Asus A7N266-VM Spiking and Freezing

harebear · 01-22-2006, 11:17 PM

I have a friends computer that has been having a problem for a while with freezing
in games and programs. If it just sits in Windows then it will run forever but start
playing games or running programs it eventualy freezes.

I have narrowed down the search of what is wrong.

I have formatted and re-installed
everything to cancel out any software or driver problems.

I have exchanged the 2 sticks of ram for 2 more that I know work and also bringing the
ram to 1 gig. So it can't be the memory.

I have opened the case and turned on a pedistool fan which is pointing directly onto
motherboard. Keeping the temp at 45 degrees celcius when idle and a max of
52 degrees celcius when playing games and running programs. Without the big fan it
gets up to 59 degrees. But when it does freeze it can be any temp.

I installed ASUS PC PROBE 2.25.02 and have noticed the CPU Fan speed reads fine then
drops to 0rpm for a second then back to normal running speed of around 3300 - 3900rpm.

All 4 Voltages have spikes most of the time especially when playing games or running
programs.

Volt - Normal - Low SPIKE - High spike

+12 - 12.5 - 2.3 - 16.2

+5 - 4.9 - 4.8 - 6.8

+3.3 - 3.3 - 2.3 - 4.1

Vcore - 1.76 - 0.1 - 4.08

See picture:

So now I am down to 4 things:

1. CPU
2. Motherboard
3. PSU
4. HDD

M/Board - ASUS A7N266-VM
CPU - AMD XP2000+ (1.67 GHz)
Ram - 512mb DDR (2 x 256 mb PC2100)
HDD - Maxtor IDE 60 gig
PSU - L & C Technolgy Inc - LC-B400ATX (10/2002)
- 155 / 230V 10 / 6A 60 / 50Hz
- +3.3V +5V +12V -12V -5V +5VSB
- 28A 30A 15A 0.8A 0.3A 2A
Video - XFX GeForce4 MX440
Drivers - All the latest Drivers
OS - Windows XP Home (SP2 & all updates)
Modem - Netcomm 56k SoftV92
DVD rom - Liteon 16x
CD Burner - Liteon 48x24x48x

Can someone please help me on what the problem is and a way to fix it?

hareber

Hairy_Lee · 01-22-2006, 11:30 PM

does it ever lock up when you're sitting in the bios, the bios does put some load on the system so this may cause a lockup.

you mention that these spikes occur under load so i would guess that sitting in the bios may cause that.

also try booting into windows with the bare minimum of hardware connected.
my guess is either psu of motherboard but i'm more inclined to say psu

tripleplay905 · 01-23-2006, 02:34 AM

There may be programs running in the background that use the cpu every so often.

Hairy_Lee · 01-23-2006, 02:36 AM

yeah but why would they be causing voltage drops and spikes? this a hardware fault

harebear · 01-23-2006, 03:32 AM

Someone said it my be the CMOS chip since it controls the voltages.
Is there any diagnostic tools out that that can test the CMOS chip?

I am waiting on another PSU to arrive a 450w.

**Praetor** · 01-23-2006, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Someone said it my be the CMOS chip since it controls the voltages.

IF thats the case then that means the voltage regulators which means a faulty mobo

(although my 1st guess is still PSU)

harebear · 01-24-2006, 01:55 AM

OK its not the PSU - I changed over the old one with one from my computer 550w that runs alot more than the old computer and works very well in mine.
(I WAS HOPING IT WAS THE PSU BUT NO DAMN IT)
Strange thing today is I can't get the Voltages to spike even with the old PSU. I have flashed the BIOS to the latest patch I can get, I have reset the cmos in case of any faults their. I am going to swap the graphic card over as the games and programs that crash use that graphics card. If that doesn't work then I have to find out whether it is the CPU or Motherboard or both.
I am going to run PRIME95 tonight to see what happens, I will run it for 12 hours to see what happens. I ran memtester86 for 24 hours on all 4 sticks of ram and no problems there.

I'll keep on trying - I hate to let computers to beat me.

01-22-2006, 11:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
harebear New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3	Asus A7N266-VM Spiking and Freezing I have a friends computer that has been having a problem for a while with freezing in games and programs. If it just sits in Windows then it will run forever but start playing games or running programs it eventualy freezes. I have narrowed down the search of what is wrong. I have formatted and re-installed everything to cancel out any software or driver problems. I have exchanged the 2 sticks of ram for 2 more that I know work and also bringing the ram to 1 gig. So it can't be the memory. I have opened the case and turned on a pedistool fan which is pointing directly onto motherboard. Keeping the temp at 45 degrees celcius when idle and a max of 52 degrees celcius when playing games and running programs. Without the big fan it gets up to 59 degrees. But when it does freeze it can be any temp. I installed ASUS PC PROBE 2.25.02 and have noticed the CPU Fan speed reads fine then drops to 0rpm for a second then back to normal running speed of around 3300 - 3900rpm. All 4 Voltages have spikes most of the time especially when playing games or running programs. Volt - Normal - Low SPIKE - High spike +12 - 12.5 - 2.3 - 16.2 +5 - 4.9 - 4.8 - 6.8 +3.3 - 3.3 - 2.3 - 4.1 Vcore - 1.76 - 0.1 - 4.08 See picture: So now I am down to 4 things: 1. CPU 2. Motherboard 3. PSU 4. HDD M/Board - ASUS A7N266-VM CPU - AMD XP2000+ (1.67 GHz) Ram - 512mb DDR (2 x 256 mb PC2100) HDD - Maxtor IDE 60 gig PSU - L & C Technolgy Inc - LC-B400ATX (10/2002) - 155 / 230V 10 / 6A 60 / 50Hz - +3.3V +5V +12V -12V -5V +5VSB - 28A 30A 15A 0.8A 0.3A 2A Video - XFX GeForce4 MX440 Drivers - All the latest Drivers OS - Windows XP Home (SP2 & all updates) Modem - Netcomm 56k SoftV92 DVD rom - Liteon 16x CD Burner - Liteon 48x24x48x Can someone please help me on what the problem is and a way to fix it? hareber Attached Images

01-22-2006, 11:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Hairy_Lee VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Plymouth, UK Age: 25 Posts: 2,553	does it ever lock up when you're sitting in the bios, the bios does put some load on the system so this may cause a lockup. you mention that these spikes occur under load so i would guess that sitting in the bios may cause that. also try booting into windows with the bare minimum of hardware connected. my guess is either psu of motherboard but i'm more inclined to say psu __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 EVGA nForce 650i Ultra mainboard EVGA 7950 GT KO SC 512Mb w/ Zalman VF-900Cu 2Gb of OCZ GOLD XTC SPECIAL OPS Eition Notebook - Acer Aspire 9300 - Turion TL-60/ 2 Gb RAM/ Geforce Go 7600 128 Dedicated (400 Mb turbocache)

01-23-2006, 02:36 AM	#4 (permalink)
Hairy_Lee VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Plymouth, UK Age: 25 Posts: 2,553	yeah but why would they be causing voltage drops and spikes? this a hardware fault __________________ Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 EVGA nForce 650i Ultra mainboard EVGA 7950 GT KO SC 512Mb w/ Zalman VF-900Cu 2Gb of OCZ GOLD XTC SPECIAL OPS Eition Notebook - Acer Aspire 9300 - Turion TL-60/ 2 Gb RAM/ Geforce Go 7600 128 Dedicated (400 Mb turbocache)

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01-23-2006, 02:34 AM	#3 (permalink)
tripleplay905 Silver Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ohio Posts: 109	There may be programs running in the background that use the cpu every so often.

01-23-2006, 03:32 AM	#5 (permalink)
harebear New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3	Someone said it my be the CMOS chip since it controls the voltages. Is there any diagnostic tools out that that can test the CMOS chip? I am waiting on another PSU to arrive a 450w.

01-24-2006, 01:55 AM	#7 (permalink)
harebear New Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3	OK its not the PSU - I changed over the old one with one from my computer 550w that runs alot more than the old computer and works very well in mine. (I WAS HOPING IT WAS THE PSU BUT NO DAMN IT) Strange thing today is I can't get the Voltages to spike even with the old PSU. I have flashed the BIOS to the latest patch I can get, I have reset the cmos in case of any faults their. I am going to swap the graphic card over as the games and programs that crash use that graphics card. If that doesn't work then I have to find out whether it is the CPU or Motherboard or both. I am going to run PRIME95 tonight to see what happens, I will run it for 12 hours to see what happens. I ran memtester86 for 24 hours on all 4 sticks of ram and no problems there. I'll keep on trying - I hate to let computers to beat me.