Computer freezes occasionally

[skribb]

Ok first off here are my specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHZ

EPoX 8KDA3J S754

Corsair Value PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512mb x2

Club 3D Radeon 9800XT 256mb

Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum

Hiper ATX 420W PFC

Seagate 120GB IDE

Western Digital Caviar 200GB S-ATA x2


IRQ:



I've been having these errors since I built this piece of junk (Built it in September last year):

Whenever I do something that's "demanding" for the video card, such as watching a flash movie, or just surfing on a webpage with lots of images, playing games etc., the computer itself (not just the application I use at that time) will freeze at ANY time, it can be either instantly, after a few secs, a few minutes and so on. It's completely random! One thing that isn't random, though, is that whenever I choose to shut the computer down it always stops at "Windows is shutting down", so I disabled the welcome screen but that doesn't seem to work either. My sound also used to stutter and loop about a ms-soundbyte over and over but it seemed this has stopped. It's just freezing now.


I have ran a few tests, about 8 hours in memtest and about 3 hours torture test in Prime95. There seems to be nothing wrong with the RAM and CPU.
I thought, maybe it's the hdd XP is on, so I installed XP on my SATA instead of my IDE. It worked, for one day, and then suddenly it started getting funky again.

I'm not sure about the heat but I've been testing out with two big table fans blowing full power into the computer (I always have my case open), the temp dropped a lot but I still had these errors. Also I've fiddled around in BIOS with timings, disabling onboard sound etc. and that didn't work either.

What? You want me to remove my SBLive? Sorry bud I already have.

I'm thinking it's the video card but I'm not sure, I could swap to GF4 and see what happens but I'm too lazy and pissed right now.

Any suggestions? 'Cause the amount of hair on my scalp is drastically reducing by the hour

[ccb056]

swap the video cards

[skribb]

Damn, It didn't work.

Does anyone have any other suggestion?

[Zeroman545]

ok man my friend had the same prob with ati 9800 , his CPU started freezing and stuff he even compained to ATI it is the graphics card dude i would also suggest a switch in video cards, but i have a 9800 and mine has given me no problems at all, hopeing that it never does but i am planing on switching to Nvidia soon anyways i hear it is alot better.

[skribb]

Nah, It can't possibly be my ATI since I tried with my GF4 too, it still doesn't work. It has to be my motherboard, the CPU, or any of the hdds since when I start the computer it usually has trouble finding the harddrives so I have to push the reset button a couple times 'till it finds them. Sometime it even freezes before XP starts loading.

[Stick]

Did you ever figure out what the problem was? My computer just started randomly doing the same thing Sunday morning. As you described, it is only when I am doing something that involves intensive video card action like watching a movie, loading graphics, playing World of Warcraft...etc. Another thing I have noticed is that it freezes when I try to bring it back from the screensaver...probably because the video card needs to load up the screen or something. I bought new RAM and a new power supply (both were things that I needed anyway) but it hasnt stopped my computer from freezing. It better not be my video card because it is an ATi 9800 Pro AIW that I bought about 6 months ago. My system: AMD Athlon 1800+ XP ASUS A7A266 Motherboard 80GB Hard drive 512MB DDR before/1024MB DDR PC3200 after 300W Power Supply before/500W Power Supply after I built the computer about 3 and a half years ago so it may just be time for a new CPU/mobo, but I would like to know whats wrong with my computer.

[skribb]

Hmm, well, I did RMA it but they didn't find anything wrong with my mobo. They said my memory isn't compatible with nForce3. I'll get some Crucial sticks and then we'll se...

[goddude]

I have the same problem.. My pc (1 yr, PIV 3.0HT - 512 MB - =>ATI RADEON 9800XT<=) was doing great but last week it suddenly freezed after returning from screen saver or when playin a 'high-demanding-3D'-game.. After reading couple of forum discussions my guess is it's the video card. ANYONE knows any solution or CAUSE?? I'm just waiting to bring it in, should still have warranty so. The ATI has gone loose I assume

[richh0323]

When I built my gaming computer I hade the same thing happen, It would freeze and crash. I pulled out one stick of RAM and it help till I got compatible RAM. I talked with Gigabyte support and they told me the ram I first got wasn't compatible. I ordered some Geil RAM and I haven't had a problem from that point on. The other thing is what's you're power supply rated, could be right at the limit, I would recommend at least 400 watt or better.

[acematrix]

I had the same problem ... it turns out my BIOS version was incompatible with the prosessor .. i upgraded it and it fixed the problem ...