Problems with New Computer setup

CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
edited December 2003 in Hardware
I just got a new DFI LanParty NFII Ultra MoBo and a XP2500+. After I installed the new MoBo and processor with GHoosdum's help my computer keeps locking up after about an hour or so. I've run RegSupreme at GH's suggestion but it keeps locking up. I don't want to format the HD and reinstall Win XP fresh but unless you guys have some ideas I may have to. I've updated the Bios to the latest version and downloaded and installed SP1 for WinXP from Microsoft. Any ideas on what I can do to fix this problem? The frequent lockups are a pain in the butt.

Thanks,
Crazy Joe
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Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    hehehehe

    I am almost ashamed to post this, but I do have a reputation to uphold, so:

    www.memtest86.com

    test your memory first and foremost before you do anything else. :D
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Sounds like memory.
  • Josh-Josh- Royal Oak, MI
    edited November 2003
    I agree, memory is the most probable cause. Try closing more programs, until you find out the cause of the problem. It is most likely memory, like the above 2 mentioned. To check your system resources a more similar way, you can use the windows calculator. Once its open, just go to Help -> About, it tells you your system resources. I don't know for sure that it does on XP though, I'm on my windows millenium. -.- Good luck solving your prob.
    -J
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    If it's running for an hour first....possibly heat build up issue?
  • Josh-Josh- Royal Oak, MI
    edited November 2003
    keto had this to say
    If it's running for an hour first....possibly heat build up issue?
    I agree. Check your cooling and your memory, other then that, maybe a software issue/operating system issue? No clue..beyond that.
  • croc_croc_ New
    edited November 2003
    oh man .... don't get prime excited
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    primesuspect had this to say
    hehehehe

    I am almost ashamed to post this, but I do have a reputation to uphold, so:

    www.memtest86.com

    test your memory first and foremost before you do anything else. :D

    I was going to recommend that to him, but after relaxing the memory timings to worse than rated timings, it still does it. It might be a bad stick of RAM, but it is brand new....
    keto had this to say
    If it's running for an hour first....possibly heat build up issue?

    It's running the stock AMD heatsink, since after he paid for his SLK900A at SVC they told him they'd ship him one when they got back in stock... :eek3:
    Could be heat, but it's in the high 30s low 40s C at full load.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I ran the memory check program as suggested. It ran for two hours and after three passes it had no errors. I've tested the system with no programs running and it still locks up after awhile.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited November 2003
    Hmmm....what kind of memory are you using currently? If you have two sticks, swap out one and see if you get the problem, then do the other.

    Could be a heat issue, but if it is in the 30s at full load I doubt that. Make sure everything is seated correctly.

    Make sure the video card drivers are loaded, I've seen problems like this with xp and video drivers.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I have two sticks of 512MB Kingston PC3200 RAM.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Software problems *generally* don't cause lockups and reboots. Next step - what power supply? What video card?
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    PSU: Tt PurePower 420
    Vid: Radeon 9500
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I've tried both sticks individually and it still locks up.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    OK this one's nagging at me now. Tho not as much as it's nagging you, I'm sure CJ. It's still sounding like heat to me, I'm 99.9% sure we can rule out the memory as the culprit BUT (and this just came to me) there can be memory compatibility issues with nforce2 mobos - any chance you can try some DIFFERENT sticks of memory? Feeling generous Rob? ;)

    IF you decide to reinstall XP, make sure you go in this order: WinXP -> SP1 -> NForce chipset drivers (which I believe would also encompass LAN and sound, if not, you still want to do them before video)-> Windows updates -> DX9 -> video last. I personally would do this, to try eliminate software as the issue. Reset bios to 'safe defaults' before doing so, other than disabling non-used onboard features.

    I still think it's hardware tho - a loose wire, fluctuating voltage, heat, ???? Maybe try UNDOING all electrical connections and removing all devices then re-installing, as a double check against something not *quite* seated properly.

    That should really be a rockin system, you have all good or better quality components in there, other than the stock heatsink.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I wouldn't suggest this if I hadn't done it myself once: check to make sure the heatsink isn't on backwards. If it is on backwards, the processor may run 10-20 C higher than it should, which could make an unhappy system.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    This happened to my dual MP rig when a processor died. The symptoms of a dying CPU are the same as a bad stick of RAM, so try your processor in a known good system.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well I got a brand new HD from BB on Black Friday and it's still locking up on me. Occasionally when it locks up it gives a long continuous beep from the MoBo. The manual doesn't tell me what the beep codes are for this MoBo. Does anyone happen to know what that code means?
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    A little Google goes a long way....

    You have a memory problem:

    http://www.lanparty.com.tw/Support/mb_faq_us.jsp?FAQ_ID=2320&SUBMITTED=No&PAGE_TYPE=US

    Long Beeps Short Beeps Booting Status
    -- 1 Booting Successfully
    -- 2 CMOS setup error
    1 -- Memory module error
    1 1 DRAM or motherboard error
    1 2 Display or display card error
    1 3 Keyboard controller error
    1 9 Flash RAM or EEPROM error (BIOS)
    Constantly -- Power source , display card improperly connected
    -- Constantly Power Source


    Although it may have passed MEMTEST, you may have a problem with your BIOS settings. Is this overclocked in any way? Is your memory set for the correct speed for your CPU? Are you running any background apps that could be tying up the memory?

    Dexter...
  • RiddickRiddick Malaysia Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    GHoosdum had this to say

    I was going to recommend that to him, but after relaxing the memory timings to worse than rated timings, it still does it. It might be a bad stick of RAM, but it is brand new....

    [/B]

    cough :)
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Nothing is OC'd right now, Dexter... as the post Riddick quoted states, the memory is underclocked and the timings are relaxed. Right now it's PC3200 running at 166 FSB and I think the timings are at 7/3/3/CL2.5 at that FSB... I really don't think this is a memory issue, but if somebody wants to prove me wrong, go ahead, because guess who hears Joe's complaints second when something's going wrong with his PC? ;)

    //edit: There should be no background apps tying up memory now either, since he's running a fresh install...

    How do you tell the difference between 1 "Long Beeps" and "Constantly" "Long Beeps"? When I heard it, it just beeped once really long until he shut it off... If it's "Constantly" then it seems that it's a PSU or Video Card Connnection issue...

    Joe, reseat your video card and disconnect and reconnect all your power connectors. Also, if you still have the molex to floppy power adapter, plug that onto the video card and connect it to a molex instead of using the floppy power connector we've got on there.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    GHoosdum had this to say


    How do you tell the difference between 1 "Long Beeps" and "Constantly" "Long Beeps"? When I heard it, it just beeped once really long until he shut it off... If it's "Constantly" then it seems that it's a PSU or Video Card Connnection issue...

    That's true. It was 3 AM when I posted that and I had just put a crying baby back to bad for the 3rd time....so I was a little foggy, did not even see the "constant" one.

    Having re-read my own post :rolleyes2 I agree with GH - a borked PS or a VC issue. Try some loaners and see where that gets you. Also, check video card settings in BIOS, memory hole, AGP speed, etc.

    Dexter...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Dexter... what should the memory hole settings be? I have no idea how to set those, so we just left them at the BIOS default. We left AGP speed at default also.
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    GHoosdum had this to say

    Joe, reseat your video card and disconnect and reconnect all your power connectors. Also, if you still have the molex to floppy power adapter, plug that onto the video card and connect it to a molex instead of using the floppy power connector we've got on there. [/B]

    Did that. I'll keep everyone up to date as to the status of my rig. Hopefully we can get this up and running at normal speeds before my new heatsink/fan comes in and I can OC.

    This is agravating me that it's not working properly. I seem to have such issues with new systems... :banghead:

    Crazy Joe
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well that didn't fix it. GH's going to lend me some of his spare parts to try and get this thing working before S-M Lan.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Dude, at least you're not getting a Dell.

    What do the voltages look like right now?
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    GHoosdum had this to say
    Dexter... what should the memory hole settings be? I have no idea how to set those, so we just left them at the BIOS default. We left AGP speed at default also.

    Depends on the video card. Many cards need a 64 MB hole. What is the model? What is the AGP rating? Let's look it up in the manual and see if that gets you anywhere?

    And forgive me if this question is too basic...but when you changed the mobo, did you reinstall all the hardware drivers associated? Ie, audio, UDMA / IDE accelerators, NIC, etc, etc.

    Dexter...
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Right now it's running on a fresh install of XP, then SP1, then nVidia nf2 unified drivers, then Windows Update, then DX9, then Catalyst driver.

    The video card is a Sapphire Radeon 9500 128MB (the one based on the 9700 PCB).
  • CrazyJoeCrazyJoe Winter Springs, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Well GH loaned me new mem & power supply. The mem didn't help, so I tried his PS. No lockups yet so I'll cross my fingers.

    :banghead:
  • pseudonympseudonym Michigan Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Hmmmm, you aren't running iTunes are you?? I have a theory about that thing.....
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Nope, no iTunes. Nothing made by Crapple ever goes near any of our PCs!
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