Comp Freezing, and strange slowdowns
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Posted by doodles on October 3, 2005, 8:17 pm
Please log in for more thread options I am new to this newsgroup, having just discovered it while browsing UseNet. I have a couple of problems that I am hoping someone can give me some advice on. The machine in question is based on a Soyo K7ADA Socket A motherboard with an AMD Althon XP 1900 CPU and 512 mB memory. I have installed Windows 2000 SP 4. Originally I had a Connect3D Radeon 9200 256MB video card, but was experiencing freezeups whenever I was in a 3D game, and at no other time. For example, if I played The Sims 2 or Morrowind, after a period of time ranging from 3 minutes to roughly 10 minutes, the entire system would lock up, forcing a hard reboot. I tried upgrading the drivers, upgrading DirectX, but to no avail. Finally, after quite a long time of simply living with the problem (other than a few games, the machine was OK...see below), I decided to try another video card. This one was a GeForce MX 4000 128mB that I got from CompUSA cheap. After the install, however, I still had the same problem. So now I really can't figure out what could be causing the freezing. Another, possibly unrelated problem, has to do with the hard drive. I was originally hoping to do some Digital Video editing on this machine, or at least have it capable of burning a DVD from home videos. The original 40mB hard drive was fast enough to capture video using a Firewire card, but because it was the boot drive it didn't have a lot of space. I installed a second hard drive 150mB in size, and with the same seek time (7200 RPM), but for some reason it ran a LOT slower...as much as 10 times slower than the smaller drive (this was determined using a utility from the Video Capture software that determined if the hard drive was fast enough). Rather than fiddle with it, I decided to replace the 40mB drive with a second large drive (160mB, 7200 RPM). Same cable as the original drive...but it runs as slow as the other one! Now I am really perplexed. The only conclusion I can come to, using pure logic, is that the damn thing is posessed by Satan. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to diagnose the two problems? Are there any utilities that are good for locating and resolving freezing caused by video problems? Is there any utility that can monitor the reading and writing to the hard drives? Or shall I just give up and get a new computer or a new motherboard? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the lengthy post. | |||||||||||||
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Posted by kony on October 3, 2005, 9:31 pm
Please log in for more thread options On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:17:30 GMT, "doodles" "Commonly" in such situations the CPU is simply running at far nearer full load than in other uses, and this reveals insufficient cooling. Run Prime95's Torture Test, "In-Place Large FFTs" setting for at least a half hour (preferribly longer) and note any crashes or errors reported by Prime95 Prime95 direct download of newest version (as of today 10/03/05): http://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v2414.exe If Prime95 runs for that period of time with no errors, I would look at AGP related settings in your bios, trying lower AGP rate (like 2X instead of 4X or 8X), a lower aperture (suggest 64MB). You might also check the motherboard manufacturer's website to see if there are any newer bios that address video related issues. On the off chance that these games are causing the problem, I'd check on game patches. It seems less likely since multiple games are causing it, but games can be fickle and crash otherwise stable systems for several reasons, even sound drivers (try another sound driver too if all else fails), or windows virtual memory (swapfile) manually-sized settings, user-set tweaks to the operating system or video drivers. You might also check the memory for errors with Memtest86+. >
>Another, possibly unrelated problem, has to do with the hard drive. I was >originally hoping to do some Digital Video editing on this machine, or at >least have it capable of burning a DVD from home videos. The original 40mB >hard drive was fast enough to capture video using a Firewire card, but >because it was the boot drive it didn't have a lot of space. I installed a >second hard drive 150mB in size, and with the same seek time (7200 RPM), but >for some reason it ran a LOT slower...as much as 10 times slower than the >smaller drive (this was determined using a utility from the Video Capture >software that determined if the hard drive was fast enough). Rather than >fiddle with it, I decided to replace the 40mB drive with a second large >drive (160mB, 7200 RPM). Same cable as the original drive...but it runs as >slow as the other one! Now I am really perplexed. Check your bios settings to see if there's set to "auto" or similar for the ATA mode. Use a benchmark like HDTach to see what figures it comes up with for burst rate, and sustained throughput. Look in Device Manager at the properties for the Drive (in win9x/ME) or for the drive controller (win2k/XP) to see if it's set to use DMA, via a checkbox). I presume you do have motherboard chipset drivers installed? If not (or even if you do, if all else fails) try newer chipset drivers. The best place to get newest ALI chipset drivers is from the source, ALI's website. http://www.ali.com.tw Unfortunately it seems their driver page is broken so you may need to Google for alternate download locations. It cannot be assumed (but "might" be possible) that Soyo has the latest drivers for your board, but if all else fails, see what Soyo has too. >
>The only conclusion I can come to, using pure logic, is that the damn thing >is posessed by Satan. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do >to diagnose the two problems? Are there any utilities that are good for >locating and resolving freezing caused by video problems? Try running a benchmark like 3Dmark2001. The video cards you mentioned are relatively slow, thus you should try 3DMark2001 first and then you "could" try 3Dmark2003, if you feel it might be DX9 related. Also you might try (re)installing DirectX 9c, available from Microsoft's website. >Is there any
>utility that can monitor the reading and writing to the hard drives? Or >shall I just give up and get a new computer or a new motherboard? I doubt a new motherboard is necessary, unless the capacitors on yours have failed (vented tops or leaky residue around them). You might try Google searching for issues specific to your model of board, just search for Soyo K7ADA. I'd run the Prime95 test first, and if it's overheating, check for dust buildup on case vents and heatsink, and/or a fan failure... case, CPU, or video card fan. | |||||||||||||
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Posted by doodles on October 4, 2005, 1:58 am
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> On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:17:30 GMT, "doodles"
> <snippers> > I doubt a new motherboard is necessary, unless the
> capacitors on yours have failed (vented tops or leaky > residue around them). You might try Google searching for > issues specific to your model of board, just search for Soyo > K7ADA. I'd run the Prime95 test first, and if it's > overheating, check for dust buildup on case vents and > heatsink, and/or a fan failure... case, CPU, or video card > fan. Wow...thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'll try all the things you mentioned, but I frankly doubt that heat is the problem...I have a monitor that keeps track of the CPU temp, and it goes off when it overheats. It did so when the fan was going south, so I know it's working OK, and of course it only happens when I play 3D games. Thanks again. | |||||||||||||
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Posted by kony on October 4, 2005, 3:03 am
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On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 01:58:30 GMT, "doodles" >Wow...thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'll try all the things you
>mentioned, but I frankly doubt that heat is the problem...I have a monitor >that keeps track of the CPU temp, and it goes off when it overheats. It did >so when the fan was going south, so I know it's working OK, and of course it >only happens when I play 3D games. MIght be video card heat then? The basic tests for memory, memtest86+, and CPU, prime95 (details mentioned in previous post would still be useful if you haven't ran them yet. "Sometimes" CPU temp monitors/alarms/etc are inaccurate, and regardless, if Prime95 shows errors it is clear there is some instability. | |||||||||||||
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Posted by doodles on October 4, 2005, 3:44 pm
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> On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 01:58:30 GMT, "doodles"
<snippers> > MIght be video card heat then? > > The basic tests for memory, memtest86+, and CPU, prime95 > (details mentioned in previous post would still be useful if > you haven't ran them yet. "Sometimes" CPU temp > monitors/alarms/etc are inaccurate, and regardless, if > Prime95 shows errors it is clear there is some instability. I think I have identified the problem with the video card as being overheating, and wanted to thank you for your suggestions (and for correctly guessing it as a cause). I really didn't think that was it, but when I was running Prime95 the temp spiked above my overhead threshold, and this was even before I tried running it with the video card in 3D. No errors from Prime95 yet, but I suspect it's only a matter of time. A couple of questions, if you have the time: 1. I am seeing a temperature of 61 C under normal load (well, Prime95 normal load...not 3D video load). Is that too high? I had the alarm set for 60 C, and upped it to 65 for purposes of the test, but I don't really know what an acceptable temperature threshold is (other than "lower is better"). 2. What can I do to lower the temperature in the system? I have a CPU fan and a system fan, both of which are operating normally. Should I add another system fan? Or is there another solution that I haven't considered? By the way, one problem contributing to the temperature was the fact that I was running two machines concurrently in close proximity. My wife, God bless her, pointed this out, as I was apparently too stupid to even consider it. I ended up moving one of them to the top of the desk and am trying to operate with only one machine running at a time. Thanks again for your advice. | |||||||||||||
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>I have a couple of problems that I am hoping someone can give me some advice
>on.
>
>The machine in question is based on a Soyo K7ADA Socket A motherboard with
>an AMD Althon XP 1900 CPU and 512 mB memory. I have installed Windows 2000
>SP 4. Originally I had a Connect3D Radeon 9200 256MB video card, but was
>experiencing freezeups whenever I was in a 3D game, and at no other time.
>For example, if I played The Sims 2 or Morrowind, after a period of time
>ranging from 3 minutes to roughly 10 minutes, the entire system would lock
>up, forcing a hard reboot. I tried upgrading the drivers, upgrading
>DirectX, but to no avail. Finally, after quite a long time of simply living
>with the problem (other than a few games, the machine was OK...see below), I
>decided to try another video card. This one was a GeForce MX 4000 128mB
>that I got from CompUSA cheap. After the install, however, I still had the
>same problem. So now I really can't figure out what could be causing the
>freezing.