My PC with AMD K6-2 at 550 MHz just dies at random

[SupaDupaFunksta]

Hi,

I get no error message. I get no blue screen. My monitor simply says "No Signal" as if I'd put it into a power management sleep mode. However, no movement of the mouse or the keyboard will bring anything back up. The PC looks and sounds like it is still running just fine though.

Any suggestions? I've already been considering the heat issue. Also, I've wondered whether it may be my 4 year old power supply. A bad power supply can cause a lot of problems that look like CPU or Windows errors.

Thanks.

 

[Mulga]

I assume you have checked out the monitor? probably not that though if it is giving you a "No Signal" message. This may be a clue, there are many things that could cause this but I would be first looking at the monitor data cable and then at the video card. Check the connections and seating for both of these, if this is ok try replacing them with known good units if possible. Let us know if this does or does not solve the problem and if not we can take it from there. All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.

 

[Accessdabbler]

Sounds like a problem that I was having. The monitor would suddenly go black but the keyboard and mouse wouldn't respond. Computer sounded like it was still running (but it wasn't responding).

This problem plagued me for some time. The fix?

First, try to determine EXACTLY what motherboard you have. I then flashed the BIOS to the newest version. Then, I downloaded the latest drivers for my chipset (I used the drivers from VIA's website instead of the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer). Finally, I updated my video drivers to the most recent ones.

I'm not sure which step fixed the problem but the "black screen" has virtually disappeared completely. I suspect that the problem may have been that my particular motherboard had 3 versions, KT7, KT7A and KT7A version 3. I think I originally had the KT7 drivers installed when my mobo was actually a KT7A.

These steps also fixed another oddball problem I was having... USB devices causing lockups. I now use a USB mouse with no problems.

Let me know if this works for you.

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

I too had this problem some time ago and I got round it by changing the power settings to ALWAYS ON and making the other readings read never. It's OK now.

But I fancy Mulga is probably right (he generally is except the skiing through a revolving door bit, I do that most Saturday nights ................... actually I think it's an ordinary door, but it always appears to be spinning, and my feet always look like I'm wearing skis. I must take more water with it).

I take it that this error has suddenly manifested itself and that you haven't experienced any other quirky things like viewing in monochrome, or screen flashes and the like? COFFEE.EXE missing - Insert Cup and Press Any Key.
Regards
Phil
Please tell me if the answer I gave was helpful or a bus ride out. Without your feedback I won't know.

 

[ANFPS26]

"But I fancy Mulga is probably right (he generally is except the skiing through a revolving door bit, I do that most Saturday nights ................... actually I think it's an ordinary door, but it always appears to be spinning, and my feet always look like I'm wearing skis. I must take more water with it)." Good one!!

Make sure the monitor cable is connected securely to your video card and that it is not damamged. Also, make sure the video card is seated well into the connector. (As Mulga suggested). You might disable power management in the bios, also, if you have that option.
Please come back and let us know if your problem is fixed and what fixed it!!

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

Hello Again,

I actually did what Crustyoldbloke suggested (the other night) and at the time of writing my first post the problem had not come up again. Maybe that actually fixed it!

I hope so.



Thanks Guys!

I'll keep you posted if that didn't take care of it.

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

Hello (yet again),

Well, changing my BIOS to Always On and my power saving settings to "Never" did not fix my problem. I just don't think that I was on the computer for long enough last night so the problem didn't occur. It looks like it takes between 2.5 to 3 hours for it to happen. I'm starting to be even more convinced that its either a heat problem or a power supply problem. I'm leaning more toward a power supply problem because the system doesn't blue screen or reboot itself (which is what AMD chips tend to do when they overheat). Also, the room in which I have my PC is "frickin' freezing Mr. Bigglesworth". It's about 3 or 4 degrees Celsius below room temperature in here.

However, that being said I'm willing to be open minded about the heat problem and/or any software issues that may be causing this.

I'm starting to get pretty frustrated here.

Thanks.

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

Can you check your CPU temp in BIOS? If so, run your PC for an hour just opening and closing applications and do a restart a couple of times, just to build up a bit of heat and have a look at the temp.

My son has the same CPU and his temp, he says, never goes above 50C. COFFEE.EXE missing - Insert Cup and Press Any Key.
Regards
Phil
Please tell me if the answer I gave was helpful or a bus ride out. Without your feedback I won't know.

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

To "Crustyoldbloke",

Unfortunately, I can't check my CPU temperature in BIOS. My mother board doesn't support that function. If it was over heating though, I would suspect it was possibly the heat transfer compound that I put on the processor before I attach the heat sink.

I've purchased a new power supply that I will be receiving shortly. I will install that first and see what happens. If that doesn't fix it then I will take off my CPU's heat sink and re-apply the heat transfer compound.

Thanks for your help.

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

Hey everyone,

Guess what? I think I've solved my "black screen" problem and an audio prblem as well.
I downloaded a "PCI Latency Patch" from the following link...

http://www.georgebreese.com/net/software/

This took care of my audio problem. It also appears that my "black screen" problem has dissappeared as well. I had my computer running for hours yesterday after installing the patch and I've had no more problems.

Coincidently, my video card shares the PCI bus with my audio card.

Thanks!

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

I never would have thought of that. Well done. Here's hoping. Error! Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue........??????
Phil
Please tell me if the answer I gave was helpful or a bus ride out. Without your feedback I won't know.

 

[Accessdabbler]

~cough~

My earlier post suggested updating the motherboard chipset drivers. Had he done so, he would have gotten this latency patch as part of the driver package.

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

To "Accessdabbler",

The first step I took to correct this problem was to update my BIOS and 4-in-1 drivers to the latest versions that I could find. I did that before I submitted my first post (see top of this page)

However, the patch that finally fixed the problem is NOT an offical patch from VIA and does not come as part of their 4-in-1 driver package (the latest one is 4.43 I believe). You can't find it on their web site (not that I'm aware of anyway).

I found the patch when I typed in "sound board crackle" in Google. There were a number of results in that search that pointed me in the right direction but finding the actual download link for the patch was difficult. It took me a while but I finally found it at about 1:00am on Sunday morning (I had been working on it all day Saturday).

I'm an engineer and, although I'm by no means an expert with PCs, I did suspect that the sound card "crackling" problem was a PCI bus issue. Especially because the problem got worse when I ran anything even remotely graphics heavy. I'm using an Xpert 128 PCI graphics card. What I didn't expect, until after reading about the PCI latency problem, was that the same thing that caused my audio problem was probably causing my "black screen" problem as well. I ran my PC really hard for the entire day yesterday (after installing the patch) and not once did I experience the video loss problem.

Needless to say I'm a really happy camper now. I have a refurnished Windows 98SE PC from 1998 that almost runs better than my Windows 2000 PC from 2001.

My next mission: Get the newer PC working better.

Thanks.

 

[SupaDupaFunksta]

I meant "refurbished" NOT "refurnished" by the way.

:|

 

[Accessdabbler]

~cough, again~

Sorry, I was wrong. The latency patch isn't part of the driver package. After reading up a little on it, I'm a little puzzled why VIA doesn't have any mention of it on their site.