Freezes on Strartup

[bjam2]

I got a barebones system where all you added was hard drive and cd drive. Added installed windows 95 worked fine for a couple hours then would freeze when you got to the windows startup screen every time. Formated installed windows 98 and it did the same thing. Sent it back and they installed a new motherboard.

It worked fine for about week then started freezing at the same place, if you hit restart it would always startup.
Now it's started getting worse and worse you'll have to press restart like 4 times before it starts now and it's started freezing after you've been on for a little while.

Specs.
850 athlon t-bird
128 mb ram
30 gb hard drive
windows 98
onboard video, sound

Please help I built this system for my mom.

[nimnorf2]

hey Bjam2,
I applaud you for making one for mom. I also think it's pretty smart to try and make 'em cheaply/inexpensively, but that may be your problem. How well do you trust who you bought it from.
I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer here on this forum, but what you're describing I've seen a bunch of times with probably 50% of your wording exactly. The smart guys always advise to do one thing at a time. First, is it possible that your CPU is not getting cooled sufficiently? (Easiest, cheapest fix, take the case cover off and put a desk fan up there and turn it on then see if you lock/freeze up. Of course this may confuse your diagnostics, ie: it doesn't tell you it's the CPU just a heat issue....
2nd usual fix (do you by any chance have another power supply that you could stick in there and check it out. AMD systems are supposed to have more power than others. AMD even has a site on the web that tells what power supplies are "approved" for their systems. It's possible they sold you a used or refurbished one that's giving up as it gets hotter.
3rd normal fix. How bout different stick of memory. Bad memory gives fickle/intermittent problems (like your discription)
Post back and give your results, maybe you'll get one of the real "doctors" here, later.

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A man persuaded against his will, is of his old opinion still.

[ranchdog]

bjam... Can you get back with which MotherBoard the system has?
nim has you headd in the right direction. Possibly have a driver issue that needs dealt with. Luck.

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[bjam2]

I know that the cheapest stuff isn't always the best idea but all my mom does is play mah-jong and check her e-mail.

I tried the fan thing and it still froze. I tried different ram and different memory slots on the first motherboard with no change. I could email the company and see if the power supply is amd approved.

The motherboard is an ecs elitegroup K7VZA as far as I can tell.

If you get it started then shut it down and try to start it up within a couple minutes it will usually start right up. It's like a car it has to get warmed up??????

[chennai]

Bjam2--I just bought a new Win98se system and am having exactly the same problems you describe, at least as far as the system freezing up consistently during a cold boot at the Windows splash screen. It always reboots fine when the reset button is pushed or when it's powered off and then back on right away. One of the suggestions I tried (which unfortunately didn't work)was extending the boot time by disabling Quick Power On Self-Test in BIOS, the idea being that the hard disk needed more time to spin up and get ready to be accessed. The computer vendor (NexGen)now thinks the problem is either a bad power supply (they're sending me a replacement) or a defective hard disk. I don't know whether any of this will help you with your system, but the more information you have, the more likely you are to solve your problem.

[bjam2]

I tried the quick power on self test thing and it seemed to have helped. It will freeze the first time but usually start after I press restart the first time.
Any other ideas?