Socket 7 blues....

[Sven]

I have been enduring the relentless reinstalling and
repairing for too long, I must get help! I am the
disgruntled owner of a soon to be trashed relic
consisting of:

Processor
Model : AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor
Speed : 351MHz
Performance Rating : PR351 (estimated)
Type : Standard

Mainboard
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI USB i2c/SMBus
MP Support : No
MP APIC : No
System BIOS : Award Software International, Inc. 4.51 PG
Mainboard : First International Computer, Inc. VA-503+
Total Memory : 255MB SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82C597/597AT/598MVP Apollo
VP3/MVP3 System Controller
L2 External Cache : 1024kB Pipeline-Burst Write-Thru
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 100MHz (100MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 256MB SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 1x 100MHz (100MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : TVM AS5S Model
Adapter : NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro

Physical Storage Devices
Removable Drive : Floppy disk drive
Hard Disk : FUJITSU MPD3043AT (4.0GB)
CD-ROM/DVD : ATAPI CD-ROM DRIVE-40X (CD 40X Rd)
CD-ROM/DVD : MITSUMI CR-487ETE (CD 52X Rd, 52X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices
1.44MB 3.5" (A : N/A
Hard Disk (C : 4.0GB (518MB, 13% Free) (FAT32)
New (D : 258MB (0MB, 0% Free) (CDFS)
Via and nvidia (E : 60MB (0MB, 0% Free) (CDFS)

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 2 COM / 1 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : OPTi 82C861 PCI to USB Open Host
Controller
USB Controller/Hub : VIA Rev 2 USB Universal Host
Controller
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : Generic USB Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
Keyboard : Easy Internet Keyboard
Keyboard : Logitech HID-Compliant Keyboard
Mouse : HID-compliant mouse
Mouse : HID-compliant mouse
Human Interface : HID-compliant consumer control device
Human Interface : HID-compliant device
Human Interface : USB Human Interface Device
Human Interface : Internet Keys USB
Human Interface : USB Human Interface Device

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : Creative Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play (WDM)
Device : Game Port for Creative

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.01.2600 Service Pack 1

Network Adapter(s)
Network Drivers Enabled : Yes
Adapter : 3Com EtherLink III ISAPNP Ethernet Adapter
(Generic 3C509b)

(sorry, about the length...but best to let it all hang
out!

Anyway, my dilemna is that my computer likes to randomly
shut down about 5 times a day...just up and restarts on
it's own freewill. Every once in a while throwing in a
BSOD stating that a device driver for my video card was
to blame.
As per commonsense I have replaced the video driver with
many versions of the driver...finally settling on 30.82
as the best compatability of them all. Unfortunately I
still get the error. I have also tried updating my
chipset drivers as well but to no real avail.
I read something about the conflict between the APM
commands sent by the BIOS conflict with XP's residing
ACPI commands, causing the machine to stop itself before
causing a major malfunction. I have tried all the things
suggested by Windows Knowledge Base articles as well as
other tips from FIC and VIA but still shutting down
constantly.
I would have considered it a impossible mission except
that I have had it working before. Previously, I had
fluked out and the computer ran without a single glitch
for 8 months before a power outtage destroyed my hard
drive. Since then I have not been able to recreate the
stable environment.
If anyone has any tips or have figured out a fix I would
greatly appreciate it. Otherwise, I'm gonna build me a
wonderful new fish tank out of it!

 

[yeloduke]

Hope you like fish. Seriously though have you ever tried
setting the bios with all default basic settings. Failing
that maybe you should put a big sign on the monitor that
reads "Computers are VERY VERY COMPLICATED". Good luck
with the aquarium.

 

[Bob Day]

I have been enduring the relentless reinstalling and
repairing for too long, I must get help! I am the
disgruntled owner of a soon to be trashed relic
consisting of: < snip >

Check out your hardware:

1. Make sure your CPU and case temperatures are OK.

2. Shut down your computer and turn off power at the
surge protector or unplug it. Take the standard
protections against static electricity.

3. Open up your computer and dust it out. Make sure
all your CPU and case fans are working.

4. Reseat all the modules and cables inside your computer.

5. Do a hardware reset of your CMOS and set up your
BIOS again.

6. Run a full set of hardware diagnostics. ("diag378.exe",
downloadable from ftp://ftp1.dell.com/diags, after a few
complaints, will run on most non-Dell computers.)
You should get zero errors.

7. Run "memtest86" (download from http://www.memtest86.com)
to thoroughly check out your memory. You should get
zero errors.

-- Bob Day

 

[John Lord]

Previous poster, Bob Day, had several excellent
suggestions. I dust (vacuum) my machine out twice a year,
regardless. If you do get a new PC though, I'd recommend
going with straight Intel CPU and chipsets though. I've
simply seen far too many problems written up with the Via
chipsets and I strongly suspect that Microsoft works more
closely with Intel than with any other chip manufacturer.
Most especially check all the new PC's hardware in the
Microsoft Hardware compatibility catalog first:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx
Make sure all the stuff you get says "Designed for" and
not just "Compatible". I've found that Murphy's
corallarys say that "Designed for" equals "tested using"
and "Compatible" means "it didn't blow up at least one of
the times we tried it, so maybe it will work for you too."

Also choose hard drives with 7200RPM or faster spindle
speed with large cache buffers and get plenty of RAM and
make sure it's registered ECC memory even though it's
more expensive. Cheap or mismatched memory sets might
test ok and still cause occasional mystery crashes.
Hard drives are the slowest part of your PC and memory is
the part that ABSOLUTELY HAS to be the most reliable
because if it goofs, you may never notice unless the bit
failure is in executable code instead of data.