Quake3World

i've got this computer sitting here, i've been looking at it from time to time for a buddy of mine.
he says Randomly he will get lockup's ( Full hardlocks ) randomly, and they will go away for months at a time, then come back with no real Trigger.
and yes, i've witnessed the Lockup's my self.


So on friday i loaded up Memtest+ ( ISO Boot ) and ran it for 12 hours, nothing, Loaded windows, started Prime95 for 11 hours, Nothing..
ran ATI tool for 4 hours, then started prime95 in the background and left them both run for 9 hours, no complaints...


So, i'm at a loss what to try next... all of the Volts seem to be stable and its running correctly.
the Caps/Vol reg's seem to be in great shape and are putting out a stable Voltige.
The Cpu isnt running hot ( idle at 26C, 8+ hour prime temp of 38C) , Tried diffrent Ram, HSF, Video-card, PSU.
My voltige options are limmited due to this being a intel Mobo.

i've hit a small wall, and im not sure where to take this next..
What would be next on your lists to check?

i've considered Cutting the Trace to the Northbridge and build a new volt reg system and setup up the volts a little ( ~+10% ) and see if that helps..
or trying to find a Volt-mod for the Board and see if i cant get the v-core up a little ( +~10% )

any ideas at this point would be awesome.

edit: Actually, thinking about it, i havnt tried the Harddrive.... Hummmmm... But how would you Test it in a prolonged test... :/
Maby Ghosting the drive and Cloning it on a SATA drive i have here would be worth it.

if i remember sisoft sandra has a "Torture" test, that you can select components that you want to have a regime tossed at them...

i'm not 100% sure, but i may be able to have a prolonged raping on the Harrdrive doing filesystem tests and etc for read/write.

Any one else with some software ( free maby ? ) that you can recommend?

My guess would be something on the hard drive is spewing out an error when accessed. Try Scandisk for starters?

you must have too much spare time. have your buddy fork over $ for a new mobo and get that shit over with.

also, for the hdd: http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

i've got the Torture test on the ram/cpu/HDD/File system running right now at home ( about from my last post too ) so if i go home and see its locked, i can see on what process and that will give a hint.

Mazduh: it hasnt got errors on the SMART log's, so i wouldnt say its that.. i'm more looking at the Controller itsself rather then the harddrive itsself.

Juggs: No, i dont, and my buddy dosnt have alot of money, he's having a hard enough time keeping up with rent/insurance let alone getting a new Puter.

as for spinrite, i already have it, and i will run it if thats what it comes down to, but as i said above, i'm leaning more toward the Controller then the harddrive.

it locked at the end of a harddrive test, SMART reported no errors..

i've seemed to be able to trackdown a used P4 mobo, i'll backup the computer and try that out and see how i make out with that..

if its locking up at the hard drive test without SMART errors i'd say its the mobos northbridge chip or IDE controller, but most likely the northbridge chip, i've had very similar from the mobo that Ax sent me, changed that and everything works to this day

i've managed to get a hold of another P4 mobo, and it was basically dead... replaced a few caps and etc, but its a gonner.

i have talked to the buddy, he is going to start making "payments" into getting new Pieces of Kit.

Core2 + 8500 GT i think will be the best route for him.

Considering he was using this P4 2.4ghz with a 6600 GT.

ya, its the mobo, just get a new kit and be over with it

AmIdYfReAk wrote:i've managed to get a hold of another P4 mobo, and it was basically dead... replaced a few caps and etc, but its a gonner.

i have talked to the buddy, he is going to start making "payments" into getting new Pieces of Kit.

Core2 + 8500 GT i think will be the best route for him.

Considering he was using this P4 2.4ghz with a 6600 GT.

Go for an 8600 not 8500. Performance diff is significant and it's a like-for-like upgrade from his 6600

Foo:

yeah, you are right.. looking at my local retailer they sell the 8500's for $90 and the 8600GT oc's for 130...

its going to be atleast another month or so before anything will be purchased..a nd i'll be contending with a move at that point.. so things are going to get a little hecktic and this will hit the backburner for a bit.

Thanks for the help gents..