Computer Lockups and Crashes. Please Help!

[bjparham77]

Please excuse my ignorance as I am a computer novice; however I am doing my best to educate myself and increase my computer knowledge.

My system specs are as as follows: Asus A7V266-E motherboard, Gainward Nvidia GeForce TI 4200 128MB TV\Out Golden Sample, Soundlaster Audigy Gamer, AMD Athlon XP1800, Windows 98SE

I recently reformated my hardrive and now my system is having severe problems including lockups and crashes. Whenever I attempt to install software, for exammple Warcraft 3 and DirectX9, my system freezes half way through and will not respond to control+alt+delete or manual reset. Also the system will ranomly freeze then act as if its reseting; however the boot menu never appears and it does not respond to any commands. I have to flick the power in the back of the computer off then on and then press the power button. My computer has basically become unusable. Please help as soon as possible. All suggestions are welcome. Thank You.

[Brk]

- Latest drivers installed, including any chipset software/drivers?

- All Windows updates installed?

- A lot of stuff loading at startup and running in the background?

- Why install DirectX 9? Games like Warcraft III certainly don't need it...the only useful app that uses it is 3DMark03, and even then you don't need to run it all the time.

- Try cleaning out the C:\Windows\Temp folder before installing anything and see if that helps at all.

[koldchillah]

just out of curiosity, what type of power supply are you using? What was the last piece of hardware you've upgraded or installed?

[bjparham77]

I have downloaded all the latest drivers. Windows Update causes my system to freeze. I'm not exactly certain what power supply I am using. Would that information be in device manager?

[koldchillah]

Originally posted by bjparham77
I'm not exactly certain what power supply I am using. Would that information be in device manager?

You would have to open up the case and look on the power supply itself. If everything was working fine before the format and you haven't added any new hardware, then it sounds more like a windows issue rather than a hardware issue, but with the hardware you described I would also think it best to be using a solid 350W or higher ATX Power Supply.
Sometimes generic power supplies say they are 300W or whatever, but perform more like a 200W PSU. Bad power supplies can often lead to strange intermittent problems such as random reboots, system crashes, or sudden device failures.

Ever think about upgrading to windows 2000 or even better, XP? They are much more stable than win98SE and the driver support for new hardware such as yours is much more refined..

Have you tried what Burke mentioned about cleaning out the C:\windows\temp folder?

[Shagster]

Originally posted by bjparham77
I have downloaded all the latest drivers. Windows Update causes my system to freeze. I'm not exactly certain what power supply I am using. Would that information be in device manager?

It does that to me too. Open up the screen and wait for it to jam. 'cad' it and go back and reopen it. It should work then. sometimes it takes a few trys.

And turn off "restart after crash" so that a blue screen will appear with your problems instead of your pc rebooting

[Brk]

Sounds like a problem with the Windows Update control app. Try flushing out your C:\Windows\Temp directory, empty your Temporary Internet Files, and try reloading the page. It should prompt you to install the latest version.

[velvta]

this guy is a friend of mine and i cana ssure you it has nothing directly to do with the windows update. His computer, like he said, is randomly "almost" shutting down. The screen will go black and hang like it's trying to restart but it never does.

[koldchillah]

Originally posted by velvta
His computer, like he said, is randomly "almost" shutting down. The screen will go black and hang like it's trying to restart but it never does.

hmm.. maybe its just me but if its not video driver then it sorta sounds hard drive or Power supply related..

what prompted the last reformat?.. were these problems occuring then as well? If it was me I might try stripping the computer down to just the necessities like video card & NIC (or even without the NIC) and see how it does.

[velvta]

Originally posted by koldchillah
hmm.. maybe its just me but if its not video driver then it sorta sounds hard drive or Power supply related..

what prompted the last reformat?.. were these problems occuring then as well? If it was me I might try stripping the computer down to just the necessities like video card & NIC (or even without the NIC) and see how it does.

i dont knwo exactly why he reformatted recently. he said the random power downs just started.

[Brk]

Well, he DID say that Windows Update causes the problem. Has he tried all that's been suggested?

[bjparham77]

I'm doing exactly as instructed and I appreciate all the great responses. When I first put my system together I was having similiar problems. I think I am gonna try installing xp and see how that fairs out. I'm using a 300Watt power supply. I appreciate all the great input and would like to thank all you guys for posting so promptly. Hopefully I will have this problem licked. Thanks again.

[mountainman]

A question for those running 98SE: Does MS still support this OS on their Update Windows site ? I was at my in-laws and I know they didn't have it updated and MS still said that there was no updates. Just curious if that has to do with it.

Umm... I would check with turning off automatic restart and just hope that you get a BSOD to look off. Otherwise, go into the event viewer and start looking at error codes and the MS Support site.

Also, if it just started, I would strip the hardware down to barebones and see if it runs OK. If so, keep adding things one at a time and see when it fails.

Good luck !