XP Randomly Freezing !

barrett · Joined: Nov 06, 2006 Posts: 3

ok so i have a Gigabyte motherboard (GA-M52S-S3P , REV 2.0) with the latest BIOS version, a AMD 4800 Processor with stock cooler a Nvidia GeForce 7100 GS graphics card and RA link wireless PCI card, and 2 x 1GB sticks of RAM (dual channel )

and a 250GB SATA Hard drive

and this computer will randomly freeze (some times on the bios settings page and sometimes within the OS) when it does freeze the screen stays on but i have no input with the computer and have to reboot

does any one know what this could be
Thanks Graham

Werebo · Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject:

Ooohh, as it occasionally freezes on the BIOS page, that would indicate a hardware problem.

I assume from your listing, you have built this PC yourself - or had it built for you.

Start by making sure all the cards - graphics, RAM PCI etc, are fully seated in the sockets and screws are tightened securely.

Then check ALL the connections at both ends of the wires and cables, where possible. Also, check that none of the wires and cables are trapped between anything. It's easy to get a wire nipped between the bits, inside a PC.

It's a rather remote possibility nowadays, but check the boards for any chips that are mounted in socket- a opposed to being soldered to the board. There's a chance they might have slightly crept out the socket.

barrett · Joined: Nov 06, 2006 Posts: 3

yup, it's a self build.

so far i have swaped the RAM Out and it still froze with different RAM in

the cpu temp is 32 deg C and the sytem temp is 24 deg C

checked all pci and graphics cards are in properly and such like

what would you recoment next?

Thanks for the quick reply
Graham

BudDurland · Joined: Dec 05, 2002 Posts: 417

I concur with Werebo's diagnosis as a hardware problem. When the machine hangs, if you leave it for a long time (10-30 minutes), does it "un-hang"? In that case, the problem is like a hardware piece that generates interrupts, such as the hard drive, or the network card. Other than that, I'd start by swapping the power supply. Some AMD CPUs are sensitive to wobbly voltage.

goretsky

Hello,

Have you verified that the CPU is seated firmly in its socket and that the motherboard is not accidentally grounding on any part of the chassis?

Have you tried running a self-booting program such as MemTest86+ for an extended period of time? It is not impossible that you received two bad sets of memory modules in a row, although it is very unlikely.

Do you have another motherboard you can try components such as the processor and memory in?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky