[petewba67]

built my own pc bout 6 months ago. always had a prob with it freezing, happens at any time. its on a msi k9n neo v3 motherboard with an amd athlon x2 64 processor with xp home. constantly run anti virus and adware progs but no luck. any ideas out there.

[shady77]

cpu fan running ok?
is the fan rated high enough for cpu?
sounds to me like overheating.
try taking the side panels off and running it for however long you usually do before it freezes.
if its then ok, i'd suggest investing in a side fan or the like

[petewba67]

cpu fan came with the cpu. msi core centre says its runnin at 6 degrees c. already have 1 side fan plus 1 at the front and 1 at the rear. sometimes freezes at start up. thats what puzzles me

[shady77]

are you getting any error reports?
it could be your ram, maybe you have a faulty stick?
try removing one at a time and running with just one.
also do you have wifi usb or pci etc?
try running off ethernet instead
try increasing your virtual memory.
could even be something as stupid as a usb keyboard/mouse causing it! try a ps2.

[witchy2k1]

Originally Posted by petewba67 cpu fan came with the cpu. msi core centre says its runnin at 6 degrees c. already have 1 side fan plus 1 at the front and 1 at the rear. sometimes freezes at start up. thats what puzzles me

Did you remember to apply the thermal paste to the heatsink before attaching it to the CPU?

I wonder if MSI Core is telling you the truth, 6 degrees seems very cool, mine sits at around 25 degrees,

There is a good possibility that it is your RAM, and the machine only crashes whenever the faulty sections are called into use.

If you have 2 sticks of Ram, remove one and see how it goes, if it still crashes then replace it with the other stick you had removed.

[petewba67]

if it freezes at start up could it really be the cpu overheating? more likely to ram i reckon,is there a diagnostic test i can use

[witchy2k1]

Originally Posted by petewba67 if it freezes at start up could it really be the cpu overheating? more likely to ram i reckon,is there a diagnostic test i can use

Hmm, very unlikely that it's a heat issue in that case.

Do you have 2 sticks or ram or just one?

[petewba67]

2 sticks. 1gb each kingston

[MightyMouth]

the best way to test ram is to try one stick at a time and see if one is ok but one freezes, if it still freezes with either stick in then most linux live cd's have a memory test you can run from the boot menu. Try Ubuntu Live cd. Failing that you could remove and reseat eveything on the motherboard, sometime a poor connection on anything can cause reboots.

[petewba67]

i ran a windows memory diagnostic tool from a floppy but nothing showed up. wondered if that tools any good.

[GASCAN]

Originally Posted by petewba67 i ran a windows memory diagnostic tool from a floppy but nothing showed up. wondered if that tools any good.

Memtest is usually a good utility for testing memory issues. Also worth checking the memory timings printed on the memory with what you have setup in the BIOS to make sure you are not running the memory above its rated timings.

Also another issue that might cause random freezes is input device drivers in particular if you run a logitech USB mouse I had problmes a while back which was resolved by installing the latest drivers for the mouse; may be totally of the mark but anything is worth a go.

[Street Hawk]

Hi,
if your system is hanging during the booting process (POST) it would indicated a hardware fault somewhere on the system or a setting could be incorrectly set in the systems bios.

I would attempt the following....

1. Replace the Ram modules or use one memory stick at a time as suggested by previous posts.

2.Try resetting your system bios back to defaults and see if it still has trouble booting up.

if there is still no difference or change since performing the above tasks..

3. Try disconnecting all hardware devices from your motherboard. you should then only have the CPU, & Ram connected to the motherboard and of course the power to the M-board. be sure to disconnect any DVD drives or Hard drives from the motherboard. now boot up the machine with your monitor keyboard & mouse connected and see if the system (POSTS) ok.

* If your system fires up & (POSTS) ok without freezing we are now looking at a device that was connected being the cause of the problem such as DVD Drive or Hard Drive or Another Device that was connected to your motherboard maybe Graphics card, Ethernet Card or any other device that might have been connected to maybe a PCI, AGP, PCI-X Slot.*

** However if you fire the machine up & your still getting the same problem and you have replaced the Ram for Ram known to be working in another machine or its New Ram then you need to concentrate on your CPU or Motherboard. also note that it has been known many times in the past that Some Brand new ram sticks have faults with them so dont over look that as a possibility**

So if you have made it this far..... and your system fires up and doesnt freeze with nothing connected to the motherboard.. all is good this far... now reconnect your devices to your motherboard 1 at a time only & boot the machine up each time you have added a device, Run it & see how its playing. This will be the best way to find out just excatly what device is causing the problem.

hope this helps..
Failing that.... get back in touch with us on here and we can try something else...
Good Luck.

Street

[petewba67]

ive tried switchin off me usb keyboard and mouse like someone suggested. seems to have work so far. only time will tell. always something stupid that screws things up. thanx everyone who replied. any more probs, hope i can count on ya. you`re a good bunch.

[crwni]

i would get the psu tested as well
you can buy a psu tester for about £10 youd be amazed at the problems you will get if any of the voltages are too low
Gareth