Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - System Hangs intermittently

BlackBeauty · 10-09-2006, 07:16 PM

This is my first post so thankyou for reading :)

I have recently purchased a new system. It is an AMD Athlon X2 3600 64-Bit Dual Core Machine with upgraded RAM to 1GB, HDD to 300GB and the nVidia 7600GT video card. Further/full specs are here.

Everything is fine with the machine except it hangs intermittently. It occurs anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes when the PC is in use. When it is not being used, the PC runs smoothly with no problems - I can leave it on for days with no issues.

The hangs typically occur when a user is doing normal activities ie., surfing the web, using Windows Explorer, iTunes, notepad etc. The display just hangs and the keyboard and mouse do not respond. The only way out is to press the reset button. (Incidentally, I've spent a few hours playing games and it has never once hung during a game....yet!).

Because there is no memory/stack dumps, blue screens or other error messages, I suspected that it was the nVidia video card and that it may need it's drivers updated. When it arrived, it was running ForceWare 91.31. I have since upgraded it to use ForceWare 91.47 but still experience these problems.

I was advised by the site I bought it from to return it to the suppliers to have them look at it as it is still under warranty. I took it back there on Saturday and after a 70+km round trip of driving, was told that it was fixed - they cited a problem with the power supply pins and said they put an adapter on it and that they could no longer reproduce the problem. However, as soon as I got it home and plugged it in to test - it hung again within 5-6 minutes.

I rang them and they said they didn't know what else it could be - perhaps I should get a gruntier power supply. I already have a 480W one which friends have since said is more than sufficient for what I am running. The supplier also said that perhaps it's due to the poor quality of power in my area (known as an older area when it comes to infrastructure) - I don't know, this last one sounds like a brush off....

Anyway, I have been researching more on these possible causes and have arrived at the following conclusions:

1. Problems could be due to power spikes/surges/sags
2. Problems could be due to high CPU temperatures

If any of these are the case, I'd be interested to know whether these are the right steps to try out, in order to fix this quickly:

* Benchmark the temperature in the BIOS then, on reboot after the next hang, check the BIOS temperature again. Alternatively, I will run something like MBM5 or HMonitor to monitor my CPU temperature.
* Move the PC from where it is (under a desk, on the carpet) to on top of the desk and/or run the PC without one side on to see if this fixes it.
* Take the PC to a friend's place on a different power grid and run it there.
* Invest in a spike protector or inexpensive UPS for around AUD$100. (Do spike protectors protect against sags as well?)

What do you reckon? Anything I'm missing or should be doing differently? Needless to say, this is a very annoying problem and I look foward to receiving your input.

Thanks in advance!

10-09-2006, 07:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
BlackBeauty Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Melbourne Posts: 20 OS: XP Pro	System Hangs intermittently - I'm stumped This is my first post so thankyou for reading :) I have recently purchased a new system. It is an AMD Athlon X2 3600 64-Bit Dual Core Machine with upgraded RAM to 1GB, HDD to 300GB and the nVidia 7600GT video card. Further/full specs are here. Everything is fine with the machine except it hangs intermittently. It occurs anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes when the PC is in use. When it is not being used, the PC runs smoothly with no problems - I can leave it on for days with no issues. The hangs typically occur when a user is doing normal activities ie., surfing the web, using Windows Explorer, iTunes, notepad etc. The display just hangs and the keyboard and mouse do not respond. The only way out is to press the reset button. (Incidentally, I've spent a few hours playing games and it has never once hung during a game....yet!). Because there is no memory/stack dumps, blue screens or other error messages, I suspected that it was the nVidia video card and that it may need it's drivers updated. When it arrived, it was running ForceWare 91.31. I have since upgraded it to use ForceWare 91.47 but still experience these problems. I was advised by the site I bought it from to return it to the suppliers to have them look at it as it is still under warranty. I took it back there on Saturday and after a 70+km round trip of driving, was told that it was fixed - they cited a problem with the power supply pins and said they put an adapter on it and that they could no longer reproduce the problem. However, as soon as I got it home and plugged it in to test - it hung again within 5-6 minutes. I rang them and they said they didn't know what else it could be - perhaps I should get a gruntier power supply. I already have a 480W one which friends have since said is more than sufficient for what I am running. The supplier also said that perhaps it's due to the poor quality of power in my area (known as an older area when it comes to infrastructure) - I don't know, this last one sounds like a brush off.... Anyway, I have been researching more on these possible causes and have arrived at the following conclusions: 1. Problems could be due to power spikes/surges/sags 2. Problems could be due to high CPU temperatures If any of these are the case, I'd be interested to know whether these are the right steps to try out, in order to fix this quickly: * Benchmark the temperature in the BIOS then, on reboot after the next hang, check the BIOS temperature again. Alternatively, I will run something like MBM5 or HMonitor to monitor my CPU temperature. * Move the PC from where it is (under a desk, on the carpet) to on top of the desk and/or run the PC without one side on to see if this fixes it. * Take the PC to a friend's place on a different power grid and run it there. * Invest in a spike protector or inexpensive UPS for around AUD$100. (Do spike protectors protect against sags as well?) What do you reckon? Anything I'm missing or should be doing differently? Needless to say, this is a very annoying problem and I look foward to receiving your input. Thanks in advance! Last edited by BlackBeauty : 10-09-2006 at 07:27 PM.