Custom PC Freezing - Cant figure out What is causing it

[jaybirdxkj]

My computer is having a problem with freezing at random. I posted a message not too long ago about this same problem but now Im pretty sure its not the cdrom thats causing the problem. Ive noticed that its pretty random now, when it freezes. Im wondering if I have a defective part or if there is a known conflict with the parts i have. Here are the specs - AMD 1.4 ghz cpu, 60gb 7200 maxtor hd, soyo k7dragon plus mobo, sony crx1611 burner, and a nvidia geforce2 mx400 agp card. My motherboard comes with raid but i dont use it right now - but would there be any software that i would have to install anyways? Im open to any suggestion. Thanx in advance.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

The freezing issue is most likely one of two things;

1. A driver issue. Check that you have the latest drivers for all of your hardware from the manufacturer's sites. Don't trust the ones that come with Windows!

2. A heat issue. Make sure you are using a decent thermal paste between your processor and heatsink and a powerful fan on the processor's heatsink. Also you should have two fans in your case, one at the front near the bottom, wired so that the airstream blows inwards, and one at the back, near the top, wired normally so that the air is pushed out the back. Athlons > 1Ghz need this extra airflow.

One other thing, I'd recommend a 300w PSU minimum, if you don't already have one.

You should have a floppy that come with the motherboard with the RAID driver on it - if not, it should be on the CD.

I hope this helps

 

[jaybirdxkj]

Thanx CitrixEngineer - I had a feeling it was either drivers or heat - I updated all my drivers (I think... Im still in that process really) And I installed a fan in the front. The other thing I did was update DirectX to 8.1. I'm still looking for the right IDE drivers, what I mean is that im still confused as to whether I should install the raid drivers even if im not going to use raid. Right now I only have 1 hd, so I dont need to use it, but I do need the right drivers for UDMA. Would better cables help too?
By the way - At the moment, Im running Internet Explorer, an updater for a game, and Compuserve and my chassis temp is 33C and my cpu temp is 44C. - I have a super mini orb cooling the proccessor with thermal compound between them. Is this adequate?

 

[jaybirdxkj]

I just found something that might be another problem and wanted some input: I have built in audio but i also have a sound card - right now i am only using the built in audio, and I noticed that it was on the same irq as both the video and the network controller. Could this be conflicting with the others and causing the system to freeze? B/c ive noticed that it tends to freeze mainly when im playing music - mostly mp3s that are burned onto a cd. Any suggestions?

 

[CitrixEngineer]

It does seem possible - although your PCI subsystem probably supports IRQ sharing.

If you can find a convenient free IRQ then you could try assigning it manually in Device Manager.

5 or 7 are good for soundcards, 3 is good for NICs and 10 or 11 are usually best for the video - but here I'm going back to the old days of 286, 386 and 486, when IRQs had to be assigned manually!

I hope this helps

 

[jaybirdxkj]

Thanx CitrixEngineer - but once again - this problem proves to be avaiding me with its origin. I disabled the sound completly and the computer still freezes - so now, Im truly baffled. Thanx for your help - Its givin me some ideas.

 

[MrMMM]

Hey,
I 've had a similar problem with a custom PC before. The problem for me was that I had two sticks of RAM fro different manufacturers (they were identical in everything else.) One I put in a single stick, the problem went away.

Just a thought...

Max

 

[Joelee]

I have the Soyok7 dragon board. You can install the raid drivers and the ata drivers for the other 2 ata connectors whether or not you use them. Make sure your raid is disabled on the board with the appropriate jumper settings, refer to the manual. I have a zip installled on the secondary set of ata connectors. Works great. Have you tried to remove the sound card to see if that helps. Do you have any conflicts in the device manager?
Joelee

 

[jaybirdxkj]

Hey Joelee - No I dont have any conflicts in the device manager - I will install the raid drivers. Im glad I could hear from someone else with the same board. The sound I am using right now is built in, so all I can do is disable it in the bios, and I have but it doesnt help. Thanx for all the help. Oh and MrMMM - I only have one stick of ram anyways - so I dont think thats the problem.

 

[HugoGuessit]

After going through everything listed above and still the same problems, I'd recommend the following. First, test in safe mode. Does it still freeze there? If so, it's probably mb, cpu, mem or ps. Second, try actually stripping the mb down to barest essentials (mb, cpu, mem, ps, vid card & hard drive.) Boot it and test like that. This removes as many variables as possible and should help you reduce the possible causes. Also, verify jumpers. Should they be Cable Select instead of Master/Slave?
That's my 2 cents. Good Luck. hg

 

[dakota81]

I'd take a guess and say your stick of ram is bad. Computers are not good at detecting defective ram, and that would cause seemingly random lockups.

 

[ANFPS26]

I would suspect the ram stick, also. How much ram is it? You may not have enough. You need at least 256MB.