PC randomly freezes

[Hokiefyd]

I have an eMachines computer that I'm rebuilding to donate to our church. I got it as a turn-in at work, missing RAM, a HDD, and graphics card (though it does have integrated graphics). I added RAM, put in an extra HDD that I have, and an older ATI X1900 graphics card, which is okay for desktop use.

The problem I'm having with it is it will randomly freeze. Most recently, it froze trying to apply a .NET 4.0 update. Before that, it froze as I was defragging the drive. It could be coincidence, but it seems to freeze during periods of moderate disk activity. This HDD was the original HDD in our Dell Dimension E521, so I know the history of it, and have had no issues with it prior to this.

The computer will not crash or BSOD...the HDD activity simply stops and what ever is on the screen remains on the screen. I am monitoring temperatures with HWmonitor, and nothing is out of the ordinary.

Is this a symptom of a HDD going south? I thought I'd get different symptoms if it were that.

 

[wkcars]

Possible that there are errors or bad sectors on the drive, you can try running a disk scan and set/check the options to try and have it automatically fix system errors and recover bad sectors, this scan could take a really long time.

 

[dtownfb]

+1 on what wkcars stated.

I was having the same problem with my Dell dimension E521 Hard drive. the disk scan helped.

What operating system are you using? I also had an issue with a corrupt file with Windows Vista (SP1). It wouldn't allow me to update and caused similar issues with the hard drive.

Just a few months ago, I finally gave up on the hard drive and installed a new one (about $60). Re-installed Vista SP2 and select programs. All is well.

 

[LeakySeals]

Repaired quite a few. On some a clogged processor heat sync under the fan or too much compound blocking temp sensor had me fooled for a while. Check it out.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I did a disk scan, the kind where it requires a reboot and it does it before Windows loads. It had restarted before I could see the end of the scan, so I'm not sure if it found errors.

This is a fresh install of Windows XP Home with SP3.

The processor is an AMD Athlon 64 4000, which is a single-core CPU at 2.7 GHz. I cleaned the processor and re-applied thermal compound and put the heat sink back on. Then after removing the heat sink to check, I found no excess compound spilling over the sides. The temperature of the processor is reported to HWMonitor, and registers at anywhere from 30-40*C depending on load, so it appears that the processor is running well.

One last caveat. When I first got the machine, I tried to remove the heat sink and it pulled the processor out with it, bending a few of the pins. I re-straightened the pins and set the processor back into the tray and locked it in. I assume this is a go or no-go situation...if the processor were messed up, I wouldn't think it'd turn on at all. But it does, so I assume the processor is good. That might be a bad assumption though.

Thank you for your ideas! Keep 'em coming.

 

[AccordV6MN]

You can always check the chkdsk results from event viewer log.

I’ve come across this issue before as a tech. there several issue that may cause this kind of problem and one of them is bad HDD. Check you power supply. Sometimes, PSU about to fail and give out lower voltage than required. It can be the voltage to HDD, CPU, RAM, etc. Cable or drive controller may also create issue. Try to replace HDD cable and its controller on the MB.

Try one of these and see if you have any luck.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Thanks. I haven't had an issue since running CHKDSK. We'll see. The cable is a SATA cable straight to the motherboard...not sure how I'd replace the controller on the board, I guess it's built-in. Thanks for the tip on the CHKDSK results in the event viewer log.

 

[Rand]

check your voltage under load. It could also be the power supply is too small if I remember right the x1900 pulls quite abit.

 

[AccordV6MN]

I meant try a different SATA ports.

Some MB comes with 2 different controllers, ie JMicron and Intel. Usually denoted by different colors on the MB.

 

[LeakySeals]

Have another box to replicate? Put the drive in that, see if it follows.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The X1900 is an older 128 MB video card, with a fanless heat sink. I don't think it uses much power. If the problem reappears, I will switch SATA ports. It just completed a defrag successfully, so CHKDSK may have fixed it.

 

[EricF]

check the BIOS revision and see if there's an update for the mobo.

 

[PandaBear]

Make sure you run something that read the SMART status of the hard drive. Most hard drives have spare sectors that will replenish the bad sectors when found and chkdsk or scan will not fail until they are all used up.

Passmark's DiskCheckup is free. You can use it to check for the Reallocated Sectors count and Reallocation Event count. Both should be near zero. Once a drive starts developing bad sectors and require reallocation on a regular basis, it is near death.

Personally I think it is more likely to be the RAM or power supply due to the randomness of where it fail. Try swapping these 2 and see if it goes away.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I'm using RAM from my Dell that I know is good. I suppose I could swap PSUs, but the voltages reported by HWMonitor from the stock PSU all look right close to where they should be. Could the PSU be failing with the voltage on each rail still right at spec? I know that voltage and power are related, but not the same thing.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I'm using RAM from my Dell that I know is good. I suppose I could swap PSUs, but the voltages reported by HWMonitor from the stock PSU all look right close to where they should be. Could the PSU be failing with the voltage on each rail still right at spec? I know that voltage and power are related, but not the same thing.


power = voltage x current = voltage^2 / resistance.

Most likely your current draw is constant (for the fraction of seconds you are measuring), but they are all good until the moment they crash with a spike or brown out. Rule of thumb is you cannot use an equipment to measure a voltage if it is powered by that voltage.

Also the resolution of these measurement maybe too low to measure any minor problem that can crash but not measurable. Swapping a borrowed power supply would be an easy and fast way to test this out. It doesn't need to be in the machine, you just need to hook up the cord and the plug and let it sit outside.