Severely unstable system

[Travis King]

My computer has been severely unstable the past month. Here's some of the
things it's been doing. (I reformatted two weeks ago.) Adobe Photoshop 5.5
won't start. It freezes up every time. The iTouch software for my keyboard
fails after it's been running for a few hours, then my shortcuts on my
keyboard quit working like the play/pause buttons, volume knob, etc. You
have to restart to fix it. Creative Mixer freezes up when you try to start
it. Norton Antivirus 2002 says there's an error when trying to scan for
viruses, uninstalled and put in PC Cillin 2000. It keeps updating over and
over again (the same update everytime) and when you try to go into PC
Cillin, it comes up saying that it quit responding and the error reporting
thing comes up. Quake III seems slightly jerky during game-play, but it
never used to. I had the game progress saved, and I had it beat, but when I
went to play last night, it lost that progress and only showed the progress
I made before I played it the last time. It also forgot some of the
settings that I told it. When I restarted the computer yesterday, it froze
up completely.

System specs.
Windows XP Home (up-to-date)
Asus A7V333 motherboard BIOS 1017 revision 1.xx
Kingston HyperX 512MB DDR PC-3000 RAM
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ overclocked to 2.2GHz
Memorex 52x CD RW drive
Lite on 16x DVD drive
Panasonic 3 1/2" floppy drive
Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM 2MB cache hard drive (C 10.8GB used; 63.6GB
free
Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM 8MB cache hard drive (D 4.66GB used; 107GB
free
Chaintech NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti200 128MB DDR video card with TV out (updated)
Creative Soundblaster Live! 5.1
Linksys 10/100 network card

 

[Travis King]

This is what I got in the event viewer...
Under application, I got 246 events (19 were errors and 11 of those were
application hangs and 8 application errors.)
Under security, I got 1417 events (all success audits except for 6 which
were failure audits)
Under system, I got 1489 events (the amount of errors were too many to count
myself)

 

[Travis King]

Yes, I did that. It took me three times to do it. The first time, it got
half of it done and then it closed itself. Second time, the computer
restarted itself. (I know that was my fault because I had the processor
overclocked more than I should have, so I dropped it down) Third time, it
worked with no viruses found. The third time's the charm I guess. I did
that about three or four days ago.

 

[Travis King]

I tried reinstalling the soundcard drivers and the software, but now I have
a new problem with the Surround mixer. I get this error, which I've had
before, but I don't remember how to fix it. "Devcon32.dll has returned an
error. Mixer will now exit."

 

[Travis King]

The bad:
I'll tell you, my computer's a lemon for the most part. If it's not one
component giving me grief, it's another. This time, it seems to be several
at once. I have to repair my '88 Pontiac 6000 less times than I have to fix
this thing, and also, it's cheaper to fix it than this computer. This
computer drives me nuts. Let's see, I've replaced the memory because it
wasn't enough nor was it running 100% efficient, I've replaced the CPU
because it was partly my fault for chipping it, but it did run, I've
replaced my network card because my other one stopped working to the point
where it only worked some of the time, I've replaced my CD RW drive because
my old Lite On 32x would make my computer freeze up most of the time when
you try to burn, I replaced my case because the paint was chipping away on
it, etc., etc., etc. Moreover, this thing runs hotter than it should. I
also know that my motherboard's got some problems because sometimes the PS/2
ports (both of them simultaneously will quit responding, and yes I've tried
different mice and keyboards - I blame this on Asus because I've had other
ones that were Asus do this to me before)... Now my sound card - read
staticy microphone on this newsgroup. Oh yes, and my case can short out,
yes, can you believe it... a case shorting out? Try plugging a USB cable
into the USB port and once in a while, the temperature display on the front
of the case will go blank.
The good:
The only internal components that are not causing any problems (knock on
wood) are my hard drives and my floppy drive. The only other things that
are running okay are my hardware outside my computer including my printer,
although I had an HP printer that didn't even last 1 year, so I switched to
Canon and what a quality increase. Also, my scanner, keyboard though
flimsy, mouse, microphone - which could be slightly better, and speakers are
great. My Proview monitor has had a few problems here and there, but it
seems that it's snapped out of it. Also, my cheap $130 Olympus D-390
digital camera works fine, although the paint scratches easily and the
screen scratches easily... Needless to say, I've never used a computer
before with this many problems inside and out.
Other computer's I've built:
My grandma's computer runs fine for the most part except it had a restart
problem for a while, but I got that fixed. It's run fine since. My other
grandma's computer ran fine for the most part except the memory wasn't
working as fast as it's capable of, so I ended up 'underclocking' her
processor to get it to work. Her case also shorts out. (The same one as
mine) Finally, probably the best one I've had, my brother's computer.
(He's older than me) His computer is lightning fast and did I mention
stable? Oh yes. The only problem with it was when I built it, the computer
wouldn't detect any of the drives because Asus supplied us with some bad IDE
ribbons because when I used my spare IDE ribbons, it worked just fine.
Conclusion:
I think my main problem is choice of components. I've heard that most Lite
On products don't last a year, but most of them that I've used do, though my
Lite On CD burner was problematic since day one. I've heard Asus is a good
company, and I believe them, but I've had nothing but problems with them.
The most stable one I've used was my grandma's Asus A7V333 with RAID, and it
has the newer revision 2.xx instead of mine with 1.xx. I do think that AMD
is best for the price/performance ratio, but Intel is the slightest bit
better performance wise if you want to spend more money than you should and
get ripped off. I've heard Samsung is a good company, but I've had loads of
problems with them, especially their older optical drives and one of their
memory modules. OCZ is better, but I've heard that OCZ isn't really a
memory manufacturer. Kingston needs some improvement, and they aren't a
memory manufacturer either technically. I've found NVIDIA video cards to be
a little more stable than Ati. My Creative sound card is the only Creative
product that I've had problems with. Out of about 10 hard drives only one
of the ten of them was DOA. (Western Digital) I've used three Maxtors.
The first one didn't last three years before it went out, and it had
detection problems since day one. The second one didn't take any more than
6 months before it started having data loss issues. The third one is still
runnning and has been for a year now.

 

[GwD]

" Second time, the computer

restarted itself. (I know that was my fault because I had the processor
overclocked more than I should have, so I dropped it down) "

If your overclocking then what do you expect?

 

[Travis King]

I had the FSB set to 140 and wouldn't boot. I tried it at 138, and I left
it there... I was trying it out there. I decided forget it and dropped it
back down to 133 again.

 

[Steve Nielsen]

The bad:
I'll tell you, my computer's a lemon for the most part. If it's not one
component giving me grief, it's another. This time, it seems to be several
at once. I have to repair my '88 Pontiac 6000 less times than I have to fix
this thing, and also, it's cheaper to fix it than this computer. This
computer drives me nuts. Let's see, I've replaced the memory because it
wasn't enough nor was it running 100% efficient, I've replaced the CPU
because it was partly my fault for chipping it, but it did run, I've
replaced my network card because my other one stopped working to the point
where it only worked some of the time, I've replaced my CD RW drive because
my old Lite On 32x would make my computer freeze up most of the time when
you try to burn, I replaced my case because the paint was chipping away on
it, etc., etc., etc. Moreover, this thing runs hotter than it should. I
also know that my motherboard's got some problems because sometimes the PS/2
ports (both of them simultaneously will quit responding, and yes I've tried
different mice and keyboards - I blame this on Asus because I've had other
ones that were Asus do this to me before)... Now my sound card - read
staticy microphone on this newsgroup. Oh yes, and my case can short out,
yes, can you believe it... a case shorting out? Try plugging a USB cable
into the USB port and once in a while, the temperature display on the front
of the case will go blank.
The good:
The only internal components that are not causing any problems (knock on
wood) are my hard drives and my floppy drive. The only other things that
are running okay are my hardware outside my computer including my printer,
although I had an HP printer that didn't even last 1 year, so I switched to
Canon and what a quality increase. Also, my scanner, keyboard though
flimsy, mouse, microphone - which could be slightly better, and speakers are
great. My Proview monitor has had a few problems here and there, but it
seems that it's snapped out of it. Also, my cheap $130 Olympus D-390
digital camera works fine, although the paint scratches easily and the
screen scratches easily... Needless to say, I've never used a computer
before with this many problems inside and out.
Other computer's I've built:
My grandma's computer runs fine for the most part except it had a restart
problem for a while, but I got that fixed. It's run fine since. My other
grandma's computer ran fine for the most part except the memory wasn't
working as fast as it's capable of, so I ended up 'underclocking' her
processor to get it to work. Her case also shorts out. (The same one as
mine) Finally, probably the best one I've had, my brother's computer.
(He's older than me) His computer is lightning fast and did I mention
stable? Oh yes. The only problem with it was when I built it, the computer
wouldn't detect any of the drives because Asus supplied us with some bad IDE
ribbons because when I used my spare IDE ribbons, it worked just fine.
Conclusion:
I think my main problem is choice of components. I've heard that most Lite
On products don't last a year, but most of them that I've used do, though my
Lite On CD burner was problematic since day one. I've heard Asus is a good
company, and I believe them, but I've had nothing but problems with them.
The most stable one I've used was my grandma's Asus A7V333 with RAID, and it
has the newer revision 2.xx instead of mine with 1.xx. I do think that AMD
is best for the price/performance ratio, but Intel is the slightest bit
better performance wise if you want to spend more money than you should and
get ripped off. I've heard Samsung is a good company, but I've had loads of
problems with them, especially their older optical drives and one of their
memory modules. OCZ is better, but I've heard that OCZ isn't really a
memory manufacturer. Kingston needs some improvement, and they aren't a
memory manufacturer either technically. I've found NVIDIA video cards to be
a little more stable than Ati. My Creative sound card is the only Creative
product that I've had problems with. Out of about 10 hard drives only one
of the ten of them was DOA. (Western Digital) I've used three Maxtors.
The first one didn't last three years before it went out, and it had
detection problems since day one. The second one didn't take any more than
6 months before it started having data loss issues. The third one is still
runnning and has been for a year now.

So, you've basically replaced everything except the system board, right?
Maybe you got a batch of those bad Chinese capacitors on it. Look for
fluid or dark crusty stuff on the tops of the electrolytic caps (little
cans) around the CPU.

BTW, I've had a Lite-On CDR/RW drive for years - not a single problem
with it.

Steve

 

[Steve Nielsen]

" Second time, the computer



If your overclocking then what do you expect?

I don't know about the Athlon series but earlier AMD procs I've seen
always ran hot as hell and overclocking them was a very BAD idea.

Steve

 

[Travis King]

As I said, the only one I had problems with was my CD RW drive.

 

[Travis King]

With most of the current Athlon XP's, MOST of them do run hot, (which is a
thing that I don't like that I believe I didn't mention) but they can also
take much more heat. They can handle up to temperatures of 85-90 C without
having damage. I heard anyway, that the Athlon 64's run cooler. Most AMD
processors these days are overclockable; it's just limited. Some people
have overclocked their 266MHz FSB Athlon XP's to a 333MHz FSB processor.
AMD has locked some of their processors, making it impossible to overclock
the multiplier, but not the FSB. Mine usually runs at 60 C during the
summer and 50-55 C during the winter, but my brother's usually runs at 40 C,
which in comparison with Intel, is hotter, but needless to say, they can
handle the heat and they've been designed to take the heat. Also, the
Barton core runs the coolest and the Palamino runs the hottest. I used to
have a Palamino core, and it was rare that the temperatures ever fell below
65 C during the winter. Mine is a Thoroughbred. My brother's is a Barton,
but I think the temperatures will vary...

 

[Travis King]

Mine's currently running at 55 C.

With most of the current Athlon XP's, MOST of them do run hot, (which is a
thing that I don't like that I believe I didn't mention) but they can also
take much more heat. They can handle up to temperatures of 85-90 C without
having damage. I heard anyway, that the Athlon 64's run cooler. Most AMD
processors these days are overclockable; it's just limited. Some people
have overclocked their 266MHz FSB Athlon XP's to a 333MHz FSB processor.
AMD has locked some of their processors, making it impossible to overclock
the multiplier, but not the FSB. Mine usually runs at 60 C during the
summer and 50-55 C during the winter, but my brother's usually runs at 40 C,
which in comparison with Intel, is hotter, but needless to say, they can
handle the heat and they've been designed to take the heat. Also, the
Barton core runs the coolest and the Palamino runs the hottest. I used to
have a Palamino core, and it was rare that the temperatures ever fell below
65 C during the winter. Mine is a Thoroughbred. My brother's is a Barton,
but I think the temperatures will vary...

 

[Travis King]

Another thing, with Bryce, when you go to render, half of the time it comes
up saying that Bryce5 has encountered an error. (The error reporting
window)