a of the 12v rail and very little to overburden
the system.

Can anyone suggest likely causes of these freezes?
 
Memory? Especially if you've gone from a Win9.x to WinNT-2K-XP. Win9.x is
more forgiving re: memory than WinNT.

Download Memtest86 3.0 for Windows:

http://www.memtest86.com/memt30.zip

Visit Memtest86 Website to read up:

http://www.memtest86.com/

To use Memtest86 you create a Memtest86 floppy and reboot. It runs tests on
the memory. They can take a while. If an error comes up though, you will
know its the memory.

A month ago I had a computer that would freeze on the overnights. Someone
pointed me to Memtest86. It found one of the memory modules was generating
error. I removed the module and the lock-ups stopped.

Rotary Phone


| A new PC, made from existing parts, all of which were working in different
| systems a month ago, seems perfectly stable with the exception of locking
up
| irrepairably occasionally. It passes all stress tests and seems usually to
| freeze when idle. According to MBM, the 12volt line is often as low as
11.7v
| when the system locks up. Is this a likely cause? The PSU is a decent
| quality 400w Leadman with 18a of the 12v rail and very little to
overburden
| the system.
|
| Can anyone suggest likely causes of these freezes?
|
|
 
BananaPannaPoe said:
Hardware incompatability, either memory, motherboard or processor combo.
Click to expand...

Mobo, cpu and memory haven't changed.

Very strange...
 
Gilligan Monger deftly scribbled:
A new PC, made from existing parts, all of which were working in
different systems a month ago, seems perfectly stable with the
exception of locking up irrepairably occasionally. It passes all
stress tests and seems usually to freeze when idle. According to MBM,
the 12volt line is often as low as 11.7v when the system locks up. Is
this a likely cause? The PSU is a decent quality 400w Leadman with
18a of the 12v rail and very little to overburden the system.

Can anyone suggest likely causes of these freezes?
Click to expand...

As it seems to freeze when not working, I'd suspect the powersaving
features. Stop all powersave features and see if it has the same problem.
It may be essential to go into the BIOS to disable powersave completely ..
;)

A 'dodgy' screensaver may also be suspect ..
 
Gee? I wonder if it could be the, the motor and the microswitch that i ordered
about 2 months ago? I wonder if it could be the motor and the microswitch
that i ordered about 2 months ago? I wonder if it could be the motor and
the microswitch that i ordered about 2 months ago? I wonder if it could be
the motor and the microswitch that i ordered about 2 months ago? The
moooooooooootor aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the
microswitch that i ordered about 2 months ago? Eureka! That was the
cause.
 
Using Windows? Often the symptoms you describe occur due to imcompatibility between the BIOS power managment and Windows power management. Use one or
the other, but not both. If you want to manage harddrive power down, sleep mode, etc in Windows, then turn off all the power management functions in
the BIOS setup program. My preference is to turn off all Windows power management and let the BIOS handle it as I've set it, and have an extra
momentary button installed hooked into the mobo's sleep pins. To each his own, but conflicts between the BIOS programs and the Windows power
management is legend.
 
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