PC freezing up

System

>:(

Still freezing.

Joe Bloggs - where do I find this info about re the processor?   Don't have much paperwork, although my mum might have some more stuff at her's. Have found something that says its AMD Athlon processor, CPU speed 852.80 MHz, CPU features RDTSC, CMOV, PREFETCH, MMX - can't see anything about fsb or multipliers.

Also, when updating the drivers, where do I save to?  I've done it to system32/drivers - is that right?

Unbelievable_2

Back to the power saving thing - I've got Windows 98 so I don't know if it's the same but have you set your standby times for everything to Never? Oh - and don't have a screen saver either. Reboot and see what happens. You never know, you might get another hour on the pc!

System

No, everything set to never. No screen saver.

My friend just came round with a windows memory diagnostic cd and it failed on test 4 of 6. Something called stride 6. However, when he swopped the memory over for some that he knew was ok, it still failed on test 4.

So he's gone away scratching his head. He says there's no point in my reloading windows as it froze when doing the diagnostics test so clearly not windows to blame.

I'm on the verge of chucking this bloody pc out the window. I wouldn't mind but its still under extended warranty, but when you take it back to be looked at they have the cheek to send it back saying that everythings fine. As soon as you get home and switch it all back on again, FREEZE.

>:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

System

They already replaced the motherboard though :P

Friend reckons it might be the cpu as that's about the only thing they didn't replace following the thunder storm (see first post)

???

woo

oops :-[

if thats all they haven't replaced could be a good bet.

i shall now go and hide until i remember to read a thread again before posting...

System

Sorry Woo if it sounded like I was being shirty that you hadn't read my posts properly, I didn't mean it like that at all! ;D

woo

didn't sound off at all - just felt like a bit of plank!

Joe_Bloggs

@maridley
All the information you need is written on top of the chip.
Unfortunately this information is obscured by the heatsink/fan assembly and then some thermal paste.

To some extent  the multiplier and fsb are variable. I suspect you have 8.5x100fsb. These factors can often be chosen in the Bios setup screen. Pressing del during boot  will bring this screen up on most PCs. This screen controls the basic features of the motherboard after boot up. Hence you can overclock a system and bring on instability. You can also turn on/off features that don't work or are not needed.

I thought the VIA 4 in One installation script  would know where to put the relevant files. You can save the original downloaded file anywhere out of the way. You must execute the file for it to do the job.

I think from the age of the board and processor that only CPU socket temperature was monitored. In my case I had a temperature sensor that could be roughly stuck to the underside of the chip with thermal paste and It would produce more accurate results than just the temperature in the vicinity of the socket.

J_B.

System

Joe Bloggs

I sussed out the drivers update in the end yesterday and did the necessary and since then it hasn't frozen once, other than when we ran the diagnostic test - as mentioned in my post of last night.

It was on all evening other than that with no problems which is a first. Don't want to tempt fate, but perhaps it was the drivers?

But why did it freeze during the tests in that case.

Joe_Bloggs

The tests in question may have been torture tests. These stress tests force system components to their maximum for extended periods that would rarely occur unless playing a 3D game.
You can often relax memory timings in the Bios setup screen and achieve a setting that works for all circumstances.
J_B.