# PC FREEZING (Win XP)



## Hoosh1 (May 26, 2005)

Hello all,

I have a custom built pc running windows XP Home.  After being on for a while it was freezing up and the user said that they just wanted os wiped anyway so i formated the drive and installed Win XP Home.  If it was a software issue that should solve it anyway.  However the PC still freezes, even more now that before.  I have tested the memory and the hard drive and results have come back good for both.  I thought perhaps the CPU is getting hot as the system is a few years old now but when i took the heatsink and fan off it didnt feel hot and the temp gage never gets above 44c/111f (this is ok i presume).  And it still freezes when started up cold. Sometimes straight away other times it will be ok for a while then freeze. There is no other hardware installed apart from video card which is original. And no other software apart from OS.  Not sure what else to test apart from motherboard itself.  I was sure it was the memory but as i said the test came back ok.  Could it still be faulty?  

Spec is Pentium 4 1.7GHz
256mb Ram
Maxtor Hdd
Win XP Home
Nvidia Video Card

Many Thanks for any help

Hoosh


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## elmarcorulz (May 26, 2005)

well a) what motherbaord do you have, and b) what graphcis card do you have, all youve put is nvidia graphics card.


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## Lax (May 26, 2005)

> i took the heatsink and fan off it didnt feel hot and the temp gage never gets above 44c/111f (this is ok i presume).



Probably not the best idea to even run the CPU without a heatsink & fan. 111F is ok but I hope you didn't run it for longer than a few seconds without the fan and heatsink (possibility of frying the chip).

Also what socket chip is it and like mentioned, what Nvidia card and drivers?


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## Hoosh1 (May 26, 2005)

Video Card: NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64
Motherbaord: Support Socket 478B processor for Intel PentiumÒ 4 (mPGA478) package processor ,Support 400/533MHz(P4XFA)
Memory: PC100 Samsung DDR 256mb


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## Lax (May 26, 2005)

> Motherbaord: Support Socket 478B processor for Intel PentiumÒ 4 (mPGA478) package processor ,Support 400/533MHz(P4XFA)
> Memory: PC100 Samsung DDR 256mb



You sure you don't mean PC2100? I didn't think they made an S478 mobo that used PC100 memory.


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## Hoosh1 (May 26, 2005)

Yea sorry PC2100.  And I didn't have pc on at the time when heatsink and fan were of.


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## just_a_nobody (May 27, 2005)

Put the CPU heatsink and fan back on.  Did you re-install the correct motherboard drivers?  Also, check the motherboard for any capacitors that are bulging at the top, or may be leaking.


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## 4W4K3 (May 27, 2005)

My gf's PC does this as well...randomly freezes. All hardware works fine, i used to use it b4 she did and never had this problem.

Narrowed it down best i could to this. She is on 56K VPN connection through her moms work. she has to dial into a work server whenever she wants to connect. ONLY when she is connected to the internet does her computer freeze. It will stay on for days un-connected...but when connected it's hard to keep it on for more than a few hours.

I have no idea why it does this, could be dialing in software is crap, could be modem is crap, but i know its no viruses or anything like that.


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## Praetor (May 29, 2005)

> i took the heatsink and fan off it didnt feel hot and the temp gage never gets above 44c/111f (this is ok i presume).


That temperature's gotta be the mobo temp. Not a chance thats gonna be the CPU temp


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## rufnkz (May 30, 2005)

Check around the area where the power supply attaches to the motherboard and see if there are any capacitors that have bulged. Could possibly be the MB that is going.


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## Hoosh1 (May 30, 2005)

I have booted the machine up in safe mode and it stays on without freezing. I have just reinstalled Windows XP Home so it seems strange that this is the case as they is no other hardware installed apart from floppy disk, 2 cd roms and original video card. As it stays ok in safe mode it must be a driver problem? If it was a hot cpu then it would freeze in either mode wouldnt it?

There doesnt seem to be any leaks on the motherboard


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## rufnkz (May 30, 2005)

Works OK in safe mode that is good. Is this machine being Oc'd? Check your bios settings. If you have a default bios setting choose that then reboot and see if it still happens. Did this problem just startup or have you had this problem awhile? Have you done a RAM test yet? So many questions but need to have more info please.


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## Lax (May 31, 2005)

> Hello all,
> I have a custom built pc running windows XP Home.  After being on for a while it was freezing up and the user said that they just wanted os wiped anyway so i formated the drive and installed Win XP Home.  If it was a software issue that should solve it anyway.  However the PC still freezes, even more now that before.  I have tested the memory and the hard drive and results have come back good for both.  I thought perhaps the CPU is getting hot as the system is a few years old now but when i took the heatsink and fan off it didnt feel hot and the temp gage never gets above 44c/111f (this is ok i presume).  And it still freezes when started up cold. Sometimes straight away other times it will be ok for a while then freeze. There is no other hardware installed apart from video card which is original. And no other software apart from OS.  Not sure what else to test apart from motherboard itself.  I was sure it was the memory but as i said the test came back ok.  Could it still be faulty?
> 
> Spec is Pentium 4 1.7GHz
> ...



Pretty sure he gave a good amount of info already on what his problem was, read all the thread first before posting stuff that has been said.


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## Hoosh1 (May 31, 2005)

Thanks Lord AnthraX. But just to confirm, the user tells me that they have had this problem for about a month.  I have tested the ram and even changed it.  I have reset the bios settings to default and rebooted.  Video Card has been changed with one in my pc and new drivers installed. There Hard Drive has been tested and wiped with XP Home reinstalled (no other software) but problem persists apart from in Safe Mode.


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## kof2000 (May 31, 2005)

i had my fan on low and burning a dual layer dvd and it frozed!! lol i then turn the nob to make the fan go max and then try burning a 2nd dual layered dvd and pray that it wont freeze again and it didnt so it COULD be a temperature issue. check the temperature while in the windows not in the bios


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## Hoosh1 (May 31, 2005)

I have installed Motherboard Monitor and CPUIdle.  This shows that the highest CPU temp was 42C (107F) and it sits at an average of 34C (100F).  I have also installed it on my machine and the readings are pretty much identical.  And if the cpu was getting too hot wouldnt it slowly get hotter and hotter?  Also the pc stays on for hours in Safe mode with no problem, again if the cpu was getting hot wouldnt it freeze the pc in safe mode aswell? I tried to installed Office 2000 and the temp didnt go up that much before it froze.  However it will just freeze when idle as well.


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## Hoosh1 (May 31, 2005)

I have changed the colour quality of the display to Medium (16bit) and at present all seems to be ok (fingers crossed) I have managed to install Office 2000 and Norton Anti Virus with no freezing as yet so maybe the problem lies there somewhere but I am not sure why that would be - any ideas?  Thanks for help guys and i could yet be back!!

Hoosh


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## Praetor (May 31, 2005)

> if it was a hot CPU then it would freeze in either mode wouldnt it?


yes


maybe you could do a register dump. i outline how to do that in the *QUESTIONS 101*.


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## Hoosh1 (Jun 1, 2005)

Looks like changing Video Card Setting hasnt worked although i have managed to install quite a bit of software back on and the pc seemed ok it has just frozen again so back to square 1!!  I will try that reg dump


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## Hoosh1 (Jun 1, 2005)

I have tried 101 Questions to get info on cpuz but the link doesnt work. 

Not sure what to do now as I have changed the video card, memory tested the HDD and the cpu temp seems to be ok.  I have taken the motherboard out and checked it over (all seems ok) also reseated everything including the cpu.  Is it a case of buying a new motherboard?  the thing that gets me is that it works in safe mode fine suggesting a driver or hardware problem but there is no new hardware on there and all drivers are whatever the new install on win xp has installed. It was freezing before new install as well.


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## randruff (Jun 1, 2005)

Since it appears you have thoroughly tested the hardware components, that leads me to beleive you are having a software issue. You mentioned you have reinstalled XP a couple of times, are you installing with the same disc every time? Do you have another XP cd you could install with? I am thinking that, possibly, when a windows driver or such is being extracted from the CD onto the HDD during install, it is not doing so correctly and is corrupted. Safe mode, as im sure you know, only loads the very minumum to get Windows up and running so if you are not having issues within that enviroment, it sounds like a secondary driver or something is faulty. Just my opinion.


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## Hoosh1 (Jun 1, 2005)

I could try reinstalling again with another XP disk.  The problem was happening before I did the re install aswell though but it is worth a try!!


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## Praetor (Jun 2, 2005)

> I have tried 101 Questions to get info on cpuz but the link doesnt work.


Works here, here's a direct one http://www.cpuid.org/download/cpu-z-128.zip



> I was sure it was the memory but as I said the test came back ok. Could it still be faulty?


How did you test it? Memtest?


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## Hoosh1 (Jun 4, 2005)

I'll try Cpuz now - link works so thanks. 
 I replaced the memory and it still froze.  I think i am going to buy another motherboard as think this is the only answer?  As everything else has been changed, also booted into safe mode and froze after a while in that aswell.


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## BishBosh (Jun 5, 2005)

> As everything else has been changed, also booted into safe mode and froze after a while in that aswell


I think I've read the whole thread correctly (could be wrong) but I don't see a mention that you changed the graphics card.

If you have, sorry for being thick, else, give it a go.

When a PC freezes yet system memory checks fine, the problem is frequently due to a PCI bridge chip getting upset .. in that if both channels in the bridge enter "retry" the PCI bus will get locked and the mouse, keyboard etc. won't work anymore.

A bit "techy" (sorry) but your symptoms say if it isn't the video card (nowt else fitted, right?) then the mobo is likely to be faulty (but the memory chips are not so can be salvaged if wanted).


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## Hoosh1 (Jun 8, 2005)

Sounds like a good theory Bishbosh.  I have actually ordered a new motherboard becuase that is all i could think it could be after testing/changing everything else!!  I did change the graphics card by putting in the card from my pc.  So fingers crossed that the new board will solve the problem!!


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## shreypuranik2005 (Jun 10, 2005)

I am guessing that this is due to the specs. Especially since this is a custom made pc, this should be a very rare problem. But I seem to recall a friend having the same problem and the only way forward was to inspect the HD and if it is freezing very often say every 10 minutes, then it likely that your HD needs a clean switch.


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## joshj (Jun 10, 2005)

Praetor said:
			
		

> That temperature's gotta be the mobo temp. Not a chance thats gonna be the CPU temp


That's about what I'm at, been a while since I've hit 50.

Hey, what PSU are you using?  It sounds like it might not be getting enough power.


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