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PC freezes at random

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by bruno.moraes

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Problem: My Pentium IV 2.4GHz, 1 Gb RAM, Motherboard Intel 865PERL tends to freeze completely without any warning. Mouse and keyboard do not move/work only solution is to reset.

I could not identify any pattern. Sometimes happens when I'm reading e-mail or browsing the web, sometimes even when the PC is idle.

I believe it is a hardware problem because the same problem happens when I'm running Windows XPSP2 and also Linux (Fedora). PC temperature is within OK ranges, for different reasons I already replaced video card, HD and power supply but the problem continues.

Microsoft Memory Diagnostics and Intel Desktop Control Center do not show any error.

Any Ideas?

9 replies

by bruno.moraes

Diagnostic tools do not show any RAM or Motherboard error (Microsoft Memory Diagnostics and Intel Desktop Control Center).

Any other tool I should use to check?

by master3bs

My first thought in these instances is RAM. I know you said that a diagnostic tool doesn't show any issues. Even still; I'd consider testing the machine with different RAM. Or, if you have more than 1 stick; try isolating them one at a time and see if you get any problems.

by jepott

You could try booting from a knoppix CD and run memtest at the prompt - this will test your memory using the knoppix memtest utility. You might also try to replace the power supply (I know you already did but try another one) as it may be causing your issue. Last... try replacing your motherboard... it might have a bad capaciter on it (look at all the capaciters and see if any are bulging and/or leaking). Hope these help.

by compumagic

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking, then check the Event Viewer for disk or ntfs errors. Those are the most likely culprits for random freezing.

1. Start > right-click My Computer, then click Manage.
2. Click > next to Event Viewer, then click System.
3. Click View > Filter.
4. remove checks from Information, Success Audit, and Failure audit, then click OK.
5. Click "Source" to check where the Windows errors are coming from. Look especially for "disk" or "ntfs", also for your IDE/SATA controller driver name (probably "iaStor").

Next, I would check the motherboard for bad caps or even run your hard drive manufacturer's hard drive software to check for errors.

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