Computer tech support
 

My Desk top has been rendered useless. Please help

I currently have a P4 3.6G PC with 1.5G RAM, Brand new Power supply, Brand new 500G HDD.

What is happening is when the system boots is goes past the post and loads windows. At what seems to be a random time the system freezes. Total lock up. Some times Windows is up and I've launched software, some times it will lock up before windows it up.
CPU heat sync was clogged full but now temp does not exceed 30C
AGP graphics card's heat sync was also jammed with dust.
It appear to run fine in Safe mod.
This leads me to believe it may be the video card. (just upgraded my Monitor to a 22" LCD) but It's AGP so replacement is a waste of money

Any help would be very help full

thanks
J

Hi Jason,

I agree that it sounds like a Video card issue. but more so possible just a driver issue. Can you provide more details on the video card? my guess is it is an ATI of some sort.

Since it works fine in Safe mode. Go in and uninstall any Video card drivers & or software, then reboot in to normal mode and when winblows detects new hardware, dont let it install the drivers. instead ,goto the manufactures website and download the most current drivers.

I'm not a computer expert by any means. I tend to tinker from time to time myself but for what it's worth:
Your idea would lead me to believe the same thing: its your video card. Another possibility that it might be is that your power supply is also full of dust etc and burned itself out. Have you received any power spikes/power bumps lately? It'll have to be replaced then. This happened to me and even with a "surge protector" I actually fried my motherboard. The computer still works but not to it's proper function(s) and sometimes intermittedly. You can tell this by looking at your MB. If the capacitors (if you don't know; they look like little pop canson the board) have "popped" it's fried. The tops are supposed to be flat, not curved or even have stuff 'leaking' out of them.
Last but not least it might just be a virus. If you actually get it running on the net do a search for "Housecall". Its a free online virus scanner. It'll ask you to download something but it's required to do the search then let'er fly. I've saved a few PCs with this.
Pending that, you're into a bit of money. If that's the case upgrade to a MAC:twised:!
Just a few ideas.....

Just a newbie.........

Usually
 

Usually if you can boot in Safe mode but have problems in "live" mode, it is a driver or software issue. Thats my crap load of years experience anyway.

Glenn

Friend had this problem a few weeks ago...

I doubt its your video card as stated above. Its probably a registry issue or software issue caused by a virus.

Start the computer with the windows CD
select R for repair, then at the prompt type chkdsk/s
once its complete you will probably have to type chkdsk/r (repair)
and exit once finished

If that doesnt work try:
boot with windows CD
select R for repair
at the prompt type bootcfg /rebuild
when it says Add installation to boot list? Press Y
then it will say Enter Load Identifier type windows xp (or your version)
then it will say Enter OS load options: type /fastdetect
once complete take the disk out and type exit

Give it a try and see how it goes. If everything does work out, then I would download AVG (free antivirus) and Search and Destroy (free spyware). If you do have virus I would run it twice for each. Also download reg seeker to clean up your registry.

Hope it helps,

Thanks all I'll give each a try

J

Is this 500gb including a fresh install of Windows XP, and this problem only started since your fresh install?

I would certainly assume one way or the other it is a driver issue.. Was your previous harddrive IDE, and the new on SATA ? Did you install the latest drivers for your motherboard chipset ?

You might also want to go into your control panel, administrative tools, event viewer, and check your system log for errors. Might point you in the right direction.

Final vote, chipset drivers or ram issue

I don't mean to sound rude, but Phanman that's some last resort problem solving that shouldn't be attempted unless your system gives you an error of "Missing Operating System" or "No Boot Disk", etc type messages.

If you want to check your harddrive for errors, I would suggest:

Goto start, run, type in "cmd" without quotes

Enter "chkdsk c: /f" without quotes into the command prompt, enter "y" to check system on reboot

Reboot your system, and windows will check and repair any file system issues before windows starts

I only stated what I did to fix my friends computer... weither he decides to do it is up to him. If he feels that there are other possible solutions he's more comfortable doing then so be it.

500GB did require a fresh install of XP but it ran fine for 2 months

Yes I did but am kinda unsure if I found the correct drivers

Did that, nothing glaringly obvious. No errors at all

I did run MEMTEST86+ and it found no memory errors, But I like the chipset Idea. Only problem is the HDD has been running fine for a month now. Would a chipset driver issue wait to show itself for about a month

Hmm, a chipset driver would cause an issue right from the start. If I had to take a stab in the dark, I would think its possible you installed the incorrect version... but a windows update came down and replaced the 'wrong' drivers with current 'wrong' ones maybe?

Reboot your system, on the BIOS post screen (showing install hds, memory test, etc), press 'pause/break' key, and depending on bios/mobo brand it should have a string with the correct model number...

Theres a number of ways to figure out your chipset.. the bios post screen, opening the case and physically looking on the motherboard for brand/model ... But if its a generic pc (ie; dell/hp/compaq/etc) you will have to goto their support site and enter your pc model found on the case somewhere...

Video or recent MS update....

Hmm, why does everyone agree that it is a video card issue? Personally in my experience and opinion, I would think that would be the *last* thing. Random lock ups that cannot be reproduced are almost always bad ram, or a driver issue.

Never actually seen RAM go bad if it worked out of the box. Sure, it can happen, but not very often. By video, I mean driver for video. Only recent change (aside from unknown MS updates) is new monitor, with a different resolution. My guess the driver is having trouble with this setting. Hence, why it works in safe mode, different display properties. Simple.

Funny you say that because I ran Windows update the other day and there where a ton of fixes. I can't remember if that was before or after the problem started but I'm thinking it was before.


If i could ask. My MB is a Gigabit GA-81PE1000 could someone point me to where I would find the chipset drivers

J

Whatever update Microsoft pushed out this week wreaked havoc with my two XP machines. My PVR PC wouldn't shutdown tidily on it's own Windows Update reboot, and my desktop is only booting up properly about 1 time out of 10 attempts (and it's incredibly slow to boot up .. like .. 10 minutes of staring at the little blue bars move sideways under the XP logo).

Yay Microsoft!

But oh ya'. I kind of agree with the video driver card too as a potential culprit. 9 times out of 10 I've had hardware problems it's been a bad video card driver, a bad video card, or even sometimes it just wasn't seated properly in the slot (ie., needed a wiggle and thump to get it to shove in the last few microns and connect up properly).

Sometimes just moving the PC around with the cables plugged in, the cable can yank on the video card and that's all it takes. Anyhow, it's worth opening up the case and doing some gentle percussive maintenance on the card. Methinks anyhow..

The gigabit mobo model is GA-8IPE1000 (8I not 81), but there is a couple different models and revisions. They all seem to use the same chipset (Intel 865PE), but none the less, lets get it right the first time!

How to identify revision:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/M...spx?FAQID=2234

Choose your board:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/M...tID=0&CPUType=

I hope it works!

You are right, I should have phrased it as "almost always a driver issue, or bad ram." :redface:

I love trial and error troubleshooting over the internet! haha

Ya, nothing quite like it. :) Although getting a user on the phone that isn't sure which is the computer and which is the monitor is a bit tough too - lol

OK I've just about performed every proceedure listed here.

I've ensured the Chipset is correct and updated the drivers (it was the correct driver)
I've uninstalled the Nvidia 5700FX card.
Deleted all Nvidia software
Scanned HDD for errors (none found)
Still have the issue
Verified Bios set up

Anything I might have missed.

J

i had a similar issue when i upgraded my monitor. i had a agp card but it could not handle my new lcd monitor. i then built a new computer with a pci video card and it worked fine. if you still have the old monitor see if the computer will work with it. worth a try.

Jason

I agree with silverplanet....plug the old monitor back in. Undo what you last did.

Scott

Yup.

Well I sold it so I no longer have it. Dam

J

Well I'm kinda Stupid. The comupter dual boots to Lynx but haven't used it for ever.

So I boot to Lynx and it locks up instantly. So I'm calling it Hardware

J