No peripherals are hooked to the computer. I have just installed a new WD
160G HDD and the only thing installed on it is WinXP Pro and the updated
Nvidia drivers. It's still locking up. It's isolated on a different
electrical circuit from the rest of the computer room and all peripherals.
The voltages are 3.26, 5.21, 12.24. They don't fluxuate except the 3.26
goes to 3.28 and back to 3.26.
The video controller, disk drive, sound card, video controller,
network interface, mouse, keyboard, USB port, etc are all computer
peripherals.
Meanwhile, four essential voltages exist - red, orange, yellow, and
purple wires. I assume that is the red wire voltage. Those voltages
look good.
By locking up, this post assumes the mouse no longer moves, Cntrl-
Alt-Del does not result in window with options, and it just happens
whether application software is running or not. Correct?
OK. The list of items that can do that is small. Once we get all
voltages, then the power supply system is removed from the suspect
list. Sound card, video controller, CPU, and memory (and motherboard
circuits associated with those peripherals) are the only components
that can crash (lockout) a system. I have heard of problems created
by the NIC which otherwise would not be on the list.
How locked up is the system? Well copy this text into a file using
notepad. Save this text as the file c:\tmp.bat .
:ABC
dir c:\*.* /s
goto abc
This is a program that will only read and list all files on the
harddrive continuously. Select Start>Run . Enter the filename c:
\tmp.bat . A command prompt window will open and display files
continuously. Put that small window in a corner and let it run.
When system locks, does that window also stop displaying file? This
to better determine what is happening when the system locks up.
Meanwhile, move on to other items on that list of suspects. For
example, without Windows loaded, then run those hardware diagnostics
again. For example, run the memory diagnostic. Then heat that memory
with a hairdryer on high; make the memory uncomfortable to touch which
is perfectly normal temperature to memory. However if the memory has
an intermittent problem, then heat will make that intermittent failure
occur frequently. After running the full memory diagnostic a few
times without failure with memory and chips that connect to that
memory (follow PC traces) heated as hot as the hairdryer can make it;
only then are those component now know to be good.
Heat is a diagnostic tool. Use that hairdryer on high liberally on
those other suspects - soundcard, video controller, etc.
As I recall, there were no error messages in the system (event) log
and the hardware (device) manager shows no conflicts. Correct?
Once each hardware item passes diagnostics also when heated, only
then move on to software drivers for those peripherals. Verify each
software driver (as listed in device manager) is current revision. Or
try this experiment: disable the sound card completely (with hardware
still installed). It should not even appear enabled in device
manager. Now run the system. If system crashes without that
peripheral even enabled, well that peripheral is only maybe removed
from the list. Obviously anything to expedite the crash would help
the testing. Again, what is a good tool to find hardware that causes
crashing? That hairdryer on high. Heating selective components as
hot as possible. If that causes crashes, then we have information to
work with.
