Desktop

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Computer freezes

0 helpful
8 replies

by sparklenz

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

System is Win2000 with Matrox G450 video card, the computer freezes on flash, quicktime and windows media player (playing mpeg files). I have got the latest drivers for the computer, still freezes.
Reinstalled windows and tried using the older drivers which still freeze.
Have taken out the Video card and used the onboard
video and that still freezes.
Reinstalled again using the original drivers that came with the computer and still freezes, what was installed was just the motherboard driver testing windows media player.

Since only Windows and the original motherboard driver was installed which still crashed I assume that it can't be a software error but more a hardware.
Have tested the ram and that was okay, even tried taking each ram module out and testing and still crashed. Tested with different ram module which is known to work and still crashed.

I also re-flashed the bios (reported successful flash).

Anyone have any ideas on what it could be?

8 replies

by thechas

Well, you did not mention DirectX.

For many video cards, you cannot get proper operation without DirectX.

You can download DirectX from Microsoft.

Next, you could have conflicts between the drivers for the on-board video and the Matrox card.

Make sure to remove the display adapter from device manager just before you shut down to switch display adapters.

You should also un-install any utility programs for the card not in use.

What about the AGP mini-port driver for the motherboard?
This is different than the driver for the on-board video.
You should download and install the latest AGP droiver for the chipset on the motherboard. (even if the Matrox is a PCI card, this will help)

Finally, check for IRQ conflicts in the BIOS setup and IRQ assignments.
While Windows is suppossed to take care of such issues, if 2 devices are sharing BIOS assigned IRQs, you can still have problems.

Chas

by sparklenz

Multiple OSes now have been tried. Linux, Win98SE and Win2000Pro all exhibit the same symptoms.

The only thing we haven't tried is removing all the added PCI cards in the system. Modem, NIC and SCSI card.

How would we be able to diagnose if its a faulty motherboard or not? Are there utilities to do so?

by thechas

An IRQ conflict is a real possability.
Check if Matrox recommends reserving an IRQ for the card in BIOS settings.

Then, check the motherboard default IRQ assignments for each slot, and make sure that the video is not sharing an IRQ with something else.

I would start with the NIC when checking for card problems.

I don't have any utilities to recommend. I normally don't find 'simple' problems with motherboards. They are usually catastrophic in nature.

Another GOOD suspect is the system power supply.
Many systems with on-board video have marginal power supplies. If the air coming out of the back of the power supply warms up quickly, the power supply is likely undersized to support the card and other system hardware.
(I now use only 300 Watt and larger supplies for systems.)

Chas

by sparklenz

The cards etc were all removed so there was no conflicts. Even the onboard video was causing the same trouble.

Powersupply is a possibility but it is unlikely as its only a task of playing animation (be it video or flash) that causes the problem. You would think that other applications should bring it down say when you access a CDROM drive?

Also PSU is on a good UPS so spikes/surges are improbable.

by sparklenz

The problem has now been solved, it appears that it was the wrong motherboard for the CPU. The computer manufacturer has quite happily changed the motherboard.

Thank you all for your help. :)

This discussion is closed to new replies.