Help!

[Ant]

I have recently built a new comp and it seems to be a bit unstable... It sometimes quite randomly just restarts, no reason (just running boring stuff like IE). Other times it will lock up in a game, but then again it can run intense grahics all day with no probs! I fiddled with memory timings, and few other settings like throttling (which i have disabled) I don't think power is a prob.

I think the temps are okay: 48 idle 53 load (not accurate i think)

Its a barton 2500+, epox 8rda3+, 512 crucal pc3200, antec tp 430w psu, msi fx5600 ultra (and an SB Live! doubt that would have any relevence to the prob). CPU and graphics aren't overclocked.

I'm stumped, have no idea what the prob is... I really don't think its a temp prob...

Any idea what could be causing this? Anything else I should looking at? Its driving me MAD!

ant

[johnyhy1]

hmm have you updated all your drivers? ie not one you got on the disk, i wouldnt rule out the sblive have you unplugged it and used comp without it to just check its not that? have you run mem tests?

you need to keep a close eye on your temps there must be some monitoring tool to see your board temps or you can check this in the bios its been hot lately

what usb divices are you using?

hope any of this helps

[Ant]

Yep, all drivers are up to date, including the bios... Just taken out the SBLive to see if it does make a dif.

I think my temps are okay. According to a review I read of the board, the soket temp is not that accurate, so i have also put my own probe under the heatsink, and taken the average:

Mobo: 48 idle 52/53 load
my probe: 37 Idle 40 load

Its never hung up while running any of the Sisoft benchmarks, tho it has hung once or twice druing 3dMark 2001 and a couple of other games...

[pmk24]

does a blue sreen appear when the computer reboots? have you told windows to show blue screens?

have you tired a gresh install of windows?

could be the memory, so i would advise a program like memtest86 and keep it on for a a couple of cycles or so to see if it finds any ad parts of the memory

[Austin]

PSU is a top notch one so should be fine. The next big culprit is the RAM so try to test diff RAM in there, yours in another PC or else test it like suggested. Next up I'd advise you to reinsert all cards, RAM and cables just to be sure all are making a good contact, the random crashing is common with a partial connection. You could also check your cooling, using only a tiny amount of compound and ensuring the HSF is aligned correctly ... also you could try underclocking your CPU?

I doubt it would be any BIOS settings but it would be wise to use 'safe defaults' if still stuck. Finally it could be a driver/Windows issue so be sure you have the latest mobo BIOS and drivers for all your hw. Did you fully remove all remnants of old hw (esp gfx cards and mobos) and pref do a fresh OS install? Best of luck!

[acidrainy]

w32.Blaster.worm?
could be worth looking into...


http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

[Austin]

Also Known As: W32/Lovsan.worm.a [McAfee], Win32.Poza.A [CA], Lovsan [F-Secure], WORM_MSBLAST.A [Trend], W32/Blaster-A [Sophos], W32/Blaster [Panda], Worm.Win32.Lovesan [KAV]

http://securityresponse.symantec.com...ster.worm.html

http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

http://securityresponse.symantec.com...oval.tool.html

[Ant]

Lol! ye, i did get that stupid worm just after I installed a fresh copy of xp last week! D'OH! sorted now tho. I have taken the sblive! out and have fiddled with the 'reboot when error' option... not had any errors or lockups yet, so we'll see how it goes! Will run a mem test too sometime!

Cheers for your advice dudes!