it freezes and annoys its master

[reiner danzig]

Hello everyone! I have the following system:

AMD DURON 750 Mhz
MB ECS Elitegroup K7VZA KT 133/686B sound on-board
DIMM 256 MB SDRAM
HDD 10 GB Quantum
GeForce 2 MX 400 32 MB
CDROM Sony 52 X
internal modem Pine Group chipset Connexant soft 56K HCF R6793
case Genius Mars ATX power supply 235 W

operating system: XP professional (but same thing happened on win 95, so I don't think the OS has anything to do with it)

the system freezes from time to time, especially when i'm online (but not EVERY time). Recently I tried to play Half-Life and damn it, it freezes after 5 minutes or so.

I know it's difficult to exactly spot the problem, but I hope someone could help me with some suggestions...

[BigBlue66]

Hello,

First thing that jumps out at me is the wimpy power supply. You should probably have at least 300 watts.

Secondly, the modem is a software based modem, which means it uses system resources to function. You have two choices here. Either make sure you have the bare essentials running in the background when you use the modem and put up with the less than stellar performance, or purchase a nice hardware based modem. Almost all ISA modems are hardware based. I am not familiar with your particular motherboard. If you don't have any ISA slots, then the USR Performance Pro 56K PCI modem is a good choice. It uses its own onboard controller for modem functions.

As you're well aware, freezes are a pain in the backside to pinpoint. You may have some dodgy RAM. Can you swap in some known good RAM to try for awhile to see if that helps? What version of DirectX are you running? Have you ran diagnostics to see if there are any problems?

Do you do harddrive maintenance tasks on a regular basis? Such as scandisk and defrag?

Check AMD's website to find out the minimum power supply requirements for the Duron 750. I always thought it was 300 watts. Could be wrong.

Good luck in troubleshooting the problem. My two ideas are larger PSU and a hardware based modem. Oh, and make sure there are no issues with DirectX. Hang tight for more opinions.

Cheers,

BB 66

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This space reserved for highly intelligent observations and witty remarks.

"Once I thought I made a mistake, but turns out it was the other guy."
Myself

[hiredgoonz]

Agree with BB66, 235W is definitely cutting it close (AMD has some approved 250W PSUs, but nothing lower) but you only have one hard drive, one cdrom and your video card probably doesn't have a fan on it. So unless you have several (more than 3) case fans I would as much suspect an overheating or bad power supply, or an overheating processor...

Is there any way to monitor cpu temperature in the BIOS? If so, then I would recommend using Motherboard Monitor 5 to do the same within windows...if your temps are close too or exceed 60C, then you may be running to hot...

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When all else fails, read the instructions.

[reiner danzig]

First of all thank you both for the informations and advices.
My current modem (or better said modem wannabe) is a PCI one. You are the 2nd person who tells me to get rid of it, and I think more and more seriously of buying a good external US Robotics.
I don't think RAM is the problem, but after all, who knows?
As for DirectX, I'm running (it actually runs itself) the version that came with XP (I guess 8.1 or something)
I can check up CPU temperature in BIOS when I power up the computer, press DEL and enter bios, but I don't know how to find out what the temperature is after, say, 30 minutes of functioning...
I looked up AMD Duron Processor Recommended Power Suppliers on their web site and indeed, most PSUs were 300 and above, with 2 or 3 at 235 and quite a lot at 250. Hm...

[bassman]

Hey Reiner,
Sounds like your on the right trail with the PSU.
I would like to add- check your resources while this is happening (obviously not when frozen, but before, while online or gaming). How many programs are you running in the background? Might go into "msconfig" and shut a few things down.

Good luck and let us know http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

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Waiting patiently for the future to arrive. Frank's Place (http://dreamwater.net/tech/frankscomp/)

[Gallaeglagh]

To check your processor temperature simply reboot at any time and enter the bios.

Since the problem happens usually when your online the modem would be a good guess.

Does this occur when offline, if so how often?

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"Mr President we must not allow a mineshaft gap!" - Dr Strangelove

[mjc]

I believe that MBM (http://mbm.livewiredev.com/news.htm) (Motherboard Monitor) will support your board/chipset...so you should be able to use it to monitor your temps without having to reboot.....

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[ranchdog]

Don't mean to add to the creation of more confusion
Big Fellow.

Are you running a good set of chipset drivers for your
VIA based Mboard? (VIA 4in1).

Also, a good set of Detenator drivers for the GeForce 2?

Does your PC have a habit of trying to re-boot itself? If so,
definitely go for a new PSU.

Generic brand RAM just can't make it. You might pull a stick
and see how it's labeled.

Cool that CPU and GeForce down as much as possible. Case temps
mean a lot. Try running with side covers removed for a while
and see if there is an improvement.

This Link is a good place to browse with ECS problems. http://www.amdmb.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=24

Luck.

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....How long is a minute... depends on which side of the Bathroom door you're on. ......
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[This message has been edited by ranchdog (edited 02-16-2002).]

[reiner danzig]

Ok, I entered the bios and found out that "current CPU temperature" was 35 to 37 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) degrees, with a "current system temperature" of 32 Celsius (89 Fahrenheit). I wouldn't deem it too hot.
Indeed, it happens mostly when I'm online; the only two times that it occured when offline were while I was playing "Half Life" (which XP doesn't seem to like too much, btw).
My PC never rebooted itself (and I hope he'll never do this to me :-) )
Yes, I have the most recent Detonator drivers installed.
No, I don't have any other chipset drivers for the mainboard than what XP automatically provided for me. Probably I should get'em and not rely solely on XP...

[reiner danzig]

One more question, my friends: I plan to buy a CD-Writer, I thought TEAC cd-W524E would be a good choice considering quality/price. Now, what I want to know is: would I be able to add this CDW to my current system configuration that has this 235 W PSU or it would be mandatory to go grab a more powerful PSU anyway?

[mjc]

Yes, probably be a good idea to grab the latest chipset drivers.


I would go with at least 250W, if nothing else, just to be on the safe side...I never heard of a problem occuring when you had a power supply that was able to provide more power than you needed.


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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.