A7N8x Deluxe random freeze problem

Hi,

My computer freezes at random times, no response from computer and
video display goes off. It happens a few seconds to a few minutes from
boot, or it can happen after using the computer for hours. It happens
while in Windows, DOS (boot floppy) or even while I'm in the BIOS...
It can happen 4-5 times in a row and then work fine for hours...
really annoying!

specs:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2800+
1 Gig Crucial PC2700 (2x512 in dual channel)
Nvidia 4200
120 Gig WD SATA HD
CD writer and DVD drive on secondary IDE
Qtec 400watt PSU

already checked:
Heat - not heat related, I've monitored the temps and everything is
fine, plus it sometimes happens just a few seconds from boot.

Any ideas?

TIA
Hans

Hans Kuhn wrote:
Hi,

My computer freezes at random times, no response from computer and
video display goes off. It happens a few seconds to a few minutes from
boot, or it can happen after using the computer for hours. It happens
while in Windows, DOS (boot floppy) or even while I'm in the BIOS...
It can happen 4-5 times in a row and then work fine for hours...
really annoying!

specs:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2800+
1 Gig Crucial PC2700 (2x512 in dual channel)
Nvidia 4200
120 Gig WD SATA HD
CD writer and DVD drive on secondary IDE
Qtec 400watt PSU

already checked:
Heat - not heat related, I've monitored the temps and everything is
fine, plus it sometimes happens just a few seconds from boot.

Any ideas?

Have you confirmed RAM stability using memtest86?

What OS and chipset drivers are you using?

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Similar behaviour here, only noticed under Win98SE (not intensively tested
in another OS environment). The video disappears for 1 or 2 seconds then
recovers.
You don't say if the computer hangs or just freezes for a short while.
(I'm still looking for a solution).


"Ben Pope" a écrit dans le message news:
...
Hans Kuhn wrote:
Hi,

My computer freezes at random times, no response from computer and
video display goes off. It happens a few seconds to a few minutes from
boot, or it can happen after using the computer for hours. It happens
while in Windows, DOS (boot floppy) or even while I'm in the BIOS...
It can happen 4-5 times in a row and then work fine for hours...
really annoying!

specs:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2800+
1 Gig Crucial PC2700 (2x512 in dual channel)
Nvidia 4200
120 Gig WD SATA HD
CD writer and DVD drive on secondary IDE
Qtec 400watt PSU

already checked:
Heat - not heat related, I've monitored the temps and everything is
fine, plus it sometimes happens just a few seconds from boot.

Any ideas?

Have you confirmed RAM stability using memtest86?

What OS and chipset drivers are you using?

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Gino Zantafio wrote:
Similar behaviour here, only noticed under Win98SE (not intensively tested
in another OS environment). The video disappears for 1 or 2 seconds then
recovers.
You don't say if the computer hangs or just freezes for a short while.
(I'm still looking for a solution).

His computer freezes, as in it needs to be turned off in order to get it
going again - this is typical of errors in the data thats being worked on,
often as a result of unstable RAM.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

"Ben Pope" wrote in message ...
Hans Kuhn wrote:
Hi,

My computer freezes at random times, no response from computer and
video display goes off. It happens a few seconds to a few minutes from
boot, or it can happen after using the computer for hours. It happens
while in Windows, DOS (boot floppy) or even while I'm in the BIOS...
It can happen 4-5 times in a row and then work fine for hours...
really annoying!

specs:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2800+
1 Gig Crucial PC2700 (2x512 in dual channel)
Nvidia 4200
120 Gig WD SATA HD
CD writer and DVD drive on secondary IDE
Qtec 400watt PSU

already checked:
Heat - not heat related, I've monitored the temps and everything is
fine, plus it sometimes happens just a few seconds from boot.

Any ideas?

Have you confirmed RAM stability using memtest86?

What OS and chipset drivers are you using?

Ben

Hi Ben,

I've just run Memtest86 through twice without any problems.

I'm running Win 2000 Pro.
The Nforce drivers are version 3.13
BIOS is version 1007, board Rev 2.0

As I said before though, it often crashes when not even in windows...

Anything else you can think I should try?

Thanks
Hans

Ben Pope wrote:
Gino Zantafio wrote:

Similar behaviour here, only noticed under Win98SE (not intensively tested
in another OS environment). The video disappears for 1 or 2 seconds then
recovers.
You don't say if the computer hangs or just freezes for a short while.
(I'm still looking for a solution).


His computer freezes, as in it needs to be turned off in order to get it
going again - this is typical of errors in the data thats being worked on,
often as a result of unstable RAM.

Ben

Thats correct, only a reset will get it going again.

The problem appears to be very sporadic too - it worked fine for a week
from new and then the problems suddenly started. Tonight I'm not having
any problems either... whereas last night I had to reset about 8 times...

I thought it might be the mains power that was unstable at certain times
but I have 4 other computers running here without any problems.

Regards
Hans

Hans Kuhn wrote:
Hi Ben,

I've just run Memtest86 through twice without any problems.

I'm running Win 2000 Pro.
The Nforce drivers are version 3.13
BIOS is version 1007, board Rev 2.0

As I said before though, it often crashes when not even in windows...

Anything else you can think I should try?

Freezing up is almost always a hardware problem, it can be caused by dodgy
drivers, but we can safely assume that it's not drivers as you say it occurs
in DOS.

Strip the machine of all non required hardware (especially PCI cards) and go
from there - if it's still freezing then try swapping the Video Card, CPU
and/or RAM, if not, build the machine up again, verifying each component.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

CHECK THE POWER SUPPLY!!!!!!!!!!!

"Ben Pope" wrote in message
...
Hans Kuhn wrote:
Hi Ben,

I've just run Memtest86 through twice without any problems.

I'm running Win 2000 Pro.
The Nforce drivers are version 3.13
BIOS is version 1007, board Rev 2.0

As I said before though, it often crashes when not even in windows...

Anything else you can think I should try?

Freezing up is almost always a hardware problem, it can be caused by dodgy
drivers, but we can safely assume that it's not drivers as you say it
occurs
in DOS.

Strip the machine of all non required hardware (especially PCI cards) and
go
from there - if it's still freezing then try swapping the Video Card, CPU
and/or RAM, if not, build the machine up again, verifying each component.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

Tocapet wrote:
CHECK THE POWER SUPPLY!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a fair point, but the QTec 400W should be enough.

They tend to mark their supplies with the maximum power rather then
continuous.

lucky, if you use something like MBM5 to monitor voltages and give the
minimum (after say, 10 minutes or some heavy duty work... gaming etc.) for
+12, +5 and +3.3V here that might throw some light on the situation.

Ben
--
A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the newsgroups.
I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...

(Hans Kuhn) wrote in message . com...
Hi,

My computer freezes at random times, no response from computer and
video display goes off. It happens a few seconds to a few minutes from
boot, or it can happen after using the computer for hours. It happens
while in Windows, DOS (boot floppy) or even while I'm in the BIOS...
It can happen 4-5 times in a row and then work fine for hours...
really annoying!

specs:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2800+
1 Gig Crucial PC2700 (2x512 in dual channel)
Nvidia 4200
120 Gig WD SATA HD
CD writer and DVD drive on secondary IDE
Qtec 400watt PSU

already checked:
Heat - not heat related, I've monitored the temps and everything is
fine, plus it sometimes happens just a few seconds from boot.

Any ideas?

TIA
Hans

I had a similar problem with another MOBO. Being a hardware designer I
naturally assumed that the software was at fault. After much testing
we finally discovered that the video card was defective. Likely, it
was a marginal memory chip. In any case, there is no one place to
look, because there can be many sources of the problem. My best advice
is to start with a minimum configuration and run memtest86 overnight.
If it passes, then add something else and repeat.

Start with the mobo on a table top with CPU with heatsink and fan, one
memory stick, the video card, the power supply, floppy disk drive, the
keyboard and the mouse, memtest86 on a bootable floppy. Set the BIOS
defaults to the safe mode and run the board overnight. If it passes,
then set the BIOS settings to how you want them to be for the full
system and repeat. Next, load-up the full memory complement and
repeat. If all is still looking good. Then mount it in the case and
repeat. If it starts to fail now, then you might have an intermittent
short circuit to ground. If it runs in the case, then add your drives.

What I'm getting at is to approach it systemmatically. If the hardware
seems stable, then you can start to bring up the software.

Arnie