Computer about to be thrown out of the window
in [Hardware]
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From: Trent SC on 6 Feb 2005 15:58 Bloody computers! My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more information? It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics card and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with a spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it all went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in Tiles view format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it hung, so I just took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I lost it completely. This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new hard drive and new system and application software. The only common factors which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and processor. There are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only think that there must be something fundamental going on in the motherboard or processor, but if anyone else has any brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear them!
From: Michael Mauel on 6 Feb 2005 16:05 Trent SC schrieb: > Bloody computers! > > My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: > ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 > graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v > 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more information? > > It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when > online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took the > opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics card and > return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with a > spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it all went > pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with a pair of > fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. > > The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation of > SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took fine > once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to hang, > most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in Tiles view > format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it hung, so I just > took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I lost it > completely. > > This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new hard > drive and new system and application software. The only common factors > which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and processor. There > are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and CPU are spinning > efficiently. I can only think that there must be something fundamental > going on in the motherboard or processor, but if anyone else has any > brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear them! > > You should really try different memory or check if you bios can set slower timings for the memory. Also, if possible, disable some chacheing (video or system bios) and check if it can help you.
From: Trent SC on 6 Feb 2005 16:13 >> Bloody computers! >> >> My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: >> ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 >> graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v >> 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more >> information? >> >> It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when >> online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took >> the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics >> card and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive >> with a spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it >> all went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 >> with a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. >> >> The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation >> of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took >> fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to >> hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in >> Tiles view format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it >> hung, so I just took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back >> in before I lost it completely. >> >> This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new >> hard drive and new system and application software. The only common >> factors which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and >> processor. There are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and >> CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only think that there must be >> something fundamental going on in the motherboard or processor, but if >> anyone else has any brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear >> them! > You should really try different memory or check if you bios can set slower > timings for the memory. > Also, if possible, disable some chacheing (video or system bios) and check > if it can help you. Thanks for the reply. As I said, the memory is different, I'm now using the on-board graphics instead of a graphics card, the hard drives are different and the operating system is new, and yet the symptoms are the same as before, so I'm not sure how your suggestions apply in this situation.
From: Jan Alter on 6 Feb 2005 16:16 In agreeement with Michael do try different RAM, or try installation with the old stick (128 ?) or just the new chip. The hang is probably from a bad memory address in one of the chips. -- Jan Alter bearpuf(a)verizon.net or jalter(a)phila.k12.pa.us "Michael Mauel" <smartiboy(a)arcor.de> wrote in message news:420686ce$0$18560$9b4e6d93(a)newsread4.arcor-online.net... > Trent SC schrieb: >> Bloody computers! >> >> My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: >> ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 >> graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v >> 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more >> information? >> >> It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when >> online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took >> the opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics >> card and return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive >> with a spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it >> all went pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 >> with a pair of fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. >> >> The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation >> of SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took >> fine once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to >> hang, most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in >> Tiles view format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it >> hung, so I just took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back >> in before I lost it completely. >> >> This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new >> hard drive and new system and application software. The only common >> factors which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and >> processor. There are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and >> CPU are spinning efficiently. I can only think that there must be >> something fundamental going on in the motherboard or processor, but if >> anyone else has any brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear >> them! > You should really try different memory or check if you bios can set slower > timings for the memory. > Also, if possible, disable some chacheing (video or system bios) and check > if it can help you.
From: JAD on 6 Feb 2005 16:22
With ECS boards the CMOS is always a challenge. reset it. remove all but just one stick of memory. "Trent SC" <trent(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:36nenjF4p9m8hU1(a)individual.net... > Bloody computers! > > My colleague has mongrel PC with the following spec: > ECS P61WT-A+ board with a Celeron 766, 384MB RAM, onboard Intel i810 > graphics, 10GB HDD and running Windows 98se. The BIOS is Award Modular v > 6.00 PG; P61WT-A+ Ver. 1.0h 11/08/1999. Do you need any more information? > > It's been hanging on a regular basis (3 or more times a day, often when > online - IE6), so I opted to install Windows XP this afternoon, and took the > opportunity to remover the slightly ancient Trident 9440 graphics card and > return to the onboard graphics. I also replaced the hard drive with a > spare, freshly formatted 15GB FAT32 Seagate drive, just in case it all went > pear-shaped. I also replaced the RAM, going from 128 to 384 with a pair of > fresh sticks which tested fine on two memory testers. > > The installation went fine, but the computer hung during the installation of > SP2 (the very first thing I did after XP was on) and while SP2 took fine > once I'd rebooted, and Office 2000 went on fine, it's continued to hang, > most often when I'm in My Computer and mousing over an icon in Tiles view > format. And I didn't get a chance to go online before it hung, so I just > took out the new hard drive and shoved the old one back in before I lost it > completely. > > This is driving me crazy - I'm using different graphics, new RAM, new hard > drive and new system and application software. The only common factors > which might have an influence are the PSU, motherboard and processor. There > are no heat issues going on and the two fans - PSU and CPU are spinning > efficiently. I can only think that there must be something fundamental > going on in the motherboard or processor, but if anyone else has any > brillinat ideas, I'd be very, very pleased to hear them! > > |