Freezing up in Bios ???

[Grumper]

Hey Guys,

I have a friends computer to look at and his complaint is that freezing takes place with win xp pro installed at random no set pattern--some times the screen freezes [ video stays on] other times screen goes black either way the only way out is to reboot keyboard and mouse dont work---Now I just started the machine and went into bios, went here and there and it froze in bios after about 15 min.and I had to reboot.The computer does not shut down power wise the fans and all that still run.

When its running its fine, not a killer machine and its not meant to be. You can word process, surf all the mundane stuff.


The Computer is a 1999 vintage IBM Aptivia
256 MB SDRAM
Pent III
ASUS AGP Video Card 64 MB
D-Link Ethernet card
DVD Rom
CDRW Drive
20 gig maxtor 5400 rpm ( sounds a little noisy and clicky)
intergrated audio

Here is what Ive done

Checked the MOBO form any bulging capaciators nothing seems fried--I air blasted the insides.

All cables, memory, CPU, Video and ethernet card have been removed and reset

I set the BIOS to default [a shot in the dark]

Any Help as always is appreciated----Paul

[Whyzman]

Freezing in the BIOS...Whew...kinda nice to be right at the beginning of things!

Were you able to get to the temps in the BIOS before darkness set in??

Random stuff like this before anything is really loaded surely points to a hardware problem...

Heat, RAM, Power...

Since it's happening so quickly I would suspect heat first...you might want to check the sink processor interface...

You could also try a RAM tester and see if any errors show up...

Power...swapping with a known good one is the quickest way to isolate...

[Grumper]

Well its been running for 4 hours and no freezing-----the one thing that I did that seemed to do the trick was to change the IDE 1 cable that went to the HDD----I ran it under a small load which isnt hard with a Pent III with 566 MHz and 256 Sdram all seems well. You never know with these "long in the tooth" computers---Im going to let it run all night and see what we have in the AM---Thanks Whyzman I`ll let you know how it went.

Grumper

[Whyzman]

I don't know that the PIII had thermal protection...with that in mind, I don't know that I'd let it idle unattended if it turns out to be the processor...

I'm not familiar with the the ins and outs of the PIII...

[Grumper]

Well it ran all night and no rebooting or freezing, so I guess the new cable did the trick---the CPU was as cool as could be this morning. I feel all 5-6 yr old computers should have the IDE cables changed, this is about the 4th time Ive had this event, and they always present differently--makes it interesting.

The HDD is a dog I will up that to an 80 gig WD, give it back to him and wait for the next glitch to happen, in this oldie but a goodie ??