Is my pc dying?

[pixeldotz]

so i've had my computer for the last 5 years and it's suited me fine for all the ripping/encoding/capping i've learned over the years.

this past week i've encountered a bit of a problem. everytime i use AutoGK to encode some tv episodic dvds, my computer locks up after about 1-3 hrs. i've already reformatted and installed just FireFox, agk, and antivirus software.

here are the specs.

2.1 GHZ
1.5GB Ram
450 Antec PSU
Os - XP

there's been times over the years where i've queued enough jobs to keep my machine encoding for 2 wks whilst i was out of town and never have i ever come across this problem.
Event Viewer shows nothing out of the ordinary, and even now, if i just have a few folders shared out to stream movies to my media center, i could watch them all day with no issues. just when encoding (cpu intensive) does my pc freeze up (black screen. SOLID AMBER power button) requiring a hard-reset.

is there anyway to test the CPU? some kind of stress test?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) and Prime95 (http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=9779). And watch the CPU temperature, cleaning your heat-sink might be required!

(In Prime95 goto "Options" -> "Torture Test")

[pixeldotz]

thanks for the reply lord_mulder.

[*.mp4 guy]

5yrs is also at the high end of the life expectancy scale for many power suplies. Check your motherboard for buldged/leaking caps aswell. If your temperatures aren't much higher then they used to be, it could be a power issue.

[jeffy]

The first thing I would check after 5 years is the hard drive. HDDScan:
Get version 2.8 here, choose Verify and click Start: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/
Depending on the size, you will know in less than an hour, if there are any bad sectors.

[pixeldotz]

thanks for the replies everyone.

i probably should've mentioned that all my hdds are maybe at the most 3 years old (aside from the 40GB seagate that came with the pc)

main - 40GB seagate
sec - 80 GB WD
sec - 300 GB WD

the psu is less than 2 years old, the only thing i ever had go out on this setup is the old (BestData) psu. that's when i got the 450 Antec. is there anyway to test the psu to see if that's the issue maybe?



all my hdds support SMART and I've made sure to keep the maintained, i run a SMART test with different tools about once a week to see how they're doing, especially after a long ripping or encoding session. all sectors check out fine.

after testing with prime95 i've started to lean towards the CPU or RAM being bad. i bought a 1GB cheapy ram and it had a lifetime warranty and it did die on me once, replaced with the same kind. so if it's not the cpu, it's definately the ram. i'll be running memtest86+ later on while im @ work to give it a thorough test.

btw: Prime95 killed the computer after about 15 minutes whereas encoding took about 2.5 hrs. but even now as i'm typing this i've been streaming video media to my entertainment setup for the last few hrs since i posted the original topic with no problems.

if anything i could probably turn this into a simple NAS box for media if i end up getting a new setup.

thanks for all the suggestions i appreciate the help.

[jeffy]

@pixeldotz: unless you did a full surface scan (which the utility above does), you can't be sure the drives are okay.
Testing 300 GB drive might take more than an hour.

[Dr.Khron]

I know its been mentioned, but it bears repeating: clean out your box.

When an older PC starts acting funny, the first thing I do is thoroughly clean out the box, including fans and filters. This is the issue probably 70% of the time.

[*.mp4 guy]

If prime95 crashed your computer, these are the primary suspects.

Bad/overheating ram
Bad/overheating cpu

causes
-dust buildup
-cheap ram died
-bad power, either from the psu, or motherboard

how to check:
-abnorml temperatures= fan/dust/location or perhaps power problem
-abnormal voltages/voltage instability= powersuply/capacitors
-normal temps/voltages, but erroring ram/cpu= check for shorts/hardware failure

[pixeldotz]

well people, i did everything everyone suggessted.

psu working in another box with a similar setup.
memtest86+ verified the ram was good.
hdds checked out.

so i did the final step which was cleaning the heatsink and chip and re-applying some arctc silver ceramique.

so i took out the heatsink and chip and 5 years worth of dust fell out of the heatsink. it was so clogged, Fan and Heatsink that the heatsink actually looked like a solud piece. and here i was thinking i was doing a good job taking apart my pc once a month to blow the dust out. atleast now i know where i need to check when i do this.

fyi: 4 episode is almost done encoding with AGK, everything's been running steady for the last 8 hrs of straight encoding. Prime95 ran a good 40 minutes before i started encoding with no crashes.

so far so good :)

thanks for all the help everyone, i really appreciate it.

[Avenger007]

Prime95 ran a good 40 minutes
That's not nearly enough -- a few hours minimum or overnight.
If it crashes then bump up CPU/RAM voltages and try again.

[pixeldotz]

Avenger.

i agree with you on that, but the very last test i did crashed my pc after 3-5 minutes. this was after my initial posting of 15 minutes.

agk would run 3-4 hours before crashing. it's been running now over 8 hrs without crashing.

i had memtest86+ run for about 10 hours while i was at work and all the ram checked out, however my pc wouldn't boot after that. let it cool a few minutes, then it would get to the desktop and crash.

here's the really sad part :( i have no way of measuring voltages or cpu temp. i might try looking for a utility, but as it is, my board doesn't support any of that.

[jeffy]

What board is it? What CPU is it? (2.1 GHz, but what type?)

[pixeldotz]

Intel Celeron 2.20 GHZ
IM845GL Motherboard.

my pc is a T2240 E-machine

[jeffy]

Motherboard Monitor for CPU temp?
http://www.dexplor.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7747565