computer nightmare

[toyotaboy]

Ok, I have a computer that keeps freezing up. It started when I replaced the motherboard, so I ended up buying like 2-3 more thinking that had to be the problem. I'm currently running a completely new motherboard (nforce4, socket 754), new sempron processor (since the old one was an AMD XP), new power supply, new memory, new video card (new board uses PCI-express, old one was AGP). still freezing up, so I figure it's the case (especially since it doesn't seem to boot when I first press the button, sometimes I have to press it twice). still freezing.. Ok, so maybe it's the power strip or outlet that went bad, I move it over where another computer runs stabile for days, still freezing. I'm down to the following possiblities for fixes:
1. the motherboard supports the new 24-pin socket.. says you don't need an adapter, but if you don't it may cause problems (ordered an adapter)
2. New case is bad too?
3. Hard drive is causing spikes (not a bad drive or fragmented install because it sometimes freezes during post)

It's not the power supply because it's 430watt and got great reviews on newegg, and I'm only running 2 dvd drives, one SATA HD and a floppy (no exta PCI cards, no extra fans). It's not overheating (32°C case/cpu temp in bios screen) I'm gonna try the adapter power cable, then try an IDE drive.. if that doesn't work, got any ideas?

 

[Cromewell]

The case doesn't matter, as long as the board fits inside. It could be a weak rail on the PSU but I would expect that to cause spontainious restarts, do you know if the 32C is the CPU temperature or is the the 'motherboard temperature'?

 

[toyotaboy]

where do I find the motherboard temp? there have been one or two spontanous restarts, but it's not consistant (neither is the freezeups), though lately it's stayed on longer before freezing (hour or two compared to freezing at startup). I can try going back to my old power supply I guess before all this started to see what happens. I figured maybe the power buttons went bad on the case (since it's 8 years old) and caused a short (or variable conituety) so I replaced that too, but the new case does the same thing.

 

[Cromewell]

there should be 2 temp readings in the bios hardware monitor area. The power buttons shouldn't cause any freezing, they just create a short when depressed that tells the PSU to turn on.

 

[Byteman]

could be bad sectors on your HD, I've seen that cause freezing and also noboot problems as well...

 

[narafa]

could be bad sectors on your HD, I've seen that cause freezing and also noboot problems as well...

I personally agree with this because I am having the same problem although the freezing is very very rare, but it happens and I know it happens because one of my Hard disks has some bad sectors. If I push the reset button, the mobo do not detect any of the drives. I have to shut off the case power and then on again. Everything goes normal after that.

 

[Geoff]

When i replaced the motherboard on my computer, it froze up once it showed the windows xp boot screen. I found out that i had to reformat the hard drive for it to work. Once i did that, it worked fine.

 

[Byteman]

to really scan your HD, try this:

-Download DFT here
-the simplest way is to download the floppy image and put it on a floppy disk, (they also have a ISO for cd's if you know how to do that).
-put the floppy in and reboot
-choose ATA not SCSI, (unless you have a SCSI drive, which most people don't)
-let it scan for your installed drives, choose your HD, (use the tab key to move around), and run an intensive scan of you HD.

This is all done outside of Windows and is very accurate!, (no win api's or anything), it's actually running IBM's PCDos from the floppy.

If the test results come back RED,... bad sectors, GREEN,.. all good.

 

[Praetor]

sometimes freezes during post)

Check memory (memtest) and voltage stability

 

[toyotaboy]

I did do a DOS memory check and that's not it.. how do I do a voltage test?

Right now it's been running 2 days straight without freezing, and I haven't changed a dam thing so go figure.. maybe there were gremlins living inside my front side bus?

 

[Praetor]

When I replaced the motherboard on my computer, it froze up once it showed the windows xp boot screen. I found out that I had to reformat the hard drive for it to work. Once I did that, it worked fine.

Yeah when you make a massive change like that a format is usually quite required

how do I do a voltage test?

Well ideally with a multimeter but if the problem is serious you can usually notice in the BIOS --> Hardware monitor that your voltages are fluctuating like crazy

 

[toyotaboy]

oh no, I totally formatted and reinstalled windows when I replaced the motherboard.. I meant I need to reinstall since the freezing probably caused some errors. I don't think I've ever been able to boot after replacing the motherboard.

 

[toyotaboy]

hmm.. well I installed a 20-24 pin adapter, still froze.. replaced the last piece of hardware I possibly could (hard drive), reintalled XP, hasn't froze running 2 days straight.. I'm gonna leave it on to make sure the freeze is gone. I decided to switch from a hitachi drive to seagate barracuda since I had such good luck with that brand back in the late 90's. really stinks that I had to go through all this trouble but I'll be glad if my system is stable.

 

[Praetor]

Glad you got it working, what PSU do you have btw?