Frequent Computer Freezing

[AlvinG]

I have 14 remote computer labs which consist of 15 to 30 computers each. I
inherited these labs "as-is" due to a job relocation. Most of the computers
in the labs are Compaq EVO P4 computers, which work fine for the purpose of
Internet access and software training. Prior to my arrival, they had started
replacing the Compaq's with Gateway E2500's and E2600's which work fine for
the purpose as well.



Here's the problem, at all 14 remote locations the new Gateways randomly
freeze frequently, and the older Compaq's have no problem. After freezing,
it may unfreeze and continue working, and sometimes you just have to reboot.
I took a look around the lab and because of the limited number of cat5 drops
in the rooms they are using 10/100Mbs hubs (which personally I would never
use a hub for anything).



The new Gateways come with 10/100/1000Gbs on board NIC's, which is a Marvell
Yukon 88E8050 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller. This is the first I've
heard of this brand. I'm assuming for whatever reason the hubs are having a
problem with the GB NIC's. The 10/100 hubs have auto-sensing, and I suppose
the NIC's would auto adjust to only send at 100Mbs, but for some reason in
this environment they frequently freeze up, and it seems to happen "most"
when they are accessing the Internet, although they do freeze when typing in
a word processing app like MSWord.



This is my speculation, but I'd like to get some feed back before upgrading
all the hubs. Any ideas?



Thanks

 

[***** charles]

I have 14 remote computer labs which consist of 15 to 30 computers each. I
inherited these labs "as-is" due to a job relocation. Most of the computers
in the labs are Compaq EVO P4 computers, which work fine for the purpose of
Internet access and software training. Prior to my arrival, they had started
replacing the Compaq's with Gateway E2500's and E2600's which work fine for
the purpose as well.

Here's the problem, at all 14 remote locations the new Gateways randomly
freeze frequently, and the older Compaq's have no problem. After freezing,
it may unfreeze and continue working, and sometimes you just have to reboot.
I took a look around the lab and because of the limited number of cat5 drops
in the rooms they are using 10/100Mbs hubs (which personally I would never
use a hub for anything).

The new Gateways come with 10/100/1000Gbs on board NIC's, which is a Marvell
Yukon 88E8050 PCI-E ASF Gigabit Ethernet Controller. This is the first I've
heard of this brand. I'm assuming for whatever reason the hubs are having a
problem with the GB NIC's. The 10/100 hubs have auto-sensing, and I suppose
the NIC's would auto adjust to only send at 100Mbs, but for some reason in
this environment they frequently freeze up, and it seems to happen "most"
when they are accessing the Internet, although they do freeze when typing in
a word processing app like MSWord.

This is my speculation, but I'd like to get some feed back before upgrading
all the hubs. Any ideas?

I just worked on a computer that had a Gigabyte motherboard with this
kind of NIC integrated. Whenever I added the nVidia driver the computer
would lock up when starting XPH. It would get to the desktop but would
not do anyting else, no mouse movement, no anything. I think it is a driver
issue since if I don't add the driver that came on the cd for the nVidia
chipset or the nic, the ocmputer ran fine. Make sure you have the latest
drivers.

later.....