My PC hangs after a couple of hours

[Maximus I]

I have a problem with my Intel P3 550mhz (Epox BX3 mother board, 128mb RAM, Seagate 5400rpm HD 13GB, Dlink network card). After a cople of hours the computer freezes, and this can take between 2-5 hours after beeing started.
I dont know were to start since this does never happen att boot-up.
When the computer freezes the harddrive light stays on and nothing can be done with the keyboard or mouse, If i reset my computer it won´t find the c:\ at post but if i turn the power of and on with the master switch it will work ok 2-5 hours?

Does anyone know what this problems are and how to fix them.

[Fish]

Do you get any error messages? When it freezes have you tried clicking Ctrl+Alt+Del to see if you can find what's not responding? There's some good people here that know a lot more than me,so if this doesn't help, someone will be by soon.

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If you ever get to thinkin' you're a person of influence,
try orderin' somebody elses dog around.

[Technochic]

Also, are you actively using the PC during those crucial 2-5 hours? What OS are you using?

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~ Jana

Laziness is the Mother of Technology...

[Maximus I]

Im using windows 98 at the moment, but the error was there before when i used windows ME too.
It does not matter if i use the computer activly or if i just leave it on, the error is always the same. I have removed the memory and put it back, i have checked the floppy & HDD cables, i tried to run a diagnostics program but it does not find any errors anywere.

[Steve48]

Hello,

It sounds like it may be a heat related problem. First thing I might try is to remove the case cover, then place a regular home fan nest to the PC and see if that stops the lock up (freezing) problem. If so....you mat want to add additional cooling to your PC. A good place to look is www.2coolpc.com (http://www.2coolpc.com)

Steve

[Randy_tx]

If you know how......go into the BIOS and tab to the "Power Management" and turn OFF all of the settings for the hard drive to power down after a certain amount of time......there may be a conflict between power management & Win........additionally, I would go into Windows Control Panel to Power Management & turn off the Hard Drive & Video powerdown options too........if that fixes it great.......if not.....post back and someone will have an idea to try
It could be overheating; however, it usually shows up quicker than 2 hrs unless you operate the computer in a VERY warm room to begin with...then inadequate cooling could take a while to show up.
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"As hard as a rock & dumb as a brick"...Windows CEMeNT

[This message has been edited by Randy_tx (edited 03-21-2001).]

[Steve48]

Hello,

Randy has a great idea. Also in "display" under "controll panel"
in the screen saver tab, below is a settings button. Go there and you can disable power management. Power management is really quite worthless in a desktop PC, but it is great for a laptop where you want to extend battery life.

Good Luck and let us know!