My PC keeps locking up. The screen freezes forcing a hard boot.

So far I have:

Reformatted C:
Increased page file
Tested the memory and swapped the sticks about
Ran a disk scan
Ran a reg scan
Reinstalled all drivers
Checked temperature of CPU at crash
Cleaned the components

I'm starting to think its not hardware related and might be due to a failed BIOS update. My problems started after that time. The update was specific to my system but failed due to checksum bullshit and reset itself to defaults. Only I think the bios splash screen is a little different to what it used to be so something must have changed.

Am I fucked?

But to counter the BIOS theory, I can go for a while if nothing intensive is going on, but as soon as I start the CPU off (like converting movies) it caves in after a minute. Everytime. But before the format it was happening regularly, like as soon as I loaded up a web page, or sneezed on the monitor.

flibble

Change 'regularly' to 'randomly' above, and get some fucking edit buttons in here!

http://www.compufinity.com/help_system_crashes.htm

I have all these symptoms of overheating but my temp sensors peaked at 58 degrees and athlons are good til 85. I also had a monster of a fan blasting air into the side of it this afternoon and it still biffed out. I'll stop using the case as an ashtray and put the cover back on to see if that helps but I'm clutching at straws :S

I'll try another scandisk since it biffed out during the last one I ran. In the meantime I expect a flood of helpful responses please, or you richer folks could just mail me a new rig <3

I take it u cleaned the gfx fan as well as the cpu fan from dust?

Could be ur gf overheating, especially if it happens when u put strain on ur machine. And try to downgrade ur BIOS to a previous version as well. THis will override the possibly corrupt bios.

Memory sounds like it might be worth a look. Try relaxing the timings or better still run memtest86 which runs without and fancy OS so will at least rule it out.

Well I've had some major issues all day, starting with the graphics card refusing anything but 300x200 at 4 bit colour and popping up the BSOD when I tried to increase it. Ended up getting locked out of my machine with no display at all, so messed around with my other PC and thats taken all day. I come back to this one and its back to normal... Anyway, I swapped the card over for a spiffing GF2MX and started up my vid conversion app, and it ran for 5mins, so I came to post here telling you how clever you were Kuifje and then it froze ://

So its not card related, its either the Mobo, CPU or BIOS. I'm ruling out the memory since I've had the sticks in every combination possible and ran some rudimentary tests on them, and tbh I cba trying to understand that memtest thing right now. I'll check it out later if all else fails.

I've no idea how to get an earlier BIOS update since this is all of the software my manufacturer is supplying: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/soft ... =uk&os=228
Since my mobo is OEM I'm scared to put anything but their own updates in. Plus I dont have a clue about mobo's and BIOS and don't want to fuck it up. If either of you can help, its a Asus A7N8X-LA noforce2 board. I've seen a few different BIOS updates for it here and there but I'm too scared to touch them.

/cry

You tried clearing the CMOS? Set your athlon to run at 1.1ghz, disable agp fast writes, try all this with no net connection. If you can get into XP add a new user account and log into that accout at startup and try some basic stuff like minesweeper etc.

Boot up with just the gfx card, nothing else in the pci slots, could be a mismatch in irq's or something. Use 1 ram stick, take all the ide drives out except the hd to boot from.

I'd recommend doing any kind of hardware diagnosis with no network connected, you could be getting hax0red and someones got a big reset button to break your pc.

Get a new ip (ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew in dos) although on cable you'll probably get the same one back.

If all else fails just hit it a few times, usually works

you could also try cleaning and reapplying thermal paste to the cpu

How do I clear the CMOS? This P.o.s mobo doesnt have any overclocking features so i'm fucked for that.

Done

Done. It's not someone hacking me for sure, especially seeing as I can force the crash to happen.

Thermal paste >.< Thats another thing I'm scared of touching.

I'm off to phone HP to see what they can do about sending me a better BIOS update. The one I used updates from Windows which I believe is not normal?

Theres usually a 2 pin connector on the mobo with a jumper on it, you take the jumper off iand turn on your pc. If its the right one, the pc wont turn on so turn it off, replace the jumper and turn on again. That should clear it.

Or you could take the battery out for about an hour, or try booting with no battery in the mobo.

As for flashing from windows, its not that uncommon nowadays as more people have no idea how to use DOS.

You tried flashing it again?

at a guess i'd say it's the blue one underneath the battery

http://www.ixbt.com/mainboard/images/nf ... -board.jpg

LOL

(no further input to add, sorry)

Ok, I ran memtest for 2 passes with the single stick of RAM left in my machine and got zero errors.

I've tried that update about 10 times in all, a few before the reformat and a couple directly after. It just gives the checksum error. Spoke to HP and the dick on the other end of the phone was just looking at the same webpage everyone else has access to. He seemed to think using the built in recovery partition might reset the BIOS to what it was, but I deleted that ages ago and its gonna cost £25 for a disk that might not even work.

I'll try that jumper pin after I've downloaded the mighty Battlestar Galactica Episode 4 so fingers crossed.

And fisher, wtf. I'll break you.

Oh and I'm getting BSOD's galore now. It's never the same thing, and anything can set it off. I've had video, memory, and application's causing it. Maybe its getting better if its actually giving me the blue screen instead of just dying on me \o/

yea tis, BIOS flashes can be done from windows. Instead ask em for previous versions of the BIOS

I did and they dont have shit. Useless Arsenal Supporters.

Cleared the CMOS and still the same. I decided to put the PC back together now, inlcuding my other stick of RAM. When I just booted up there it froze 2 seconds after log on, just like it was doing before the reformat. Now I'm really fucking confused.

Time to get the warranty card out imo. Sounds like your mobo is going tits up tbh

Just remembered something...

U tried swapping HDD's?

Had a customer once with defective cache memory on his system HDD and that machine was producing BSOD's all over the place. Mainly memory related but also OS and software faults.

Cache errors will not show up on the build in HP tool btw.

Wow..without the edit option this pwns for chalking up the postcount

I think I'll try that you know. I'm running dry on things to do so its worth a shot.

Can anyone recommend a new mobo, cpu and psu? I seen these for much cheapness on ebuyer:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=61308
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=62051
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=63401

Hi Delts,

Sounds suspiciously BIOS related to me. Are you getting any error messages with the BSOD's?
When are you getting checksum errors? When you're doing the BIOS update? If so, have you followed the instructions on the HP product information (Updating the BIOS) page? Finding the BIOS version, that you are currently using, might help us. Also see this web page, which doesn't paint a pretty picture of BIOS 3.12, if that is the BIOS version that you downloaded from the HP site. Someone's posted previous BIOS version files at the bottom. Which might be worth a go. Obviously can't vouch for em though. Shout if you're not sure about the process for updating the BIOS.

Other Suggestions:
- Have you booted up in safe mode to see if it's more stable? Run something CPU heavy to try to replicate the problem. Might help to eliminate any software/driver doubts.
- Have you run memtest, with both sticks of ram installed, successfully for a while? If you have, leave em in, it won't be a memory issue.
- Have you updated your Nvidia motherboard (Nforce) drivers since upgrading your BIOS? Maybe there's a dependency for newer nforce drivers in the BIOS you've now got. Doubtful (very doubtful) but maybe that's something you could ask HP support.

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/17711/

contains:
"First, there are two MB's made by ASUS for HP. Both are A7N8-LA's. The start of the confusion. One is called the ESCAPE and has integrated graphics on the MB and it appears the latest BIOS for it is 3.14 which you installed. My PC which is an a350e has the AGP card only option and is called the FOCUS model. It uses the nVidia NForce2 400 chipset on the North Bridge and the MCP-T chipset on the South Bridge. It also has 2 Firewire ports; one on the front of the case and one in the back. The most recent BIOS for this MB is 3.07. Both BIOS are stripped down AMI's."

Dunno if that clarifies at all?

you're too well informed for an IBM stooge imo

He must be a new starter with this level of knowledge, IBM will soon suck it out of him and force him to give technically correct yet not very helpful call centresque answers

LOL! So true. The extraction process is well underway.

Hold down Insert when you boot your pc up, will default everything to the original settings in the bios, see how stable it is like that.

Cheers sifty, gonna check out the 3.07 bios revision. Thing is, those people got their errors after they successfully updated, and I'm getting mine for having a failed update. The error msg basically read what the HP site says "Default BIOS settings have been loaded due to BIOS update or checksum issue."

Just downloaded this file http://rifo.dk/share/upload/FOC307.zip from that site you linked, but I', having trouble using it. I stuck all the files (bar the readme) onto a floppy and rebooted but I just told me to remove it. I tried dbl clicking the 2 exes - one does nothing, and the other seems to close down prematurely (after hitting the A key).

I ran in safe mode for a while but didnt strain the system to see if it would crash. Performance in safe mode started to degrade after a while tho.

And my BIOS is already at the default settings, that seems to be the problem.

Aha, it has been flashed I misinterpreted the checksum message as loading the default BIOS revision opposed to BIOS settings.

So all I need to do is get the 307.rom file to work.

googling a bit learned that u have to create a DOS boot disk and stick the stuff from that zip file on it, then @ the prompt use the afudos command and select the "a" option

Win 98se bootdisk

Just to clear something up...

Why did u update ur BIOS again??

I was checking hardware with SiSoft Sandra and it recommended updating the BIOS. Needless to say I removed the piece of shit program and deleted the download.

So that win98se thing works for xp?

it's OS independent.

Use that floppy as bootdisk (ie start from floppy). It won't boot your OS but just make ur computer accesible. Then run that AFUDOS thingie and it should update the bios if u pick the "a" option.

Ok my BIOS should have been changed now but it hasnt and I dont know wtf im doing wrong. I posted here http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/45302/

The revision I want is 3.07, the one I have is 3.12

:S

Another option:



Frome here...running out of options tho, couldnt find another source for the BIOS version.

Can try 1 last thing..can u locate the productnumber of ur PC for me. Should be near the serial number. I can try to phone HP and see if they can supply me with a proper (older) BIOS version.

Also, u got onboard video or not?

<< fool

I was saving the current ROM before I was updating with a new one, which was causing me to flash in the exact same thing that was already installed... <hee haw>

So I have my old BIOS back, and I'm just doing some vid converting to see if it freezes. Will keep you posted.

Well it just locked up again, so its not the BIOS. FFS.

your battery on the mobo could be fucked

That's good (I'm an optimist). HDD next step then I reckon. Boot into safe mode and run a full scandisk, which will take bleedin ages depending on the size of your disk.

If Windows retains the correct date and time, in between turning the pc off and on again, then your Mobo battery is ok. The function of the battery is to preserve settings while power is removed from the PC (time, BIOS settings).The same BIOS will be there, just settings won't be retained.

You have done the obligatory virus check to ensure that you haven't been infected by all that porn you download right?

Not since I reformatted, but I did one right before.

I've started to check the HDD by installing Windows onto my 2nd drive, but I'm locked out of that totally, its asking me for a PW when I didnt set one up and give me this error "domain either does not exist or could not be contacted". However, during the install of WinXP on that drive, it froze and I had to start again. But I'm giving that the benefit of the doubt and assuming its not related. Even though it probably is.

Will try the scandisk in safe mode, but if it takes ages It wont complete before it locks.

I'm starting to think its the mobo now, something might be damaged on it. The capacitors are all fine tho, theres no dead or dying ones that I can see.

Well I guess it's good to got through the motions, rather than spend out £100 needlessly. If you can't even run scandisk to completion in safe mode then motherboard could be the suspect.

Of course, it could be a faulty power supply where the voltages are no longer consistent across the rails or that your graphics card isn't seated properly or or or..... too many variables.


You could always start dissembling your other pc and start testing with its components

Or plug your HDD from your 'bad'machine into the good one and run a scandisk on there.

Or just send it back

Not sure what you mean, but I've had the PC down to its barebones to rule as much out as possible. Its not gfx card or AGP slot related as the other card was PCI as opposed to my AGP one. I've had the memory in as many combinations as possible, and memtested a single stick which came up clear, yet still had the freezing happen. Downgraded the BIOS and its not that. CPU isnt overheating either.

All thats left is the mobo, HDD's and PSU. My other PC cant read this HDD so I'll head over to someone elses place tomorrow and check it out there. And I've got no idea how I would go about testing the PSU :/

TBH I hope its the HD because its easier to replace.

And I couldnt find scandisk >.< WTF have they done with it?

start -> run -> cmd -> chkdsk /f /r

ow..then boot the machine, Windows will then perform a complete test on ur hdd and run a surface scan as well, correcting possible errors.

It'll take ages tho, depending on disk size.

Seeing u finished memtest I dont really think the mobo is fux0red.

I think I've done all this before with Norton Utilities and everything checked out ok. Ran it there anyway, and no errors. Not sure how to make it check the other partitions on the HD, but it doesnt matter for now. I'll check teh drive in another machine tomorrow and see if I can replicate the problems.

Had a few BSODs and rarely any of them are the same except this one:

STOP: 0x0000008E

which blames

ati2cqag.dll

Funnily enough the (very few) sites that contain the stop code and dll name also mention the A7N8 mobos, and HP...

From here it seems to be the PSU at fault: http://www.ozzu.com/ftopic46101.html

Tomorrow it'll be the Floppy Drive at fault, and the day after it'll all be because the case had a dent in it.

/cry

How do they look btw?

Just checked my PSU and its 250w o.O

I thought it was 350w. I've ordered a 500w one from Ebuyer

Schans puter has the exact same mobo and it's very good value for money, proc and PSU seem reasonably priced.

But..

if u can run checkdisk and run stable in safemode its pointing v much toward software.

U using SATA or IDE hdd's?

and if ur using sata's doublecheck if the sata cables are plugged in properly, coz them connectors can short out quite easily

and someone needs to really REALLY

REALLY

enable the edit option in this forum

IDE, and it crashes in Safe Mode too.

It's crashed at boot too, and during a WinXP install. And it crashed the very second I loaded up into Windows after I had just reformatted.

I'd just order those new bits on ebuyer tbh. U could try disconnecting all devices except the boot HDD. and preferably use PS2 devices rather then USB. That way u should be easily below that 250W mark.

But by the sounds of things ur mobo just gave in.

PS
if u gonna fit a new mobo in the HP case make sure that a normal ATX board will fit. I had a nightmare putting a new mobo in my fathers Pavilion. Bought him a decent case in the end coz the HP case sucked donkey doodles.

and install xfire or login to IRC u numpty, coz all this posting is putting tons of strain on the forums DB and Xui doesnt do backup

I'm going for the cheap option for now with a PSU and I'll find out on Friday if it worked.

And yeah, I'll be buying a new case too if I get new bits cos its tighter than a catholic schoolgirls fanny inside my current one.

how many different versions of the cats have you tried?

I'd get some that are about a year old and try them. That BSOD is obviously giving you gip about the ati dll.

I had some awful bsods due to some nvidia drivers a long time ago

Havent went any further back than the last 2 omega drivers. Havent had that blue screen since, but ive had others. And I've just checked my HDD on another machine and its fine. So its a toss up between my mobo and PSU. Will find out tomorrow which its is. DUN DUN DUN!!!!

Stay tuned.

I might need an earlier BIOS version, 3.04. All I could find from teh HP site were theses:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/gene ... en&lang=en

Should I install? I've no idea what echo is.

Bah nm, echo is a mobo so i better not touch them.

Looks like my mobo is shagged then. Gonna order those components.

The mobo handles 333 fsb but that proc is 400 - will it still work? And can anyone recommend a decently priced case?

According to Asus it also handles 400mhz FSB so shouldnt be a prob

Thats the NF7-S2, the one from Ebuyer is NF7-S ver 2.0. I had the Abit page for it earlier but I cant find it now :E

from here

Think the 333 FSB is outdated and all new versions are 400Mhz.

Also the NF7-S series is [url=http://www2.amd.com/us-en/recmobo/ResultsHandler/1,,30_182_869_4348^7923~63674,00.html]recommended[/url] on the AMD site.

Haven't looked at what you're planning to get but I'd recommend that you buy a motherboard that, at least, supports 400mhz FSB and, if you're going AMD again, that it supports socket 939 for future upgradability reasons (obviously dependent on what CPU you are getting/have).

DEEEEEEATH.

Like a raging queer I flashed to revision 3.21 in desparation after not being able to find the 3.04 ones from the insane library of drivers on their ftp site and now my mobo is pushing up daisies, refusing to start :`(

I'm not too fussed about the latest stuff tbh Sifty, I just need a cheap solution in the meantime. I'll get jiggy with the l33tness when I have the cash to invest in a whole new system. I'm actually considering cutting out the new CPU part and just sticking my old one in that mobo.

I seen an AMD video that was pimping heat pads over thermal grease, what say you lot? The vid was stating that grease should only be used in the short term for constant removal of the CPU, and that pads were for long term use.

And btw:


ROFL

So it doesn't help to reset the CMOS data and hammer the delete key on startup then? No beeps, no nothing?
Wasn't going for leetness with the recommendation matey, just something that will enable you to upgrade to something halfway current the next time you think about it.
Don't think pads v grease is too much of an issue. A pc I built 3 years ago is still going with grease and has had many, many hours playtime. Pads are convenient but, in one case (no pun intended), I have had to replace the pad with grease as it's gone hard and crusty (temps went up).

couldnt resist

hold down INSERT when you boot it up. Sorts out loads of shit

I tried resetting the CMOS and that didnt help. Didnt try any button bashing tho. Will try when I get home.

Cycling halfway across Cambridge to check emails ftw!

hmmm I was planning to sell a NF7-s V2.0 motherboard, AMD Barton 2500+ (locked) CPU and Radeon 9800Pro (Sapphire) to my mother in law but she's holding out on me to see if I'll just give it to her. Want to make me an offer Delts?

2 euros and an empty bottle of heineken.

Under european equal opportunities legislation I R teh winn0r as my bid is not in sterling.

Ta for the offer Sifty but I'd either only need the CPU, or the mobo + CPU - not the card. I ordered an NF7 yesterday but have run into a slight problem with socket types. I planned to stick my old 2600 in there in the meantime, but when I disassembled my HP machine last night, and pulled out the CPU, the socket said "socket 4**" (I think it was 478, cant remember). I don't think this is compatible with the NF7 is it?

Here it says my old mobo is Socket A which is leading me to major confusions since the NF7 is socket A too. (now im starting to think I maybe read the "A" as a "4" on the socket but it defo had 2 more numbers behind it).

Can any of you techy types clarify for me if I can use that CPU in the NF7? I'll need to know ASAP as I'll have to cancel the order before it gets shipped.

Cheers.

The socket on my mobo looks just like this:



note the missing pin holes at the top and bottom right corners of the socket. Is this socket A?

Well it looks like this one so I'm gonna let the order come and see if everything works out >.<

if u got an athlon xp cpu it'll go with the nf7 board.

Athlon XP's were only made for SocketA

Delts

You got gforce 6600gt in that rig of yours?

Read this

[quote=shallan on sc boards]
i recently bought a gf6600gt agp 128mb, now it ran perfectly ok for a while and it is still perfectly capable of doing once in a while. But very occasionally (and i mean very) I get the weirdest crashes/lock-ups/graphic glitches. The biggest problem is teh lock-ups which happen in most games and even in windows using firefox :/, the comp will freeze and loop sound for 10 secs+ and sometimes needs a cold reboot.

I have been through everything I can think of, various drivers for both chipset and gfx, fresh installs of xp some with sp1, some sp2, bios settings for agp and memory timings, direct x versions, underclocking. It seems very much like a gfx card problem and im drawn toward VRam specifically but any extra advice would rock. System is a xp2800 @ 333fsb, asus a78nx-x MB, 1.5Gb corsair ddr400 7-2-2-2, sparkle gf6600gt 128mb agp, creative sblive5.1, 500w enermax psu. This should run real nice IMO but it feels like an oric-1 Sad [/quote]

Here's what was causing the lock-ups



Just wondering if it is the vid card causing the issues

M

hehe buy a Nvidia Riva TNT2 64mb for approximately 7p (that's 10 cents before you start Kuif ) and test it out. Shouldn't have to change the drivers either.

Kuif, the socket said "socket462" which I now realise meant the number of pins. It says the same on this mobo too. Misleading fools.

I have a 9800pro goose.

Anyhoo, got a new case and mobo today and all is sweet, so far. The bastard is making a whore of a noise, the CPU fan doesnt seem to want to take a rest like it did with my old setup. Need to do some fiddling.

\o/

What motherboard did you get in the end?

NF7-S v2.0

I don't think there were tools to adjust the CPU speed when I used mine. I had a funky Aero7 heatsink/fan that has a twiddly knob to adjust the speed. Maybe Abit have some tools to sort your fan speed out. Failing that this Fanspeed utility says that it's compatible with your board.

I got a hold of SpeedFan, it does the trick

Thanks for all the help people. I found out after I ordered the new stuff that I could buy a new EEPROM chip from some company in america for $60, which is sods law.