Journal jawtheshark's Journal: Ask subset of slashdot: Spontaneous freeze and the reboot 17
Beginning this summer, when it was freaking hot (35C), my parents computer began behaving oddly. The mouse pointer would freeze and after a minute of inactivity it would reboot. I attributed it to heat, because it was insanely hot at the time. I "fixed it" by installing the AMD Cool 'n Quiet drivers which I didn't do because last time I tried it bluescreened. I also upgraded the BIOS to the latest version just to be sure.
Since I do not use that system all that much and my parents/siblings fail to give me feedback, I thought it was fixed. Not so! Last weekend, I upgraded OpenOffice and it did it again. Twice... First assumption: network driver flakey because I was installing OpenOffice from a network share. Upgraded driver: no effect. Damn.
Okay, cheap memory perhaps? Ran memtest86 and no failures. Weird. I pretty much can rule out memory then.
I now really don't know what it could be. The suspects I have now are:
- The CPU itself. I damaged some pins when I replaced the heatsink, but it survived burn-in tests I did after that.
- The powersupply. Does anyone know if cheap-ass powersupplies get flakey after a while? It could be due to that even though I would not expect a freeze and then a reboot. Just a reboot.
I specifically asked my sister if it freezes when she plays The Sims 2, but she claims it doesn't. It's really a rather strange situation. Oh, yes, I did check for spyware. Everything okay on that front too. I could reinstall the machine to see if Windows itself is the culprit, but WinXP is pretty much stable on every machine I use. Also, I did not upgrade any drivers since the initial install, except the NVidia drivers when I replaced that graphics card.
I used it for a few hours today: no freezes, but I was just plain surfing.
Now that I start to think of it: might it be the graphic card? I replaced that one with a GeForce 6600 which has a fan. If the fan of that one is dead, it might be that! Still, one would assume that The Sims 2 would stall pretty much after a few minutes
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Try a general stress test (Score:1)
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Does such a thing exists? Any advice?
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I have seen other programs, search around for "burnin" testing.
First guess (Score:2)
Second guess would be a loose component, take everything out and reseat it and see if it helps.
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I've got Windows really low on the failure list these days. Especially because every machine I install gets exactly the same software and my users are trained to use safe programs. (And none of them is Admin, not even me... I log in as Admin for maintenance tasks) The fact that no spyware is on the system is a clue that they do listen to me. Stability these days seems to come more often from hardware though.
I'll check if any component is loose... thanks for the tip
Had something similar happen (Score:1)
I turned off hardware graphics acceleration and it was fine.
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Thanks for the tip. Graphics card is the prime suspect by now. I don't know if turning of graphics acceleration is a good idea when the system is actually used to play games... :-/
I'm always paranoid about power supplies (Score:1)
As I mentioned in IAmTheFallen's recen JEs, I always try to get the beefiest PS possible, but then I do have a lot of crap crammed into my machines, so I need the extra grunt. YMMV.
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try swapping the power supply out with one you already have (i assume someone like has extras laying around) and see if that fixes the problem.
if that doesn't do it, take a look at the capacitors on the mobo and see if you can detect any bulging or anything else indicating failure.
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i assume someone like has extras laying around
Are you insulting me? Of course I do! I have a whole wardrobe full off spare pieces ;-)
I'll do both, thanks for the tips
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Well, I built this PC on "a budget", so I had to skimp somewhere (actually: everywhere). One thing is that the graphics card has a power connector. I should check if it's the only one on that chain... That would be a possibility, because the symptoms seem to indicate the graphics card.
but then I do have a lot of crap crammed into my machines, so I need the extra grunt. YMMV.
This usually isn't the case for the PC's that I build for my family. My own PC, the Dual Athlon MP, is crammed with stuff. It
My intuition (Score:2)
Close second place: power supply
In any case, replace them both.
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I agree with your analysis. Not sure if I want to bill my dad a 150€ for a new graphics card though. Especially it was one that I bought, and "gave" it to them because it didn't work in my (older) system. Also finding an AGP card is not going to be fun....
Power supply: I have a medium-cheap one lying around. I'll try it when the Graphics Card is "eliminated" as problem source.
Try again. (Score:1)
Also, yes, cheap power supplies go flakey. That's why they're cheap. Rip one out of a good system, drop it in, and try it again.
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Ah, yes, that's an idea... Didn't think that the pins could degrade, but it is a definate possibility. I'll give the machine a good hour of burn-in and see what happens.
The power supply worked fine for quite long. It might be that, I have another one lying around. Since it's the second suspect on my list, I want first to test the graphics card...
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They weren't damaged all that much, just slightly bent. Too much to be seated into the socket, but not too much to panick.