smash said:
hello, i have a HP Pavilion p5331a-abaxt983, AMD 1.4g 352mram, it has onboard
ethernet. i did a clean install, did a slow format of the drive. windows xp
sp2.
it runs fine, i was able to play a few games of hearts. but when i go to
browse the internet the computer freezes. and i have to hold the button to
restart it. When windows boots back up it acts like nothing happen. i was
able to go into safe mode and download a antivirus.
i cleaned the machine.
i am at a lost why this happens.
I'd start by considering the history of the machine. Was it freezing
before the reinstallation ? Was the reinstallation an attempt to
correct a previously existing freezing problem ?
Did you operate it for a short time without antivirus/malware
protection, then take it surfing the web ? Then fit the AV
software afterwards ? Perhaps you picked something up in a
short interval ? Was the computer connected directly to the
Internet, or do you have a NAT router in the path ?
The motherboard is based on VIA KM133/VT82C686B and the Ethernet
is a RealTek 8139C soldered to the motherboard. If there was
going to be an issue there, with the hardware, you might have
seen signs of it during the earlier life of the computer. The
RealTek has been around a long time, so the driver for it
should be perfected by now.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bph07900&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=62773#
This is an example of where you'd find a RealTek 8139 driver.
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/do...d=6&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
WinXP probably already includes the VIA 4-in-1 driver, and something
like this should be installed first (i.e. after the OS is installed).
The second driver on the page, with the "4 in 1" icon, says it
applies to KM1## chipset.
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1070
If you are using the integrated (built-in) graphics, Viaarena
also has graphics drivers. At this point in time, I see no reason
to apply a graphics driver - 4in1 plus network should be enough
for a networking problem.
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1160&SubCatID=111
So you can fool around with drivers, but if your WinXP CD is
a recent one, it already incorporates versions of those drivers.
I'd start with a memory test (memtest86+), as that involves the
processor and the memory. If that passed with no errors, then
I'd boot a second OS and run Prime95 Torture Test from there.
(Prime95 is from mersenne.org and is a math program.) For testing
disk drives and disk interfaces, perhaps the disk manufacturer's
diagnostic may help. It is pretty hard to craft a complete set
of diagnostics using only free software. If HP included any
diagnostics you could run those as well.
Tracking down freezing is pretty difficult, as you may have
no entry in Event Viewer or other logs, to hint at what
caused the freeze. You can work on general system stability,
and by using a second OS, may be able to infer from that,
whether it is a Windows specific problem, or a hardware
problem. (I use Knoppix, from knopper.net, as a test OS.)
HTH,
Paul
