Armada M700 (Pentium II-366, 10GB) Random Crashes

Hi,

I would be grateful for any ideas with a strange problem with my Compaq
Armada M700. The computer suddenly crashed in Windows 2000 which had
been running fine for ages. After a clean format and reinstall I found
it was still very unstable. Just in case it was a dodgy cd, I tried
formatting again and loading Windows 98SE clean. Again still unstable.
So next tried XP Pro which loaded ok, but again was erratic and
unstable.

Went into BIOS screens and it even froze on that! The cooling fan
appears to be working ok so it is unlikely to be that although the
computer always has got warm around the cpu/memory module area.

Assuming the problems being due to RAM and/or hard drive, I have so far
tried the following.

1. Replaced the original IBM 6gb hard drive with the IBM 10gb which was
working fine in my Dell. Have run extensive diagnostics on this drive
which passes every time and have even run the Hitachi/IBM feature tool
and slowed the drive to UDMA 2 [ATA33]from the default UDMA 4 [ATA66]
(which has made it slower but a bit more stable)

2. Replaced the 2x32MB memory modules with 2x64MB modules. The other
RAM is onboard. Total RAM 160MB now. Have also run extensive
diagnostics on this RAM which passes every time.

3. Flashed the BIOS to latest version.

4. Run compaq diagnostics and found that it failed on parallel port, so
disabled parallel port (and also serial port just in case)

Have now tried all I can think of and am losing sanity. I hope it is
not the main board inside as this would be sad as the rest of the
computer is fine (screen, cd, fdd etc.)

Has anyone had a similar problem and do you have a solution?

Many thanks in advance!

wrote:
Hi,

I would be grateful for any ideas with a strange problem with my
Compaq Armada M700. The computer suddenly crashed in Windows 2000
which had been running fine for ages. After a clean format and
reinstall I found it was still very unstable. Just in case it was a
dodgy cd, I tried formatting again and loading Windows 98SE clean.
Again still unstable. So next tried XP Pro which loaded ok, but again
was erratic and unstable.

Went into BIOS screens and it even froze on that! The cooling fan
appears to be working ok so it is unlikely to be that although the
computer always has got warm around the cpu/memory module area.

Assuming the problems being due to RAM and/or hard drive, I have so
far tried the following.

1. Replaced the original IBM 6gb hard drive with the IBM 10gb which
was working fine in my Dell. Have run extensive diagnostics on this
drive which passes every time and have even run the Hitachi/IBM
feature tool and slowed the drive to UDMA 2 [ATA33]from the default
UDMA 4 [ATA66] (which has made it slower but a bit more stable)

2. Replaced the 2x32MB memory modules with 2x64MB modules. The other
RAM is onboard. Total RAM 160MB now. Have also run extensive
diagnostics on this RAM which passes every time.

3. Flashed the BIOS to latest version.

4. Run compaq diagnostics and found that it failed on parallel port,
so disabled parallel port (and also serial port just in case)

Have now tried all I can think of and am losing sanity. I hope it is
not the main board inside as this would be sad as the rest of the
computer is fine (screen, cd, fdd etc.)

Has anyone had a similar problem and do you have a solution?

Many thanks in advance!

If it still has XP loaded, then try accessing the Event Viewer logs.
There might be a clue there. It is IMO definitely hardware and since it
freezes on boot it is likely fatal. I suspect HD controller failure,
but it could be any hardware component. You might try eBay for a used
mainboard. You can run memtest86 (Google) that will diagnose RAM
problems. You can obtain the HD manufacturer's disk utility. You can
Google Groups search on 'armada m700' for similar problem and, with
luck, possible solutions.

Q

Q