C
Casian Moscovici
I have an older computer with a Pentium 4 chip, P4S8X ASUS motherboard
and 512k of DDR 333 RAM. After many years of faithful and flawless
service this senior citizen has begun freezing randomly. Sometimes I can
immediately reboot it and it will run for as long as 48 hours before
locking up again. On other occasions the reboot will not even get to the
Post screen and I have to wait for minutes to hours before a successful
reboot.
Of course, hardware is the primary suspect starting with the CPU which I
suspected might be overheating. However, all the fans are in working
order and the lockups are not consistent with overheating. As I
mentioned, the machine can run for as long as 48 hours before dying.
Additionally, I have been able to occasionally reboot it immediately
after locking up even though the computer had been running for many
hours. I've run a number of hardware diagnostic utilities and all
pronounce the system as healthy.
There is one additional bit of information that might be a clue to
brighter minds than mine: I have a stick of DDR 400 RAM (also 512k) that
I used to replace the incumbent stick as a test. Every time I make the
switch, regardless of the time lag before the freeze-up and the reboot
(minutes or days), the PC successfully posts and begins to launch
Windows. Unfortunately, Windows returns error messages about system
files missing or corrupted. When I put the 333 RAM back and the reboot
makes it past the post, Windows loads up just fine.
It seems that the culprit is the RAM, but a few techs I've spoken to
blame the motherboard. I'd like to give the DDR 400 RAM a shot to
determine if it's RAM or motherboard that's bad, but don't understand
why Windows won't load. Could the 400 RAM also be bad? Is it normal and
customary for Windows to be so sensitive to different RAM? Would repair
or re-install help with the 400 RAM?
Thanks for you help
Casian
and 512k of DDR 333 RAM. After many years of faithful and flawless
service this senior citizen has begun freezing randomly. Sometimes I can
immediately reboot it and it will run for as long as 48 hours before
locking up again. On other occasions the reboot will not even get to the
Post screen and I have to wait for minutes to hours before a successful
reboot.
Of course, hardware is the primary suspect starting with the CPU which I
suspected might be overheating. However, all the fans are in working
order and the lockups are not consistent with overheating. As I
mentioned, the machine can run for as long as 48 hours before dying.
Additionally, I have been able to occasionally reboot it immediately
after locking up even though the computer had been running for many
hours. I've run a number of hardware diagnostic utilities and all
pronounce the system as healthy.
There is one additional bit of information that might be a clue to
brighter minds than mine: I have a stick of DDR 400 RAM (also 512k) that
I used to replace the incumbent stick as a test. Every time I make the
switch, regardless of the time lag before the freeze-up and the reboot
(minutes or days), the PC successfully posts and begins to launch
Windows. Unfortunately, Windows returns error messages about system
files missing or corrupted. When I put the 333 RAM back and the reboot
makes it past the post, Windows loads up just fine.
It seems that the culprit is the RAM, but a few techs I've spoken to
blame the motherboard. I'd like to give the DDR 400 RAM a shot to
determine if it's RAM or motherboard that's bad, but don't understand
why Windows won't load. Could the 400 RAM also be bad? Is it normal and
customary for Windows to be so sensitive to different RAM? Would repair
or re-install help with the 400 RAM?
Thanks for you help
Casian