PC problem

ive had this very anoying problem with my pc where it would just freeze

this is waht happends -- the power stays on, the monitor recives no signal, HD led is on and the led on the dvd drive is on --- there is no HD noize (you know the crunching im doing somethign noise)

it starded at first while doing something intensive like making avis or vcds -- you would have to trurn the power off on the power supply to shut it off -- it would have to be off for a few hours before it would work again (or get out of that mode or what ever the frell that is)

it progressed to needing to stay off for half a day before you could use it again - and basicaly the length of time increased

at first i thought mabey it was the graphincs board -- i changed that -- nothing changed -- i thought then mabey it was a weird problem with the HD - i changed that - that didnt work -- i changed the ide cables around and that didnt work -- next i will try the memory when i can get my hands on some

has ne1 ever encountered something like this or have an idea what it may be

it kind of sound like a thermal problem to me but all the fans are working fine and the case is open -- what else could lead to a problem where the pc needs to be off for a length of time before it works again
 
power supply going bad? what brand is it and what's the wattage?

maybe Windows acting stupid? what version are you running?
 
Having your case open isn't necessarily the most efficient way to keep something cooled. If you have sufficient fans on teh front and back of the case, then it'll suck air in the back and shoot it straight over your components and out the back. If you ahve the case open... the air you are sucking in doesn't necessarily go over your components. After it freezes up like that, are you getting a system beep when you try and power back on? If not... I would suspect that it is your motherboard.
 
Originally posted by googlefest1@Jul 25, 2003 @ 04:01 PM

i also changed the power supply to a 450 watt one -- i tried that too

im running xp pro

ok... well that's weird

I have known Win98 to do stuff like that, but not XP

and it's not the PSU

don't know what else to change

maybe you have a virus? did you check for any?

Try HouseCall
 
hmm -- i dont think its a virus -- thinking it may be win xp i also formated the drive and reinstalled everything and the pc has not been connected to the internet after that -- but i gues i can always try installing a virus prog and scaning
 
Originally posted by googlefest1@Jul 25, 2003 @ 04:26 PM

hmm -- i dont think its a virus -- thinking it may be win xp i also formated the drive and reinstalled everything and the pc has not been connected to the internet after that -- but i gues i can always try installing a virus prog and scaning

whoa after all that, it still does it???
 
ok i just tried switching the memory and still nothing

onlything left i think is changeing the proccesor - if that doesnt work i must be the mother board -- unfortunatly i dont have another prossesor - well i do but thats unknown if it works - in a system that was knocked over and sparks flew and the power supply melted

-- if it was a problem with the agp then there should be beeping

-- if it was a problem wiht the prossesor there should be beeping

-- if it was a problem wiht the memory there should be beeping

damn there is no beeping -- and will work in a few weeks and die again
 
Originally posted by googlefest1@Jul 25, 2003 @ 10:26 PM

ive never done it on that pc -- but thats worth a try i gues

just DON'T reset the machine while you do it and you'll be fine.

who made the computer?
 
i did

(not from scratch) i purchased all the parts - case, cpu,MB,graphics, and so on and slaped it together -- it worked great for a couple years and now seems to be sick

-- the HD is a western digital mb is a epox e8kt graphics is a geforce 2 ti from leadtec - sound is a audigy from creative - theres a 3com lan board and a lucent modem -- kingston memory - NEC 3.5 floppy - dvd reader from aopen - cd burner from richo (forgot the model number)- dvd burner from lg GMA 4020B

iforgot the cpu AMD athlon 1GHz with a thermaltake cooler
 
yea i got all the versions they had for it i just was too lazy to flash it

and didnt think that could be the probem but thinking about it yea it could have gotten corupted but then it should never work
 
If your drive leds are on constanly after it happens and the pc won't even boot into windows (you never mentioned what it does if you power it one before it works again). I would suspect that you have a bad mobo...the hd controller seems to have a problem that take time to fix...this can indicate a static build up or bad capacitor that isn't discharging properly. My sugestion is try all that stuff in a different mobo and see if that helps.
 
yeah im thinking bad mobo or bad processor (of course you changed everything else :D ) but i put my buddys pc together (now on the better half of 3 weeks) and the first time he had a bad mobo and the symptoms were just like you had. but he didnt put the pacers between the mobo and case and fried it himself. rma'd it got a new one and tried it himself. he said he got it to post but the cpu was at like 200c! so i came over, put on thermal paste and he put the heatsink on. now it wouldnt post. we reseated EVERYTHING. finally i took the heatsink off and noticed he had somehow taken a gouge out of the cpu (which was prolly really brittle from his overheating incident). but each time the mobo or cpu was bad we had the exact same symptoms you had.

dont bother with a bios flash. usually they only allow a mobo to support faster cpu's and not much else that would be related to your problem. and if you mess up you mess it up good.
 
yea thats why i got this board speciafcaly for being able to recover after screwing up a bois flash -- your suposed to beable to fix a screw up by using a isa graphics board -- so it has one isa slot for that purpose

instalation of MB question --would you guys use the metal posts or the plastic ones

the packaging ususaly comes withboth or sometimes with out plastic ones
 
have you actually checked your temps? as rabbit pointed out, decent ventilation will become major pos in an open side case and allow hot room air to surround the wonderful hot parts. if your computer randomly crashes during work, and you have the side panel off, it's more than likely your motherboard overheating.

check your temps with something like mbm5 or even sandra, and see how hot your mobo is while idling and when being under cpu intensive tasks. if you're mobo is hitting high 40's then you got your problem. heat cpu side up on the mb will dissipate easier than the heat trapped behind you motherboard, when the sensors are reading high 40's (48+) the board itself is more like (50-51C) and that's what's probably killing you.

does your computer work great with an ac on? or in the mornings before the heat settles in? and does it typically die when it's nice and hot in your house/apt?

if so, your mobo is probably fine, just getting too hot. especially the old athlons cooking the sockets.
 
I've never used those plastic posts. Motherboards are designed in such a way that using the metal ones isn't an issue... if it was then you'd have to use plastic screws too lol.
 
The more I read this thread and think about it, the more it smacks of bad motherboard. If it was bad cpu you'd be seeing much more adverse and strange effects (and it'd be more consistent I'd think).
 
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