Ideas?

Discussion in 'Software' started by MrNice, Feb 19, 2007.

  1. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    Hey dudes,

    I have this one PC that I am pulling my hair out about, any advice is most definately welcome.

    The machine has had various problems in the last 6 months, Freezing, crashing, BSOD being the major ones. Its approx 2 years old.

    XP home, AOL 9.0, BT Voyager 105 usb modem, P4 3.0, 1Gb Ram, 80Gb sata 150hdd, AGP graphics card, Asrock mobo, not sure about PSU.

    The first time I looked at it, it randomly booted to BIOS unable to find boot device. I tried the then 150Gb sata 150 hdd in other machine and it seemed ok, I blamed the sata controller and replaced the mobo - completely reformatted HDD etc. When I reinstalled it in mates house I noticed it randomly losing its broadband connection. Sometimes it would pick up the signal again itself. I reinstalled driver and away it went, worked great for 2 weeks. Then freezing and BSOD again. Connection was dropping again but very little. As the crashing and BSOD got worse I went for another look. The HDD sounded like a tractor!

    I ordered a cheap new 80gb sata 150hdd and installed it at weekend. Tested for 2 days constant with not one single error. Used an identical modem on it to download all its updates etc from my house. Soon as I installed it back at mates it crashed when i went online! The system just locks up and nothing works, noticed the modem status lights had went yellow then cable unplugged appeared. Restarted machine about 10 times and it either froze or just dropped connection.

    Any ideas? I am trying to get another modem at minute.
     
  2. eddietop

    eddietop Bit Poster

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    hmm dosen't sound like a HD issue.

    I know it sounds dumb but are you sure your using the correct mobo drivers. If its an nforce mobo try without the nforce IDE drivers sometimes they can give issue.

    Might be worth running memtest86 on it overnight to check the memory is ok.

    What exactly is the BSOD message?
     
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  3. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Can you check your power supply? They can cause this kind of problem. Is it a good brand or just a generic one? And whats the power rating?
     
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  4. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Yup, any clues from the BDOD? Also is there anything in the event logs?

    Have you tried booting in safe mode to see if the PC is at least stable? 8)
     
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  5. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    I also had a feeling the PSU could be causing this error, I am awaiting info on the exact BSOD message. I dont have the PC here so I am unsure of details of PSU, pretty sure its a cheap one.
     
  6. r.h.lee

    r.h.lee Gigabyte Poster

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    MrNice,

    Questions:
    1. Is your Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition operating system patched with all current patches?
    2. Do you have a virus checker/killer software installed on your computer?
    3. Do you have an adware/spyware checker/killer software installed on your computer?
     
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  7. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    I agree with raff on this. power supplies can do some funky stuff. Another thing you may want to look at though since it seems to run fine at your house. What is that computer sitting on at the owners home? Could there be something there that is shortting it out? I remember another tech having a promb like this. Thing worked great at his shop but not at the owners. Finally fig out what ever it was sitting on was shorting the case out or something like that, that affected the mb. Anyway, just something you might want to check out too.
     
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  8. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Another vote for bad PSU - trade it out with a known-good one if possible. Mitzs suggestion is excellent - might be plugged into a bad power outlet at the other location.
     
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  9. MrNice

    MrNice Kilobyte Poster

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    Yeah I am waiting on a Tagan PSU for this machine. The only thing I cant figure out is why it worked so well at my house. I checked his power socket with a martindale plug and it was ok. The machine sits on a wood PC unit so it's not shorting out. I have come across that problem before on photocopiers and had to sit them on a rubber mat.

    Thanks for all the input
     
  10. Raffaz

    Raffaz Kebab Lover Gold Member

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    Are you using surge protection, or a UPS? That could also be another possible cause. Cant remember where i saw it, but i remember a problem with random restarts etc, and it turned out to be a desktop light connected to a timer that was connected to the same set of sockets as the pc. So surge protection could possibly cure it aswell.
     
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  11. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    I don't have any idea what a martindale plug is, but I still think it is something at his house. If it still acts up after the new ps is installed, I would loan him a psu and see if that works. His current my not always be steady? Its just a little to wierd that it runs fine at yours and not at his.
     
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  12. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    well you get rep points for that Raff, I would never have thought of something like that!
     
    Certifications: Microcomputers and network specialist.
    WIP: Adobe DW, PS

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