Anyone know anything about computers?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Jones
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Michael Jones

Michael Jones

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My custom built PC is locking up at random.
Someone mentioned it could be the memory.
It's an ASUS P4 mobo running an Intel 1.6 gHz CPU.
Any Ideas?
 
Yeah... get new memory. :p

It also could be the PSU.. and I'm assuming you're not overclocking it or using any kind of agressive timing on the RAM right?

WATYF
 
WATYF said:
Yeah... get new memory. :p

It also could be the PSU.. and I'm assuming you're not overclocking it or using any kind of agressive timing on the RAM right?

WATYF
Click to expand...
Right.
I'll get some new RAM.
 
Lockups can be caused by many things. Memory is a good guess but it could the processor is running too hot, flakey motherboard, a flakey card, poorly seated cards - video in particuliar but could be any of them. I'd start by reseating all the cards, and check the fan on the cpu before buying memory. If it still locks up, run barebones, just video ram and cpu and see if it still locks.
 
lol... sorry... I was being somewhat facetious... you shouldn't run oat and get new RAM just yet... check oat all the stuff Emeric said. Re-seat all your PCI cards... re-seat for AGP (video) card... re-seat your RAM (that one is a common culprit). While your 'puter is running, run a motherboard monitoring app and see if your temps are getting too high... that could be another reason. Make sure your CPU fan is running at the proper RPM's... Make sure all your voltages are at their proper levels... etc. etc. etc.

It could very well be the RAM, but you wanna check out the simple (read "free") options first. If you do think it's the RAM, pull one of the DIMMs out and post the numbers that are on the chips. That way we can find oat if it's the cheap stuff or not.

WATYF
 
WATYF said:
...While your 'puter is running, run a motherboard monitoring app and see if your temps are getting too high... that could be another reason...

WATYF
Click to expand...
HUH?
Where do I get a motherboard monitoring application?
 
Emeric, I installed and ran PC Probe. Pretty nice utility!
Everything seemed to be within normal operating levels.
I have reseated ALL of the cards, and the memory modules as well. I won't know for a while if it locks up, but either way I'll let you know what happens here.

Thanks again.

Michael
 
Michael Jones said:
Emeric, I installed and ran PC Probe. Pretty nice utility!
Everything seemed to be within normal operating levels.
I have reseated ALL of the cards, and the memory modules as well. I won't know for a while if it locks up, but either way I'll let you know what happens here.

Thanks again.

Michael
Click to expand...

If you have multiple ram dimms, try changing which dimm is in which slot. sounds dumb, but it worked for me.
 
Well, It locked up again. :(
I'll try that Polaris, thanks.
 
While all these hardware suggestions are good, there are numerous software issues which can cause lockups as well. Certain versions of Windows (95,98,ME) are notoriously unstable while others (2000, XP) are very stable.

My point is, what OS are you running?

What software are you running in the background?

Also, run a virus scan. Some viruses will cause lockups. If you do not have AV software, go to http://www.trendmicro.com/pc-cillin/ and select "Free Scan" at the top of the screen. It has saved my but quite a few times.
 
Well, I tried every suggestion on here, and even updated the system Bios from ASUS. All to no avail. It still locked up at random.
Yesterday, I went down and bought some new RAM. Viola, problem solved, no more lock-ups! Plus, now I'm running with a GIG-o-RAM! Ye-HAW!
2 512 DIMM's

Thanks to all for the suggestions.
 
Hmmm. New ram, huh? I wonder if that could be my problem - I have a similar lock up problem and have exhausted every other possibility (I think). How do you know without investing in new ram? I guess you can't, eh? That's alright, the taste of bullets is a familiar one - seems I've been biting my fair share lately.

Brad
 
It shoudn't be my ram though - and here is why: I have a friend and he is really into computers. He gave me some advice on how to maximize the life of my ram. I thought that was really cool of him considering I ran over his dog one time. He forgave me though.

Anyway, he told me to run around a carpeted room with socks on, all the while dragging my feet. Then he said to rub a balloon vigorously all over my head. Now here is the tricky part - he said to touch every "black" thing on the ram stick after I do all that other stuff. Not only does this preserve the life of the ram, he said, but it also increases the speed of the ram.


So I doubt that my ram is the problem.


:eek:
 
I am just kidding, by the way.

For kreissakes, don't actually do that to your ram!
 
I don't know if there's any way to test RAM. Continunity meter? Maybe?

p..s., I also heard that was really good for RAM.
;)
 
Call around to local computer shops/repair technicians. Someone should have a RAM tester. I'd see them all the time at computer shows/fairs I'd attend while living in Rochester, NY.
 
A friend of mine built a new box with XP pro and he was getting random lockups. Last night it was finally tracked down to XP trying to sync up it's clock on the web. He wasn't connected to the net so it was crashing him. He disabled the clock update and it stopped crashing (for now anyway YMMV).
 
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