System Lock-ups.

[Cynan 0]

A friend of mine has just bought themselfs a new Athlon XP system, but it keeps locking up (no BSoDs, no resets).

 

I don't know the full spec. of the machine itself, but am I right in thinking that machines only lock-up like that when they overheat? I mean a driver or power issue would cause it to BSoD or reset, right?

 

TIA.

[Brian Frank 0]

I guess it's best to find out exactly what hardware he's got, but I'd suspect some driver could be an issue. I've personally had some lockups with certain detonator drivers long before I'd ever get a BSOD. Heat could be an issue, depending on when it does it, y'know--randomly or after some CPU intensive task.

[sapiens74 0]

Let me Guess........ VIA?

[Alien 1]

Sapiens, change the record old chap, that 1 has a scratch in it.

[sapiens74 0]

Was asking a legitimate question.

 

Then i was going to offer a soultion.

 

Need more info tho

[Alien 1]

Quote:

Was asking a legitimate question.

Then i was going to offer a soultion.

Need more info tho

:consults crystal ball:
Let me guess - that he should get rid of the VIA based board in favour of another, especially a P4 board & CPU?

[Linuxboy00 0]

I can not vouch for anybody else, but I have a Abit KR7A-133R bored, yes it's VIA and I'm not having any problems with it. The fact is, I really like it, but I'm going to get a SOYO Dragon board the next time just to try something different.

But my video card is giving me problems tho. :-)

[sapiens74 0]

I was going to ask him to make sure to install the 4 in 1 drivers. Reinstall video drivers, pci latency patch, usb filter patch, and directx 8,1

 

 

why replace your stuff when you can just fix it

[sapiens74 0]

THe pci latency patch is for VIa chipset to perform better especially when using raid, or any card on the PCI bus that uses a lot of bandwidth

[Alien 1]

Quote:

I was going to ask him to make sure to install the 4 in 1 drivers. Reinstall video drivers, pci latency patch, usb filter patch, and directx 8,1


why replace your stuff when you can just fix it

Who are you? & what have you done with the real sapiens74? Just kidding dude.

I would also add that they ought to check that the heat sink is on properly, & that their CPU temps aren't too high.

[Cynan 0]

heh well it is a VIA chipset - Epox 8K7A+.

 

In my experience, the 4in1 drivers do more harm then good. I personaly don't install them on any VIA system that I have anymore.

 

As for my friends system, he reset the BIOS it default settings the other night and lowered the CPU (it wasnt o/c before, but it is u/c now) and so far its been stable.

 

I don't have a full spec., but this is what I do know: -

 

Epox 8K7A+,

Athlon 1800XP,

GeForce 4 Pro 600 64MB Gold,

Siler Mountain HSF,

Maxtor 80GB 7200,

512MB DDR KINGSTON x2,

CD Drive,

DVD Drive,

CD-RW,

10/100 NIC,

Creative SB 5.1,

300watt PSU.

 

 

It also seems to run fine either at the shop he bought it, or downstairs. That led him to believe it could have been heat (his room is hot) or a power instability as its plugged into a 10-plug adaptor.

 

Thats all for now.

[Alien 1]

Quote:

It also seems to run fine either at the shop he bought it, or downstairs. That led him to believe it could have been heat (his room is hot) or a power instability as its plugged into a 10-plug adaptor.

It sounds like the temps could be the cause [or @ least increasing the prob]. What are his system & CPU temps @ idle & load?

[sapiens74 0]

Might wana tell your mate to invest 5 bucks in some artic silver 3 thermal compound.

 

THat stuff can do wonders with any heatsink/fan combo.

 

ANd it is necesarry to use the 4 in 1 drivers.

 

BUt in order to make use of them, make sure y ou have the latest bios, then do a fresh OS install with the 4 in 1 done before any other software or driver install.

 

I've usually had best of luck doing it that way.

[Cynan 0]

Quote:

ANd it is necesarry to use the 4 in 1 drivers.

I don't mean to bite the hand thats feeding me here (so-to-speak), but its not. I haven't on my system and it runs great. Everytime I've ever installed those drivers (versions ranging from 0.28->0.31 I think) I had various crashses. They're worthless if you ask me. No other motherboard make has this kinda of thing, why does VIA? To me its either a gimmick or some kinda of selling point that just doesn't pay off.

Anyone else care to put their point-of-view across about VIAs 4in1s?

[Sampson 0]

I believe that XP is supposed to have its own implementation of the VIA drivers. If you install the VIA drivers first, I believe in setting up XP you are to select Standard PC to allow the system BIOS to handle the IRQ's otherwise XP will handle them through ACPI.

Anyways, make sure that his CD writer has DMA support. Also, you might remove the NIC, run the machine and see if it runs fine. Frequently, AMD machines seems to have a problem between the kind of NIC you are using and the video.

Finally, depending on when the SB 5.1 drivers were put in, SB has not always been happily compliant with Microsoft specifications. There are supposed to be available drivers for the 5.1 that have now been certified as Microsoft compliant.

[sapiens74 0]

Intel has the same thing.

 

Its only and inf file to properly recognize the chipset.

 

You can not install them. Sometimes they resolve issues with newer hardware. Other times they create new issues.

 

But in your friends case try it.

 

might work