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| Thread ID: 73329 | 2006-10-15 12:09:00 | PC Freezes | DragonMaci (11307) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 491672 | 2006-10-15 12:09:00 | I have a powerful system that is less than 2 months old and it totally freezes up. I can't use the keyboard. I can't even use the mouse. The cursor won't move at all when I try. The system has three good case fans so I doubt overheating is the problem. I also check for spyware and adware several times a week (I use Adaware Personal, Spybot Search & Destroy, and Windows Defender. I also check for viruses on a weekly basis with Avast! Antivirus. All of these are up-to-date and report no problem in most cases (I am very cautious with my net usage). I am using Windows XP Professional. MY CPU is a AMD Athlon 64 X2. Every now and then my PC freezes. But only when I am connected to the net. I am using the latest version of Zone Alarm Free and am very cautious of what I allow. Does anyone know what could be causing this problem in such a new PC? | DragonMaci (11307) | ||
| 491673 | 2006-10-15 18:22:00 | good question... Id suggest looking into whetheror not it was your hard drive causing the errors... but as you say, its a new system. Older hard drives have been the source of complete freeze ups in the past, but if it is new then there shouldn't be a problem. The only other thing i can think of, is your temporary internet files or something of the sort. Do a disk clean up, or run your PC through the Clean Up here (safety.live.com). Hopefully (very hopefully) this can solve your problem :) |
Fidelius (10676) | ||
| 491674 | 2006-10-15 19:21:00 | I am using Windows XP Professional. MY CPU is a AMD Athlon 64 X2. Every now and then my PC freezes. But only when I am connected to the net. this problem in such a new PC? First step. Throw the Athlon 64 x 2 as far away as you can. It's rubbish!!!! Second step. Buy the most powerful single core you can afford. Well it worked for me:angry :angry |
JJJJJ (528) | ||
| 491675 | 2006-10-15 20:10:00 | It could be a problem with the hardware but is more likely to be a software fault. Whenever I need to determine whether a problem is hardware or software based I try running a completely different set of software from the ground up. Try downloading and running a live linux CD such as slax (http://www.slax.org). Do you get freezes with that? If you do get freezes with that, it's a hardware problem and you should probably have it inspected by the store. Otherwise, it's more likely to be a software problem. The easiest solution is then to back up all your files and reinstall Windows from scratch with a reformat (everything on the drive will be lost when you do this). |
TGoddard (7263) | ||
| 491676 | 2006-10-17 06:23:00 | good question... Id suggest looking into whetheror not it was your hard drive causing the errors... but as you say, its a new system. Older hard drives have been the source of complete freeze ups in the past, but if it is new then there shouldn't be a problem. The only other thing i can think of, is your temporary internet files or something of the sort. Do a disk clean up, or run your PC through the Clean Up here (safety.live.com). Hopefully (very hopefully) this can solve your problem :) I do cleanups with CC Cleaner every 2 or 3 days. Sometimes as much as every day, so I doubt that is it. But thank you anyway. First step. Throw the Athlon 64 x 2 as far away as you can. It's rubbish!!!! Second step. Buy the most powerful single core you can afford. Well it worked for me:angry :angry Firstly, many computer magazines disagree with you that is is rubbish. Secondly, I cannot afford to do that. I am completly broke right now. You just need to download the AMD Dual Core Optimizer or the MS patch for dual core CPUs. Then the X2 will work properly. Also you need XP Professional as XP Home has either no support or poor support for Dual Core (not sure which) to get Dual Core to work properly. It could be a problem with the hardware but is more likely to be a software fault. Whenever I need to determine whether a problem is hardware or software based I try running a completely different set of software from the ground up. Try downloading and running a live linux CD such as slax (http://www.slax.org/). Do you get freezes with that? If you do get freezes with that, it's a hardware problem and you should probably have it inspected by the store. Otherwise, it's more likely to be a software problem. The easiest solution is then to back up all your files and reinstall Windows from scratch with a reformat (everything on the drive will be lost when you do this). I have OpenSUSE 10.1 but have not had the time to test it. As for it being a software problem I believe it is. I contacted my ISP (Woosh) about another problem I was having (speed not as high as it was supposed to be) and the customer service person said that it was probably their software causing USB driver conflicts, so he sent me a ethernet cable free of charge (they usually cost $34). He also aked me if I was having any other PC problems and I told him of the freezes which he said could also be caused by the conflicts. So he told me how to set it up manually so that I can avoid their sofware and connect directly to their server and today I have had not 1 freeze even and I have had the net connected all day since 7:30am, which is very unusual. I will get back to you all in a few days if this holds up. |
DragonMaci (11307) | ||
| 491677 | 2006-10-17 06:43:00 | ethernet cable free of charge (they usually cost $34) ah.....lol they only cost that much at some rippoff merchant shops ......really the ethernet cable is worth about $0.50c per foot and a dollar or so for each plug.......see here for examples: www.trademe.co.nz www.trademe.co.nz |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 491678 | 2006-10-17 06:49:00 | The system has three good case fans so I doubt overheating is the problem. I love how people assume that because they have lots of case fans overheating cant be the problem :lol: Anyways enough being an ******* and on to the problem. Since your system is fairly new it increases the likelyhood that the problem is one of three things, overheating, crappy PSU or falty ram. Have you got any software for monitoring CPU temps in Windows? Most motherboards come with something so crack open the box and find that driver CD. Download and run Prime95 while running your temp monitoring software in the background. If the CPU is unstable or overheating then the Prime95 torture should crash and possibly lock up the entire system. To test the memory download Memtest and run it. Its fairly straight forward and after the test it should be fairly obvious whether the memory is at fault. A crappy PSU is a little bit harder to detect, post back with the brand of PSU and the hardware in your system. Oh........... and just ignore JJJJJ, its an unspoken rule around here that you ignore anything he says about hardware. He gets a lil cranky about dual core because he beloved Flight Sim wont run stablely on it. Crap didnt see the reference to it only happening on the internet. You can probably ignore my above advice, its probably something to do with the Woosh modem. |
Pete O'Neil (6584) | ||
| 491679 | 2006-10-17 07:38:00 | First step. Throw the Athlon 64 x 2 as far away as you can. It's rubbish!!!! Come on, Like I said several times, my friend runs MSFS quite happily with his x2 4200+. Kind of eliminates the dual core being the problem with the game problems you had doesn't it..... |
pctek (84) | ||
| 491680 | 2006-10-18 00:58:00 | ethernet cable free of charge (they usually cost $34) ah.....lol they only cost that much at some rippoff merchant shops ......really the ethernet cable is worth about $0.50c per foot and a dollar or so for each plug.......see here for examples: www.trademe.co.nz www.trademe.co.nz Well that is the price Woosh charges regardles. Except that he arranged it so I don't have to pay. |
DragonMaci (11307) | ||
| 491681 | 2006-10-18 01:11:00 | I love how people assume that because they have lots of case fans overheating cant be the problem :lol: Anyways enough being an ******* and on to the problem. Since your system is fairly new it increases the likelyhood that the problem is one of three things, overheating, crappy PSU or falty ram. Have you got any software for monitoring CPU temps in Windows? Most motherboards come with something so crack open the box and find that driver CD. Download and run Prime95 while running your temp monitoring software in the background. If the CPU is unstable or overheating then the Prime95 torture should crash and possibly lock up the entire system. To test the memory download Memtest and run it. Its fairly straight forward and after the test it should be fairly obvious whether the memory is at fault. A crappy PSU is a little bit harder to detect, post back with the brand of PSU and the hardware in your system. Oh........... and just ignore JJJJJ, its an unspoken rule around here that you ignore anything he says about hardware. He gets a lil cranky about dual core because he beloved Flight Sim wont run stablely on it. Crap didnt see the reference to it only happening on the internet. You can probably ignore my above advice, its probably something to do with the Woosh modem. I believe it was the Woosh software as now that I am using the ethernet cable and set it run directly through the Woosh server using PPPOE instead of the software I have had to whole days without freezes even when downloading big files and on Renderosity (the two main times the freezes happened). So it seems most likely it was the driver software. As for ignoring him when it comes to hardware, well, thanks for the advice. I will do so from now on. I am new here so didn't know to do that. But I do now. Thanks. ADDITION: Thank you for the advice by the way, even though it seems it may not be useful. I appreciate the attempt to help. |
DragonMaci (11307) | ||
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