Locked up again!

[Robert Stout]

Hope someone can help me out. about 4 months ago I put together a new
computer for my home.. Since day one it has "locked up", displaying a blue
screen at random times.. I've tried dozens and dozens of things and so far
nothing I have done has fixed it... It doesn't lock up all the time.
sometimes it'll do OK for a full day, sometime it only does OK for about 10
minutes... On top of that occasionally an application will shut down
unexpectedly.



Basically I used the following parts (all new): MSI K7N2G motherboard, AMD
Athlon 2500+ CPU, a pair of 256M DDR SDRAM modules, a CD-RW drive, A WD 40
gig HD, and a 300 watt power supply. I re-used the following parts out of my
old computer, case, 3.5" floppy drive, keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer.
The MSI K7N2G motherboard has a built in video adaptor



I purchased a Windows XP Home CD and used it to install the operating system
on the new hard drive. (fresh install, not an upgrade) I then installed the
rest of the software I needed to access the internet (I use Starband
satellite service, so it needs some additional software to work) But as I
said since day one it has been locking up at random times and I haven't seen
a pattern..



I do have a firewall setup, scanned for viruses, and I've downloaded all the
latest updates (BIOS flashes, drivers, etc), I've tried changing the BIOS
settings, run CHKDISK.and I've run out of Ideas. I've even tried starting
over from scratch (erasing the HD reloading the XP operating system).



Usually when I get the blue screen, It says: "a problem ha been detected and
Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your computer" (or something
very similar) then it usually has "DRIVER_IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" or
"IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and once it had "BAD_POOL_CALLER" then it
will sometimes (but not always) show a driver or application file name.such
as "NTF.SYS" or "NTDLL.DLL"



Under Technical information it sometimes has something like **** STOP: then
a bunch of numbers in hex.The numbers are occasionally all zero's but, they
are usually different.. and "Win32K.SYS" (or something) followed by more
numbers in hex format

So..



How do I go about fixing this? ... I'm beginning to think I may have a
hardware problem.But I don't know what it is



Bobby

 

[Nick Burns]

I would watch the cpu temp. Reseat the ram, if you have two sticks of ram,
remove one and then try, then switch to the other. I would reseat every
cable in the box, but the ram is the most suspicious. I would also pull all
cards out sept the video and see what you get. Also swap your video card.

 

[Malke]

Hope someone can help me out. about 4 months ago I put together a new
computer for my home.. Since day one it has "locked up", displaying a
blue screen at random times.. I've tried dozens and dozens of things
and so far nothing I have done has fixed it... It doesn't lock up all
the time. sometimes it'll do OK for a full day, sometime it only does
OK for about 10 minutes... On top of that occasionally an application
will shut down unexpectedly.

Basically I used the following parts (all new): MSI K7N2G motherboard,
AMD Athlon 2500+ CPU, a pair of 256M DDR SDRAM modules, a CD-RW
drive, A WD 40 gig HD, and a 300 watt power supply. I re-used the
following parts out of my old computer, case, 3.5" floppy drive,
keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer. The MSI K7N2G motherboard has a
built in video adaptor

I purchased a Windows XP Home CD and used it to install the operating
system on the new hard drive. (fresh install, not an upgrade) (snip)
I do have a firewall setup, scanned for viruses, and I've downloaded
all the latest updates (BIOS flashes, drivers, etc), I've tried
changing the BIOS settings, run CHKDISK.and I've run out of Ideas.
I've even tried starting over from scratch (erasing the HD reloading
the XP operating system). (snip)
"IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and once it had "BAD_POOL_CALLER" then
it will sometimes (but not always) show a driver or application file
name.such as "NTF.SYS" or "NTDLL.DLL"

I would think you most definitely have a hardware problem. Here are
generic hardware testing steps:

1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing); 2) test
the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com - let the test run
for an extended (like overnight) period of time - unless errors are
seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from
the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for
the devices you have in the system; 5) test the motherboard with
something like TuffTest from www.tufftest.com.

My bet is on either the RAM, hard drive, or inadequate power supply.

Malke

 

[Robert Stout]

A few days ago I posted the message here and received some helpful replies
but I am still having problems. I think it is time to punt..... Here is my
original post:

Hope someone can help me out. about 4 months ago I put together a new
computer for my home.. Since day one it has "locked up", displaying a blue
screen at random times.. I've tried dozens and dozens of things and so far
nothing I have done has fixed it... It doesn't lock up all the time.
sometimes it'll do OK for a full day, sometime it only does OK for about 10
minutes... On top of that occasionally an application will shut down
unexpectedly.

Basically I used the following parts (all new): MSI K7N2G motherboard, AMD
Athlon 2500+ CPU, a pair of 256M DDR SDRAM modules, a CD-RW drive, A WD 40
gig HD, and a 300 watt power supply. I re-used the following parts out of my
old computer, case, 3.5" floppy drive, keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer.
The MSI K7N2G motherboard has a built in video adaptor

I purchased a Windows XP Home CD and used it to install the operating system
on the new hard drive. (fresh install, not an upgrade) I then installed the
rest of the software I needed to access the internet (I use Starband
satellite service, so it needs some additional software to work) But as I
said since day one it has been locking up at random times and I haven't seen
a pattern..

I do have a firewall setup, scanned for viruses, and I've downloaded all the
latest updates (BIOS flashes, drivers, etc), I've tried changing the BIOS
settings, run CHKDISK.and I've run out of Ideas. I've even tried starting
over from scratch (erasing the HD reloading the XP operating system).

Usually when I get the blue screen, It says: "a problem ha been detected and
Windows has shut down to prevent damage to your computer" (or something
very similar) then it usually has "DRIVER_IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" or
"IRQL NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and once it had "BAD_POOL_CALLER" then it
will sometimes (but not always) show a driver or application file name.such
as "NTF.SYS" or "NTDLL.DLL"

Under Technical information it sometimes has something like **** STOP: then
a bunch of numbers in hex.The numbers are occasionally all zero's but, they
are usually different.. and "Win32K.SYS" (or something) followed by more
numbers in hex format

So..

How do I go about fixing this? ... I'm beginning to think I may have a
hardware problem.But I don't know what it is

Since then the two most common suggestions were power supply or cooling so I
bought a Antec 430W CPU (a brand and size that was recomended)
and put the whole thing in another case.... A case that will allow better
cooling to the CPU.

I've also been running the system with the cover off so I can feel the CPU
heatsink when it locks up....
I think I've gotten it to run a bit cooler (I have felt the heatsink and it
is only midly warm, right now the computer has been on for a while and the
on-board temp sensor says it's about 109 deg F) and my voltages appear to be
stable (Plus it's a new power supply)

I've tried running it with one memory module only (one then the other)....
On this motherboard I am supposed to run two identical modules for dual
threading operation. with only one module installed it works but not in dual
thread mode......Unfortuantly, I got a blue screen both times I ran it with
only one memory module installed....

Also one night I started the computer in "Safe" mode and just left it turned
on overnight with no applications running ... Next morning I awoke to find
the blue screen...

I no longer think it' a cooling or power problem but I'll get it working
properly sooner or later....I'm running out of things that could be bad! I
think it is time to start looking at things I might have missed or gotten
wrong....

For example, I have McAfee anti-virus installed and running, it's updated
(now) and supposidly blocking any viruses I might get..... But lately
whenever I try and scan my hard drive it scans some of the drive than I get
the blue screen ... (But it never lock ups in the same place twice Sometimes
it lock up after scanning 1000 files, sometimes not until over 10000
files... I've tried scanning the drive a portion at a a time but I found
nothing. I thought this means that I am virus/worm/trojan horse free. But
could I be wrong..... One question I need to ask because I want to recheck
is this: When in safe mode, what files are >supposed< to be loaded ...In
other words what is the barest minimum software I need to load to get the
system to operate.....And what else should I recheck

Bobby

 

[Kilgore Trout Jr.]

Take another look at your memory.You should be able to run your system on a
single stick of memory. Double check your memory settings in BIOS. Some of
the newer memory modules require 2.6 volts instead of 2.5. Run Memtest86
to thoroughly test your memory. You can download it here:
http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[Guest]

I doubt it is the CPU temp or powersupply and I tried useing only one stick of ram at a time.....(see the posting I made at 7:52 AM on the 1/13/03..... Still no luck....I have no "video card" as such, the MSI K7N2G motherboard has a built in video adaptor on it.... I'f I can scrounge up a video card I might try useing it...If I can figure out how to disable the on-board video adaptor....

Hmmm.......Now that I think of it....The on-board video adaptor uses a portion of the memory on the ram sticks (for example, I have it set up so with two 256 M ram sticks (512 M total) installed on the motherboard so I have 64 M of video Ram and 448 M of system RAM....

----- Nick Burns wrote: -----

I would watch the cpu temp. Reseat the ram, if you have two sticks of ram,
remove one and then try, then switch to the other. I would reseat every
cable in the box, but the ram is the most suspicious. I would also pull all
cards out sept the video and see what you get. Also swap your video card.