PC Freezes up

Published on May 30, 2006 By tjesterb In Personal Computing

Long story short:

I built a new PC a few weeks ago. Now it randomly freezes up, or drastically slows down, usually resulting in a hard shutdown. I have watched CPU cycles spike to almost 100% while nothing is running except a couple browser windows and WMP playing an MP3, sometimes with nothing but a single browser window open.

Specs:
Asus A8N-E mobo (nVidia N-force4 chipset)
AMD 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core CPU
1GB (2 x 512) RAM (Patriot brand)
Asus Radeon X550 PCI-E graphics card
Samsung 250GB SATA-2 HDD
Sansubg 160GB PATA HDD (from old system)
2 Lite-on DVD RW drives
Raid Max 450W PSU

Errors in event logs:
Error 51: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk 0\D during a paging operation
Error 9: The device, \Device\IDE\IDE port4, did not respond within the timeout period.

What I've done:
disconnected PATA drive, and the older DVD drive (was starting to make some suspicious noises)
installed latest chipset drivers and BIOS version from Asus/nVidia
installed new AMD dual-core drivers and Microsoft multi-core hotfix.
disabled Native Command Queuing, and rolled back IDE-ATA drivers to Windows drivers

None of these have helped (though I seem to get more "long pauses" than actual freezes now)

I have looked in several forums and this problem seems to have no definite solution that works for everyone.
The Asus boards with nForce4 chipsets and SATA drives seem to be the most common denominators.

My options seem to be dwindling to A: buying a new (No nVidia chipset!!) motherboard, or B: adding a third party SATA raid controller card.
I'm trying to avoid option C: pulling my hair out. I need to keep all I still have!

Comments (Page 1)

ZubaZ

on May 30, 2006

REMOVE THE PC FROM THE FREEZER!!!

Basics: Spyware? Virii? Safe mode?

More advanced: Linux Live CD?

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central

Phoon

on May 30, 2006

Try a different hard drive to rule that out.

tjesterb

on May 30, 2006

I've also run CHKDSK /R all came back with no errors. Also ran SFC \Scannow,
AV and spyware scans all clean.
I've run the Disk check utility from within the Windows Logical Disk Manager, all with no change.

I haven't tried seeing if the problem duplicates with a Linux-live CD. If that works, I'd be tempted to back up my data, and install Suse at this point.
Edit: two live Linux cds (Suse 9.1 and Knoppix 3.8) neither one saw the SATA drive or the network card.

ZubaZ

on May 30, 2006

I have watched CPU cycles spike to almost 100% while nothing is running except a couple browser windows and WMP playing an MP3, sometimes with nothing but a single browser window open.

When you open taskman and sort processed by CPU, what's using the cycles?

And while I didn't expect the drive to bee detected I do wonder how the PC ran? Any problems?

Jafo

on May 30, 2006

I remember seeing somewhere in a BIOS option [I think] where you could allocate more time for an IDE drive to 'wake up'....a 'latency' setting somewhere.

Those errors sound like something similar....

Personally, I'd be hanging out till yrag comes along....

tjesterb

on May 30, 2006

Personally, I'd be hanging out till yrag comes along...

I'm hoping he's still lurking around here somewhere.

yrag

on May 30, 2006

Disable 'Cool and Quiet' in the bios. Un-install the AMD drivers and/or rollback to Microsoft drivers. In Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager; under 'Computer' make sure it is set to 'ACPI Multiprocessor'

tjesterb

on May 30, 2006

Cool & Quiet is already disabled, Computer is set to "ACPI Multiprocessor PC" in Device Mgr.
I have the IDE ATA/ATAPI drivers rolled back to the MS drivers (disabled NCQ through the nVidia controls before rolling back drivers.)

I followed the instructions from here: http://forum.tweaks.com/forum/Topic194253-4-1.aspx to correct Windows process handling on multi-processor systems.

I have also tried new sata cables, and plugging the drive into different ports on the mobo.

yrag

on May 30, 2006

Un-install the AMD drivers and/or rollback to Microsoft drivers

Did you do that?

What bios version on the board?

tjesterb

on May 30, 2006

Bios version is A8NE1013.
Chipset is V665_winXP32.

I rolled back the CPU drivers to the MS ones (version5.1.2600.0)

I still had two lock-ups while posting this, with nothing running but Firefox (two tabs open) and Task Mgr.
(Thanks for stopping by, yrag. This one's been a tough one so far.)

yrag

on May 30, 2006

OK...I don't think this will solve the problem, but you can update the chipset drivers; http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_nf4_winxp32_amd_6.70.html (do it last because they may smack your graphics drivers...in which case, just re-install them too).

You don't happen to have 'Raid' enabled in the bios do you? While you're there, look at the system stats and see what the temps/volts are....particularly the Northbridge temp.

tjesterb

on May 30, 2006

nvraid is disabled in bios.
CPU temp: 39c
MB temp: 38c
(these were the only temps listed.)
I installed the drivers you linked to. I'll see how it goes and post back tomorrow. Time for some shut-eye tonight.
*a couple other things maybe worth noting: with the nvidia drivers installed I run the speed test and get a burst speed of about 139 and a sustained speed in the low 70s, so it's not coming anywhere to it's advertised transfer rates. I also always have an indicator in my systray to remove a portable drive. When I click on it, it asks if I want to safely remove the 250GB Samsung drive (my system disk...)

yrag

on May 30, 2006

Food for thought for tomorrow. Those temps are high for a dual, but certainly within limits. Having said that. it sounds like your drive isn't playing nice with the NVidia 4 chipset. Most boards have two extra Silcon sata ports just for this reason. Unfortunately, your's isn't one of them. Make sure both Sata1 and Sata2 are enabled in the bios and plug the sata drive into port 3. Also check the bios readout on the sata drive that it is showing status correctly and isn't listed as '0'. When you bootup, make sure the post shows your memory configuration as Dual Channel.... sticks need to be in A1/B1

I'll check back tomorrow.

Fuzzy Logic

on May 31, 2006

That's the same sort of problem you get with a Nforce4 + Maxtor SATA-2 drive. I'd switch to a Seagate and make sure you have a 300Mbs rated cable to make the most of it, some cables are only 150Mbs.

yrag

on Jun 01, 2006

yrag smacks Fuzzy with a very large, wet fish..........

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