RE: System lockups.

[larryf5]

Hello.

I recently reinstalled WIN 98 on my system, which consists of the following:

KT7
Amd Duron 700mhz (Not overclocked)
256 PC133 SDRAM CAS 2-2-2 Turbo
SBLIVE Value
Quantum Fireball LS 40GB
Phillips CDRW 10X4X8
C|Net pro network adapter
GeForce 256 SE

And I've been having a bad case of random lock ups, for instance, I would be doing nothing more than surfing the web and suddenly my mouse cursor would seize and screen freezes. I tried everything to resume CTRL+ALT+DEL and BREAK etc. as last resort, rebooting.

This has happened quite a few times, I've installed the latest Win98 fixes and critical updates. I also have a cable modem and I use Zonealarm Pro on High security settings.

Does anyone know what this could be about? I'm totally stumped!

Thanks,
Larry

[larryf5]

I forgot to include that I don't have an A/C on my home (it stopped working) And we're in the process of getting it repaired.

It usually stays 85'F in our living room where the computer is located.

I've monitored the CPU temp during lockups and I noticed the chip would reach around 40'C.

Is this a safe temp? I heard that Duron's could sustain 50-60'C ? but whenever I have a lockup it is usually around 40'C and 30-35'C that it is normally.

Thanks.
Larry

[TonyT]

Try aiming a portable fan at the case (may want to even remove the side cover)

Do you get any error messages during the freezes? Notifications?

[larryf5]

No. I haven't got any errors, never seen a Blue screen of death or anything unusual.

It would just sieze and nothing moves on screen. I figured it could be heat related since it does gets uncomfortable here in Florida.

But I also thought it could be my SDRAM, I run it at CAS 2-2-2 but its generic ram. The lock ups happen rarely so I cannot tell when set slower ram settings, I also heard ram problems cause BSOD. And I never get them, whats that about?

Thanks,
Larry

[Scum333]

You are too good to your computer compared to me. My CPU temp gets to about 61 C when I play games and have never had a lockup. I also have Kingston ValueRam set at turbo and fast R/W and never had a problem. My CPU is a 1GHZ. I run Win98SE no updates. Except I do have IE 5.01 SP1. How's your video driver working? Also, hows your sound card driver?

You may have your RAM settings set too high. Download a memory tester from www.tweakfiles.com and test your ram by putting it through the torture tests.

A turbo setting for generic ram is sometimes just not possible.

[larryf5]

Well I don't know if its true that I'm better at taking care of my computer than you, since you say theres never been a prob over there. :rotfl:

To answer q. My Video card is a GeForce 256 (agp slot) :( and for sound, SBLive Value! (pci slot 7) Both installed with their latest (official) drivers.

I have Tweakfiles bookmarked and downloaded memory testers before assuming it was the problem, I've tried Docmem and SIMMtester so far which were the only bootable memory testers I've found, I'm unsure if there are more better ones out there? Possibly one that runs in Windows, I cannot stand booting to floppy!

Well between the two I tried, they both reported same results no errors and everythings functional.

Though I will take your advice on the ram speed setting and try clocking it down afew notches, however, I figured the "slow, normal, fast, faster and even fastest" options were some type of practical joke by Abit. So I skipped all the fun and games and set it to the highest setting Turbo

Afterwards, I ran the memory testers on it and everything checked out okay.

And all seems to work fine other than this occasional nuisance, No BSOD or Win related anomalies?

My system just halts in the tracks. :confused:

Larry

[Scum333]

when you get BSOD like that assuming no buggy software it always points to a Hardware issue. I remember awhile ago on my Win2k machine that it crashed on bootup and I finally figured that taking my sound card out and putting it in a different PC slot did the trick. Crazy stuff like that happens to. Maybe you could try placing your videocard in different PCI slots. Also, did you check to make sure you are not sharing IRQs with your Video
card?

[onetrueday]

I've been suffering from a lot of bs's as well from my kt7a. I'm assuming it's ram in my case as well. I'm only running 1 nic, 1isa soundcard and a radeon agp; so I assume it's bad memory. The nic is in the middle pci and I cant move the isa, so oh well.

[yort63]

I question your RAM is it a 256 simm or 2 - 128 's or 4 - 64's if so try removing 1 128 meg simm and running on 128 for a while if it locks up then swap the memory for the other if you have 4 - 64mg simm try rearranging them around. maybe there is a bad chip on one of the simms:eek: