Computer freezes completly - Hardware or Software problem?

[Dan]

Hey, its me again. About the other problem being a process stealing
CPU, well it wasnt. I got the task manager open and there was no CPU
change during the "mini freezes". At least that hasnt happend in a
while.

What worries me more is that I cant reproduce the problems, nor the
intermitent one nor the freeze. I will have to do somo checking to see
whats happening in that machine.

I did try reinstalling but did no diference.

-Dan

Things can fail right out of the box. It's called "infant mortality".

Imagine an assembly line of people putting things together and at the

end of the line is the last guy whose job it to hit the power button
and do a couple output tests. If he hits the button and it does'nt
work, it goes to another department where another fellow has 5 or 10
minutes to fix the problem/unit. If he can't fix it, it might go to
another fellow or into a pile where a junk/scrap dealor might buy the

bad ones at a /unit or /pound price. He takes them and makes one good

one out of 2 or 3 bad ones and sells them to you and me. LOL


That could be sound card related and or IRQ related. It could be a
process running that is interupting and robbing the CPU's attention,
etc... It wouldn't hurt to monitor and understand all the processes
running. You can do that by hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL and going to the
processes tab. Here is a fairly good link to see what is running and
what it does:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm. It could also lead you
to your troubles. Look at your event viewer also! You have to be part

Sherlock, part daredevil when solving these kinds of troubles.
Freezing like you have going on can be Hardware or Software related.

I use sites like this for fine tuning a machine. REMEMBER TO BACK UP
THE REGISTRY AND ANYTHING YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOOSE ONTO DISCS!!!!!
Reinstalling might be imminent



It will tell you if you have a bad chip on a mem module and that
indicates a bad stick of ram. But probably won't not help with
intermittent Ram or the like. You are likely to have more frequent
(and less predictable) troubles if the ram were bad because you aren't
always using the bad location.



I always start by looking the MB over for the obvious: Temperatures,
bad caps, dust, add in cards (Sometimes they pop out of a slot), clean
out the dust, etc...
Then I move on to drivers starting at the MB then the Vid card, sound

card etc...
If that does not help, and I think it still might be hardware related

still, I might re-seat the mem modules and vid card and cables etc...

Doesn't hurt to check the screws on the MB. I had one burn out at a
screw hole because one loosened and had a bad connection. Believe it
or not that old HP is still running (I used Nylon screws and standoffs
on the MB) LOL. Might try opening the case and blowing the dust out
and running without putting the cover back if you suspect a heat
issue.

It's hard not being able to look over your shoulder. But you get a
sense of the kind of hoops you have to jump thru to figure something
out without using the "replace one thing at a time until you find the

 

[Slippery_one]

Hey, its me again. About the other problem being a process stealing
CPU, well it wasnt. I got the task manager open and there was no CPU
change during the "mini freezes". At least that hasnt happend in a
while.

What worries me more is that I cant reproduce the problems, nor the
intermitent one nor the freeze. I will have to do somo checking to
see
whats happening in that machine.

I did try reinstalling but did no diference.

That's what I call a "Sux Doughnut?". Good luck! I usually go out and
come back with a new one and tell her "the old one broke...so I had
to!".