Random system hangs in XP Pro

[Bobbie Leslie]

Just finished putting together a new machine as follows:

Asus A7V8X motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2000 CPU
256 megs PC2700 Samsung RAM
Asus video card(ATI 9200SE w/128megs RAM)
New case and 350 watt power supply
40gig Maxtor hard drive, 7200 RPM's
Sony DVD/CDROM
Cendyne CDRW
1.44 floppy, Teac

I installed Windows XP Pro and Office XP Pro and the machine was
working like a champ when at one point it just hung. I tried all the
usual, Ctrl-Alt-Del and Window key and they did nothing. The moment I
touched the on-off switch it shut down, normally there's a 4 second
delay, this has been the case everytime it hangs. I went so far as to
fdisk the hard drive and let Windows XP Pro do the partitioning and
formatting to NTFS, install itself and then installed Office XP Pro
and operated some 5-6 hours before it hung again. I have had about 5
random hangs in three days and have replaced the video card, moved the
RAM from slot 1 to slot 3, changed all cables, installed another
cooling fan blowing in and it still does the same thing. I have had
hardware hangs before but they're usually somewhat predictable, this
one isn't. Another thing, I'm running Asus probe and the CPU temp has
not gone above 30 degrees. Any suggestions from anyone would be
appreciated.

 

[R. McCarty]

The possibilities are endless. Any number of the new
components might be defective. However, Lock-ups
tend to be related to memory problems. Is the MB
setup with "Defaults" or have you set manual timing &
other tweaks ? The power supply should be more than
adequate for that setup & peripherals. I would check
the seating on both the CPU and memory.
I would check the Vendor's web-site and download
any new BIOS firmware. You may simply have a bad
motherboard. It sounds like you've done a good job
diagnosing the problem. Most marginal parts will fail
very soon after being first installed. I wouldn't spend
a lot more time on it - Just replace the MB and start
over.

 

[Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage]

Bobbie,
I need you to go through a few trouble shooting steps to help me
determine if it's a software or hardware oriented problem. First please go
to c:\windows\minidump. If this folder exist check inside the folder for
the minidumps of your crashes. If there are minidumps send the most recent
5-10 dumps to (e-mail address removed). I will analyze the dumps and get back to
you if it looks like hardware or software issue and any suggestions I can
make on how to fix your problem(s).
If the folder does not exists or there are no minidumps in the folder
you are probably looking at a hardware problem. Most likely cause is an
overheating CPU, or bad/failing power supply, and possibly a bad
motherboard. Good luck,

--
Thanks,
Lance Naugle
Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage
(e-mail address removed)
* This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

 

[Bobbie Leslie]

I should have added that the computer has not hung at any time while
idle. It's usually when I'm trying to do something like making a
backup using ERUNT after NTREGOPT.