PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!! PC Keeps locking

[scowen]

My PC keeps locking up after an unspecified ammount of time. It can be anything between 10 secs from turn on to about 10 mins. But it just freezes and the monitor returns to "No signal detected"

Things I have checked

I have removed all cards and reseated
I have removed memory and reseated
The CPU fan is fine and cooling
The PSU fan is fine and cooling

Please help thi sis my only PC and I need it desparately.

It is one of these mother boards with all the bits onboard ie soundcard and video etc.
It is a pakard bell. It is about 3 yrs old.


Many Many Many
THanks

Simon

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Try disabling Power Management. There may be a BIOS setting you can change (preferable), or you can do this within Windows. CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[fabrik]

i have been having the same problem for several months - it started happening around the same time i installed a modem, so i thought it was modem-related, but later found it wasn't. then thought it was a bad hard drive, bad memory, corrupted system files, etc. but none of these, when replaced, solved the problem. i then decided it could only be electrical/power problems in my apartment building or a bad motherboard. now, i'm pretty sure the board is damaged because similar to you, i can keep my computer on for over a day sometimes and other times it will freeze two minutes into a session. i have an asus a7s-vm board and i've purchased it twice because the last one had problems too. apparently, it's a very fragile board and the slightest electrical surge or static current can fry it - even though i have a high rated surge suppressor, there's still the possibility extra electricity is still bypassing it and reaching the motherboard. i have a feeling this could have happened to you - but hopefully not. the other major cause for hard locks is bad memory. it is possible your chip is corrupted in some way, have you run any memory testing programs? (I have used MemMXtest and Memtest86 - maybe you should try those first) You can also try power management, but if that doesn't work, and your memory seems fine, i'd see if you can try and replace the motherboard, if you're protected by warranty.

 

[Guest_imported]

Since you've stated the problem can sometimes occur within 10 seconds, we can presumably rule out the operating system as blowing it out. Does your BIOS have any options to read CPU or motherboard temperatures? If yes, what are they?

Presumably you can get the same problem if you boot up to, say, a DOS system floppy disk. If yes, then try disconnecting the hard drive and CD-ROM, i.e. pull off both ribbon and power cables. If problem goes away, then suspect the PSU - try temporarily replacing it...

Look for the "disable on-board video" jumper, and try plugging in a known good video card. See if that solves it...

Good luck!


ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[limeman]

I hope you have made a backup of your vital data. I agree with Roger (G0AOZ) disable your sound and video, then install a generic video card (PCI) and reboot. Or try replacing the memory. Do you have more than one stick in the machine? IF yes, then take one out and try it, then switch around. Keep us updated

 

[ceh4702]

No signal detected can be a message from your monitor if it is fairly new. If the Computer freezes it may not send any more video. I have a monitor at home that sends me messages quite often while rebooting windows. It is part of the energy conservation green hardware built into the monitor.

I like the idea about the operating temperatures of the CPU Some BIOS have automatic shutdown based on a maximum temperature of the CPU. If the Fan on your CPU cooler is plugged into the motherboard and it is not working it could automatically shut the system down or significantly reduce the bus speed of the processor till it cools down enough to run.

Sometimes the BIOS has a hybernate option that is probably better to be left turned off. It can cause problems. I had an FIC AD11 motherboard and it caused me all kinds of intermittent problems.

Your modem could be causing a problem try disabling it and see if it happens. I had a conflict once between my modem and a serial mouse. When I moved the mouse with the modem on it would crash or freeze up. A mouse can also cause problems if it is bad.

You could also have a memory leak in a program that just uses all of your resources. You fix this by hitting ctrl-alt-del and disabling one program at a time to see if it makes a difference. It is a kind of hit and miss deal. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[gguerra]

scowen. A good rule of thumb is use process of elimination. Lets rule out hardware as the culprit first. If you are using windows 9x, boot up to the command prompt using F8 at boot time. If you are using another OS create a boot disk with DOS (Can be Win98 DOS). Boot up to command prompt and let it run. If after a while no lockup, you can rule out hardware. If it locks up or dies while at the command prompt I would look at inproper cooling (cpu overheating), RAM or video (slight chance of it being faulty motherboard). If everything seems fine after an hour or so, I would then proceed to checking software (OS). Boot up windows in safe mode and let it sit. For now try these first steps and we'll take it from there. check back later

 

[scowen]

Many thanks for all your kind suggestions. They have been very very helpful. The problem I was faced with was that it was not my pc. It was a friend of mine who lives 1hrs journey away. All the support I have given was by he phone, also my friend is not a techie either.
Going back to my original post you will see the process I had been through. I had her test the CPU fan whick was fine. The CPU fan which was fine. It deffinatley is not the OS as she uses a removable hard drive and she runs Win ME or Win2k. The problem is the same on either. Also it said that it might lock up after about 10 secs at that point the PC has not yet booted in to the OS. I aksed her to remove everything ie cards and cables and re-insert. This was fine too. I feel its not a power save issue as when the problem happens, you cannot reawake the PC. Also I feel its a system lock and not a monitor problem because I asked her to totaly disconnect the monitro and then turn it on. After a few minutes with the monitor not being there, the PC deffinatly locked, it gave a sort of a click and the drive light stopped flashing never to flash again. So it only really leaves some sort of an intermittant fault.
:-( I even got her to GENTLY give it a tap in case of dry joints or loose connection. ANYway that being the case she has now taken it in to a shop :-( close by. I just hope I havnt missed anything glaringly obvious and that they dont rip her off. BUT MANY MANY thanks for all your efforts, isnt this a great place for help. Thanks to you all SIMON

 

[scowen]

OOppsss slight update to my last post. When I said CPU for the second time, I actually meant PSU fan was fine.
Sorry

 

[Guest_imported]

Ok Simon, no problem. Hope your friend gets it fixed without having to dig too deep into her pocket. Perhaps you could kindly post back the answer in due course...


ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[scowen]

Once again thanks for everyones help. It turned out when she got all her paperwork out she had taken out a three back to base warranty. This covered everthing .
Anyway what they did was to replace the motherboard so looking back on many of the suggestions you had all given I reckon it was all pointing to a new mother board.
Thanks again

Simon