Assistance on diagnosing broken hardware

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Okay so here's the case. My computer keeps completely freezing from time to time. The freezing appears to happen on somewhat random allthough it does happen more often when I'm gaming. I've pretty much ruled out overheating of the CPU and the videocard since while the CPU temps are a bit higher than I'd like when under more stress they are still not in the immidiate danger zone and the video card temp is normal even when under heavier stress.

Now sometimes after these freezes the computer refuses to restart. Fans start normally and the leds in the motherboard and the videocard are glowing normally and the dvd station led keeps clicking and the small green light in the front steadily flashing. However the machine won't start properly meaning something has to be wrong. Now when I twiddle a moment, cleaning dust and removing and replacing pieces I get the machine eventually working again, only to have it crash the next day and have these same restarting problems within a few weeks. It makes me suspect some piece of hardware is starting to fail. The problem is that I'm not exactly sure what.

Of course I understand that diagnosing anything from the other side of the screen is somewhat difficult but if someone could atleast point out what is likely to be wrong and what kind of hardware faults can pretty much be ruled out I could consider if it's worth it to buy a new power source or something instead of taking it to the nearest PC repair and have them take a look (costing probably more than the replaced part!).

It probably won't make much of a difference but here's the parts of the computer.

Motherboard: Asus A8r-MVP
Processor: Athlon 64 X2 4200x
RAM: 1,5 GB 400mhz DDR 1 (don't remember the brand right now)
Videocard: Radeon 1950XT

 

It sounds like a heat issue to me. Have you tried running the system with the cover off?

 

I have and it really does not help all that much to the problem (my cover is off right now since these freezes occur continuously). My CPU and videocard temps are both in the mid-forties, going to as high as 55 when under heavier stress but never going above 60. I keep software on that measure and logs both.

 

Could be a bad memory chip....

 

You said it doesn't start properly - but that's not really all that much information what's abnormal about it? What doesn't it do that it normally does?

 

A bad memory stick can indeed do a lot of bad things. The harddisk boots normally?

Have you tried resetting older drivers?

Check the label on the powersuppy for us.

 

Well like I said the fans are on and all the proper leds are working even then but it does not start like it should. When I normally start the computer the humming changes somewhat at a point and that's when the lights (num lick caps lock scroll lock) on my keyboard flash once and it takes me through the standard memory checks and I can go to the bios screen. This does not happen when it starts "badly" so to say. I can't get to bios nor anywhere else for that matter. The fans just keep going but the computer won't start. So obviously some piece of hardware is not working properly.

EDIT: I haven't really tried anything with the memory combs. I might try temporeraly removing them and putting back the next time I have trouble starting it.

The model of the power supply is GPS-405AA-101A with a max power of 450W

 

Have you tried reflashing the BIOS? That sounds like a mainboard problem of some kind...maybe a short somewhere. Still, I would update the BIOS.

 

A bad motherboard battery?

 

I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with updating the BIOS by myself since I've gathered that it's something you really should not do unless you are absolutely sure what you are doing, and I think I would not fall into that cathegory. I'll probably need some more expirienced help guiding me through the process and how to take all necessary backups etc. to minimize the risks involved.

Merlanni, is there any method how i'd notice if the motherboard battery has gone bad?

 

There are no beeps when the computer does not start properly? No seven segment displays on the motherboard that could give some error codes? How does the computer freeze, does everything just stop, any graphics corruption, or blank screen?

It is quite hard to pinpoint the source of the problem with the current information. I would try removing non-essential hardware and rebooting it until it works again to try and find the source. You should run memtest86 to make sure that the memory works correctly.

Also the motherboard battery should not matter here as the board is powered.

 

Yeah actually I forgot to mention, but I did the memtest and it found nothing wrong with the memory. There are no beeps when the computer refuses to start properly and no deviating lights on the motherboard. So no error codes and no beeps.

As for the freezing, the graphics just stop, the cursor stop and the sound blasters continue repeating the same sound that was going on at the moment of the freeze.

I have very little non-essential hardware installed. I've tried to take off the harddrive and the dvd-rom but they seem to have no effect. Also, right now the computer is working normally, but I don't expect it to last.

 

Ahhh....now that sounds familiar. My dad's old computer started doing that several years ago. I racked my brain trying to figure it out. I finally gave up and formatted the HDD and reinstalled XP. Not the best solution, but it fixed the problem.

To that end, I would say it might be a software problem. Perhaps a corrupted driver, bad registry, etc... It's hard to say really.

 

Is it actually possible for software problems to cause difficulties in starting the computer? I would have imagined that I'd get to the BIOS regardless of any problems with the harddrive. In any case it might be worth trying to format the hard drive if the problems persist. I did reinstall the videocard drivers just in case there was some sort of corruption in them.

 

What about your PSU? Over time a PSU looses it total output and if you have had one for a while it maybe time to replace the PSU. This is based off the fact that your freezing up occurs during gaming - which usually requires the PSU to use more power.

 

Yeah, personally I think that's a very likely culprit. I'll have to try formating the computer first to see if I can get away with it without actually changing any parts. Might take a while until I get to that though, since I'll need an external harddrive or something to store are the more valuable data on before I can go with the format. If that does not work then it pretty much has to be an hardware issue and the PSU would be on the top of that list.

Yesterday the computer worked fine the entire day but today when I tried to play some diablo II the freezing reoccured, twice. So reinstalling the graphics drivers clearly did not do it. Atleast there have been no problems in restarting the computer so far.

 

It worked a whole day, so the battery is clearly good. Was a long shot anyway.

I had Dad pc under my care once that worked ok and suddenly blam stopped. The power unit tat the sods built in was to weak. I thought let the store handle things but they went bust a month after purchase. Whit this one it was just a stop within a second.

 

This is what I would do.


1) Remove a RAM stick
2) start up the PC
2) Complete some non-graphical test (word process, spreadsheet, some basic web pages, etc)
3) Complete some light graphical test (photos, graphical internet webpages, etc)
4) Run a DVD to test the graphical card out a little more
5) Play a game that barely uses your GPU
6) Play a game that uses about 50% of the GPU
7) Play a game that maximizes your GPU potential

Redo test 1-7 using each of your RAM sticks. If the PC start to slow down or freezes during test with a specific RAM stick you found your problem; however, if the PC slows down or freezes during test 3-7 regardless of the stick of ram(s) used than there is an issue with your PSU and it is time to get a new PSU.

 

Yeah I might test out the RAM before I format, atleast to get that out of the realm of possibilites if nothing else. Thanks for the advice I'll do that.

 

Formatting will only be a short term solution. If it is a hardware issue, the hardware item that is giving you grief needs to be replaced either it be RAM, mobo, CPU, PSU, GPU, etc...