hardware trouble or software trouble? need help bad...

[abolith]

Well i was trying to help out a good friend who was using a pirated copy of XP and was having system lockup troubles. So I gave him my extra (legal) copy of 2K and did the whole format/reinstall of everything. Updated all security, got a viris scanner, Firefox, spybot, reconfigured the router/firewall ect.. everything he would need to stay secure and happy. but within 15 minutes that damn thing started the system lockups again. search as I might I simply cannot figure out what the trouble may be. No Viriuses, no spyware/malware found so my best guess is hardware, but at this point I am in over my head and am in need of some help because I can't just leave him out there hanging with a screwed up computer, afterall I did start to help him so I gotta finish the job. So does ANYONE have ANY ideas as to what this could be???




his system specs are as follows:

N2U400-A Nforce Mobo (USB 2.0, ATA133, DDR 400/FSB 400 support)
Athlon XP 3100
512Mb DDR400 (Micron)
Maxtor 30 Gig
Maxotr 250 Gig (uses some kind of card to get the full 250)
ATI all-in-Wonder (9600)
unknown brand Ethernet card

[JPMiller]

What power supply?
Use EverestHome to view the temps and Voltage rails...

[abolith]

What power supply?
Use EverestHome to view the temps and Voltage rails...

now that is a good question... I don't know but I will find out tonight. you think that could be the trouble ??



also I found out it couldn't be overheating (i called him just after posting this thread to find out the temo) it remains at about 48C.

[Xtreeme]

Random lockups can also be mem or mobo. Run memtest 86 on it and see if you get errors.
http://www.memtest86.com/

[Dax_Brandy]

i agree, it could also be a memory problem. try to re-seat all plugged hardware (memory, vga, any pci cards). also, clean the pc from dust particles. those things build up heat in the system.

check also if the BIOS settings are setup properly. check the fsb, multiplier, frequencies, etc.
these basic settings can sometimes become the cause of windows instability.

[xcheck2430]

make sure no dust is stuck between the ram and mobo. also make sure that ur cpu isnt too hot. everest will do the trick

[abolith]

thanks for all the help guys. doesn't seem to be a heat issue, and the Bios and FSB mulitpliers all appear to be correct, I am going to try and knock the FSB down to 333 and see if that solves it (after I clean the damn thing, he didn't tell me it had so much dust)

Also could dirty power form a not so top of the line PS cause it to lock up on a reg basis??

[paul9]

Also could dirty power form a not so top of the line PS cause it to lock up on a reg basis??

yes, but clean that dust out of the cpu heatsink first

[large_nostril]

Sounds more like a heat issue to me. Do as paul suggested and what kind of heatsink does the system have? What temps are reported in the BIOS and what kind of thermal compound was used?

[abolith]

Sounds more like a heat issue to me. Do as paul suggested and what kind of heatsink does the system have? What temps are reported in the BIOS and what kind of thermal compound was used?

What temps are reported in the BIOS: 45-48C

What temps are reported in the BIOS: Arctic Silver 5, He had it in backwards when he first built the system but I noticed that it was running at 80C and fixed that. now it is always as noted above.

[large_nostril]

I noticed that it was running at 80C

That might have been enough to actually cause damage to the CPU. I'm not saying that's the problem, just saying it's a possibility.

Otherwise 45-48*C is a bit high but should be fine. I have an Athlon XP 2400+ system that'll freeze if the temps get to 50*C so it still could be a possibility.


Next thing to do is run memtest (link above in Xtreeme's post). If everything passes, run it 2 or 3 more times. After that, use CodeStuff Starter to manage what's being started with Windows. Also monitor the running processes (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and see if anything is using a lot of CPU/RAM.

[Dax_Brandy]

have you run any registry cleaner softwares? try the regcleaner or system mechanic to clean out all invalid registry entries...

[abolith]

have you run any registry cleaner softwares? try the regcleaner or system mechanic to clean out all invalid registry entries...

I'll give that a try but seeing how it is a fresh install i wouldn't think that there are invalid registry entries.

[dday]

I just got driven nuts by a bad stick of memory on a Compact a couple of weeks ago. Had to have a buddy check it out cuz I got so frustrated with it. I'm not really patient sometimes when I've spent several 1/2 hours messing around with somebody's puter. Sometimes I need to just walk away from it for awhile, but my Type A personality overrides common sense.

[stepney]

ok

[stepney]

ne one here?

[abolith]

well just for others who may have this same trouble, I think I found it ...finally. it seems that the HD is partly bad. if it is used as a boot device it causes the perviously mentioned trouble, but if it is not used as a boot device than all runs smoothly. not really sure why this is as no scans or software checks on the HD have found anything wrong... I have since purchased a new HD to replace it and placed the old one back in it's proper PC.


now what to do with the bad HD......(can anyone say Target practice )


thanks all for your help