PC Locking up

PJ

PJ

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hello friends. About 3 years back, i bought a PC from TESCO, a Philips IQon. my problem is that sometimes my computer completely freezes up so i cant move my mouse, and my sound when i am gaming or playing music stutters really fast, so i have to reset my computer. this happens most when i am playing games (espescially L4D), but sometimes when i am doing simple tasks like browsing the net.
i have had this problem a few years now. over the years i have added to my computer - including 8800gt + new PSU (500w antec basiq) then upgraded to 4850, and also 2gb of ddr ram from 1gb.
the extra weird thing is that when i bought it, my brother bought exactly the same one, and about a year ago when i bought my 8800gt, i had issues with installing it. therefore my brother and i switched our hard rives round and i was then using his computer with my hd. the issues did not stop so i had to reinstall windows. however even after switching PCs with my brother the freezing did not stop. i never had time to switch back, so i am still using his now. i really dont know what the problem is. can you help me. for the last three years of my life its been a nightmare.

specs - Philips IQon
athlon 64 3200+ 939, EQS (PCPartner) mobo
OCZ Platimum 2gb ram
ATi HD 4850
new 500gb sata drive (bought recently)
antec basiq 500w PSU

EDIT: the new RAM and new HD were both bought just before this christmas
 
The only thing I see with your current system is an exxxxxxtreme bottle necking between your 3200+ and 4850. But if you had this problem before the video card upgrade, I'll put my money on bad ram or even possibly your motherboard.
 
i reckon motherboard then as my ram is brand new OCZ Platinum. any ideas how is could fix this without costing money?
 
I could be because of the overheating. Have you overclocked something?
 
nothing is overclocked, however i have overclocked in the past but with not much speed advantage, so everything is stock now. the thing is my brother and i have the same mobo aswell and his does not freeze ever

EDIT: i have also monitored my cpu temps when playing games it never goes above 55oC
 
wpjiscool said:
i reckon motherboard then as my ram is brand new OCZ Platinum. any ideas how is could fix this without costing money?
Click to expand...

Not all new ram is good ram. It's happened to me before where I bought some defective ram. Do you know if the mobo or ram is covered under some type of replacement warranty? Sending it in is the only free hardware-wise thing I can think of.

Also do some research on the specific brands you own and see if there has been any compatibility issues with similar setups like yours.
 
Computer + wall = Quick Fix

Nevermind.

You should leave it alone for a few days and see what happens, or try to replace a few things. Or if it's unfixable then maybe it's time to upgrade! :D
 
FireStarter said:
Computer + wall = Quick Fix

Nevermind.

You should leave it alone for a few days and see what happens, or try to replace a few things. Or if it's unfixable then maybe it's time to upgrade! :D
Click to expand...

i have left it off over many holidays, with no avail. i wish i had the money to upgrade. i know exactly what i would buy.
 
i was just playing tf2 and winning and it did it ****ing again
 
Open it up and give it a good clean. When i was having issues with my PC rebooting and took every part out cleaned it and made sure they were fastened in tightly and that fixed it for me.

Have you tried a memory test? Vista has a built in Memory tester so it's worth a shot. They you can rule out the Ram.
 
Sounds like the PC is overheating. Open it up and clean the insides, and then monitor your temperatures with some software like speedfan.

Also, is your computer in one of those cubbyholes that some desks have built in? Those are horrible for anything but the slowest office PC.
 
@Pimpin and Rico.
I have just finished taking my PC apart and putting it back together again. I took out the motherboard and blew it with compressed air, along with everything else in the case. i do not have it in a cubby hole, but under my desk between two drawers.
i booted it up to play again and 5 mins later it froze again. so that didn't work
 
How much space is there between your PC and these drawers? The main thing is that your PC needs to be well ventilated. Also, your hardware could be running hot regardless of ventilation, download a temperature checking prog. off the net and check your motherboard/cpu/vidcard temps, and post them here.
 
Coolant paste? Maybe... take off your Northbridge and CPU fan and check if the paste is still good. I still think it's a ram issue though. What I mean by "bad" ram is not that you bought bad quality brand ram or don't have the "correct" ram for your system, but that it was manufactured wrong. I've had two occasions now where the ram I bought was defected.

I think the best thing right now for you to do is start from the bottem up until you find the problem. Take apart the computer and only put in the essentials. Start with just CPU, Mobo, and power suppy then check your temps in your bios to see if everything is cool. Then add in your ram. Make sure the timings in your bios are set to "automatic" (once again check temps to make sure levels are ok). Then add on your hard drive. Boot windows (hopefully you have an onboard video card, otherwise your gonna have to skip this step or use an older card) see if it's still locking up. Just keep adding things on after this point (i.e. vid card/sound card/cd drives/etc.) until you come to a point where after you added something your computer starts to lock up. Whatever you added on that last step HAS to be the device that's causing the problem.

You might want to do this all outside of the case as well. Be careful not to get electrocuted of course, but I only suggest this because it could be an overheating issue due to the case or maybe some wire or prong is shorting out from touching the case.
 
it might be coolant paste- i took my heatsink off without replacing it before. i'm confident its not a RAM issue though. i think i'm gonna buy a cheap (but not bad) new heatsink for my CPU with paste.

i have bought a new NB cooler with a fan but i have no 3 pin fans slots left, so i'll by a fan controller and fit everything. if anybody still thinks they can help, still do, cos i wont buy anything for the next few weeks i dont think
 
Why are you so confident that its not your ram?
 
because, since i have switched computers with my brother and bought new RAM, i have essentially had 3 sets of RAM, with the problem happening on all of them. Also my brother is obviously now using the RAM i last had, and he is not having this problem. if you don't understand this scenario very well i don't blame you, but i am confident it is not a RAM problem and it is either a mobo/cooler+paste problem. unless it could be something else
 
FireStarter said:
Computer + wall = Quick Fix

Nevermind.

You should leave it alone for a few days and see what happens, or try to replace a few things. Or if it's unfixable then maybe it's time to upgrade! :D
Click to expand...

Pointless spam much? :dozey:

If you and your brother computers are the same, why not try swapping the ram out of his and seeing if the problem persists. If it does, then you know it'd not caused by ram. Also are your BIOS, OS, graphics drivers etc all upto date? Also maybe check out your PSU. It might not be delivering enough power and fluctuations are throwing things out.
 
my bios is really old. anyone know how to update it safely?
and Kadayi if you read my other posts, you'll notice i have new ocz 2gb ram, rather than the 1gb my brother still has
 
For the Bios update look on the manufacturers site. But be very careful when flashing your bios cause if anything goes wrong, PC hangs etc you'll be left with a expensive paperweight and will have to replace the motherboard. But personally i wouldn't bother updating the Bios because i doubt it would be causing this problem.
 
my mobo manufacturer is EQS who no longer exist (they are now PCPartner), so i dont know how to fix it - this guy has the same PC as me:

http://iosc.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=853

i tried to follow the links but they no longer exist!

here is the PC partner website. if you think you can find thing for my computer off here please help me:

http://www.pcpartner.com/download.php?category_id=20051110113940-295715

however on my mobo it has a huge EQS sign, then i says 'manufactered by PCPartner' so that is why i am posting this website
 
heres my mobo info from everest. it says i have a sapphire mobo but im pretty sure i dont!
:LOL:
 

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You sure cause Everest is usually very accurate. And that mobo is meant for Athlon 64 which you have. What Graphics card did your Pc come with?
 
it came with integrated ATI Xpress 200, but obviously i have upgraded now
 
that looks like it could easily be it, but how come on my motherboard it says:

EQS
'Manufacture by PCPartner'​

EDIT: i just looked at the pictures, and it is extremly similar to mine, but it is not exactly the same. i will try to take some photos of my PC
 
here are the pics in no particular order. i have drawn the layout of the bios chip, as i could not take a photo of it.

2m4q1ie.jpg


14jb2c0.jpg


2hd9ypw.jpg


35mgx1u.jpg


yjryd.jpg


b8wnwn.jpg


2mkb9j.jpg


15f6usi.jpg


1zzp5y9.jpg
 
sorry the pics are so big. i though you wouldn't be able to see them if i scaled them down
 
anyone have any ideas. please. it sometimes does it in the middle of me doing work
 
i'm now using windows 7 beta, and it hasnt yet frozen, but i'd like to get it working with xp etx
 
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