Upgrade or buy new

  • Thread starter Thread starter shcr
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shcr

I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test .

The current MB is an ECS M810LR. SIS chipset, 256mb RAM. I found a webpage
on this board and it seems more Cannot be done that can.

I priced some MB/CPU/RAM at newegg (separate items), and just saw a better
possible deal at Tiger Direct for the 3 in one package.

She mainly internets, emails. Doesn't need the latest, greatest hardware.
Now that she is a recent widow, I hate to have her put too much into either
an upgrade or a new box.

Any rec's on a good, inexpensive mb/ram/cpu package if that is a wise move?
 
shcr said:
I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test .

The current MB is an ECS M810LR. SIS chipset, 256mb RAM. I found a webpage
on this board and it seems more Cannot be done that can.

I priced some MB/CPU/RAM at newegg (separate items), and just saw a better
possible deal at Tiger Direct for the 3 in one package.

She mainly internets, emails. Doesn't need the latest, greatest hardware.
Now that she is a recent widow, I hate to have her put too much into either
an upgrade or a new box.

Any rec's on a good, inexpensive mb/ram/cpu package if that is a wise move?
Click to expand...
www.mwave.com also has some nice bundles, they even test it for you if you
want.
 
shcr said:
I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test .

The current MB is an ECS M810LR. SIS chipset, 256mb RAM. I found a webpage
on this board and it seems more Cannot be done that can.

I priced some MB/CPU/RAM at newegg (separate items), and just saw a better
possible deal at Tiger Direct for the 3 in one package.

She mainly internets, emails. Doesn't need the latest, greatest hardware.
Now that she is a recent widow, I hate to have her put too much into either
an upgrade or a new box.

Any rec's on a good, inexpensive mb/ram/cpu package if that is a wise move?
Click to expand...

Test the RAM with memtest86 and let us know what the results are. Also,
what are the CPU and case temperatures during use?
 
I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now.
The computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or
reason to when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been
checked and the machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp)
didn't solve it. Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off
the MB doesn't solve it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the
problems existed long before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test
Click to expand...

There wouldn't happen to be 2 memory sticks, 1 single sided and the other
double sided, would there? Some mobos can't handle it.
 
shcr said:
I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test .

The current MB is an ECS M810LR. SIS chipset, 256mb RAM. I found a webpage
on this board and it seems more Cannot be done that can.

I priced some MB/CPU/RAM at newegg (separate items), and just saw a better
possible deal at Tiger Direct for the 3 in one package.

She mainly internets, emails. Doesn't need the latest, greatest hardware.
Now that she is a recent widow, I hate to have her put too much into either
an upgrade or a new box.

Any rec's on a good, inexpensive mb/ram/cpu package if that is a wise move?
Click to expand...

Your problem is most likely caused by a failing power supply. Second most
likely suspect is the motherboard. (Maybe she got one of those bad caps
that are floating around?) IF you are thinking of replacing the
motherboard, the power supply SHOULD be replaced as well. Too many people
like installing new hardware on an old power supply, when the power supply
is the single most important component of your PC . . . and the most likely
to fail. For that reason, the power supply should be replaced just as often
as you replace your motherboard. So . . .

I'd suggest you try the following first:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-970&depa=0
(Fortron, good brand, highly rated by experts, and relatively inexpensive)

If that doesn't solve your problem, you haven't wasted your money as you
will then be ready for a mainboard/cpu/ram motherboard bundle from
www.mwave.com For example, you can get a retail Athlon XP processor plus a
Biostar brand mainboard and 256MB of ram for $133:

AMD ATHLON XP 2000+ 266MHZ RETAILED BUNDLE W/ Details (BIOSTAR M7VIG 400;
MWAVE 256MB DDR266; NO TESTING) $133.00 $133.00
 
,;I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
,;computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
,;when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
,;machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
,;Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
,;it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
,;before. Power supply is 350W.
Click to expand...

Was the "reinstall" an overlay of the OS or a clean ("format C:")
install?

I have had good luck with Mwave and the $9 fee for install and testing
is well worthwhile IMHO. No RMAs to worry about.
 
shcr said:
I've been trying to help my mom get her system running for months now. The
computer freezes (mouse stops and requires a reboot). No rhyme or reason to
when this will happen. All spyware, virus checking has been checked and the
machine is clear. A recent reinstall of the OS (winxp) didn't solve it.
Removing all the cards and running video/ethernet off the MB doesn't solve
it. I started on this in Nov. and she said the problems existed long
before. Power supply is 350W.

Now I'm down to Memory - Motherboard. Hate to invest any $ to test .
Click to expand...

Check out the memory: Download memtest86 from
http://www.memtest86.com and run it for a few cycles.
You should get zero errors.

-- Bob Day
 
I ran memtest86, and perhaps this is the answer.....but it won't run past
7-10% before it all freezes up. Tried several times, and that's as far as
it gets.
 
shcr said:
I ran memtest86, and perhaps this is the answer.....but it won't run
past 7-10% before it all freezes up. Tried several times, and
that's as far as it gets.
Click to expand...

When you have random lock ups, it usually memory.

--
Pee Pee Firefighter

_\ _ /_
____|_|______ __________________________
|| @| | | ||_________________________ |
||_/| |___| || | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| PeePee Fire || """""""""""""""""""""""" |
| Dept || OOO |
| ___ "" !!! ___ ___ |__
|___/ \_____________________/ \/ \___(_|
\___/ \___/\___/
 
shcr said:
I ran memtest86, and perhaps this is the answer.....but it won't run past
7-10% before it all freezes up. Tried several times, and that's as far as
it gets.
Click to expand...

If you have two memory modules, try using only one.

If you have one memory module, try another slot.

-- Bob Day
 
I'm going to post the steps taken, here if for nothing else, it might help
someone searching posts in the future.

had a friend bring over a 512 mb stick. (works). I put in slot 1, on
bootup the system sees it, as we get to loading windows.....black screen, no
further. So I move the stick to slot 2. Same result. Keep it in
slot 2, put the original stick (256mb) in slot 1. Boots up ok to Windows,
shows 700+ mg RAM.

Freezes even more quickly now. Can't get a power supply til next week to
try that.

The journey continues..............
 
shcr said:
I'm going to post the steps taken, here if for nothing else, it might help
someone searching posts in the future.

had a friend bring over a 512 mb stick. (works). I put in slot 1, on
bootup the system sees it, as we get to loading windows.....black screen, no
further. So I move the stick to slot 2. Same result. Keep it in
slot 2, put the original stick (256mb) in slot 1. Boots up ok to Windows,
shows 700+ mg RAM.

Freezes even more quickly now. Can't get a power supply til next week to
try that.

The journey continues..............
Click to expand...

Just out of curiousity, what's the CPU temp?
 
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