Strange Freezing Problems

[Q-Ball]

Ello All

Ok I have this problem..... after using my PC for varying amounts of time.. could be 10 mins, could be 10 hours.. It will just freeze. The display on the monitor won't change.

If I try to reboot the machine, the monitor throws up a NO SIGNAL error at me. I have to turn everything off at the mains, wait a few seconds, switch things back on, and they work fine... until it happens again, a seemingly random time later.

My Specs

Athlon 1.1
Soltex SL75KV+ Mobo
256mb PC133 RAM
Creative GF2 GTS 32mb
Creative SB Live
Creative Modem Blaster (Ext)
Hauppauge WinTV Nova-t PCI
Two HDD, 40gb and 10gb, both NTFS
Windows XP Home

Any Ideas?

:confused:

Q

[TopHatTheater]

How long has this been occuring and you can you correlate a system change (new drivers, hardware, BIOS settings, etc.) that may have caused it? Was your system functioning correctly or has this been a problem since Day 1?

~THT

[theReal]

sounds like a hardware related instability. Are your temperatures ok? Athlons and Geforce Cards get quite hot, this can lead to serious instability.

Are your voltages ok? Bad 5V and/or 3.3V supply can also lead to bad instabilities.

If voltages and temperatures are ok, try running prime torture test for a few hours - if it reports any errors, something with your memory/mainboard is wrong. Then you should try to lower memory timings in the bios.

And, last but not least, maybe your windows needs to be reinstalled.

[Q-Ball]

Nothing changed.... I havent installed any new drivers... well no actually I did install new drivers for my GF2 but only AFTER the problem started occuring.

My CPU temps are in the 50-60C range

Q

[Uli]

Try reinstalling the VIA 4 in 1 drivers 4.137a in Standard mode *NOT* in Turbo mode. Also disable AGP fast write in the advanced chipset settings in your BIOS.
The combination of fast write with Turbo mode made my system unstable. In standard mode my system is rock stable (GF2 with 23.11). The latest Geforce drivers *AND* the latest 4 in 1 was a single catastrophy on my system :(

greetz, Uli

MSI K7T266Pro-R, TB 1.4 C, 512 DDR, Tekram SCSI, GF 2 GTS/Pro

[theReal]

If I try to reboot the machine, the monitor throws up a NO SIGNAL error at me. I have to turn everything off at the mains, wait a few seconds, switch things back on, and they work fine...Don't you think this points to some hardware related problem?
btw. your CPU temps are a little high - 60°C can already be problematic for system stability. Not necessarily, but I'd try lowering those temps.