Random freezing - power problem?

[Big Red S]

Morning all.

I posted on here a while back about me having problems with my PC freezing seemingly randomly (it'll freeze anywhere from startup logo to shutdown logo, whether it's thinking or not) and was told it was probably because i've underpowered it. I've now put a bigger PSU (350W) in, and it still does it. Setup is:

P4 1.7 w/fan from old compaq machine
Shuttle m/board
Seagate system HDD, Maxtor slave HDD.
Radeon 9200 graphics
Sound, network, usb etc. are onboard

Win XP Pro corp. SP2
Latest BIOS
Latest graphics driver
Latest m/board drivers

It'll freeze in Safe mode, and with every combination of selective startups i've tried. Sometimes it'll freeze while i'm reading a webpage, sometimes while i'm working on a drawing, when Ad-aware's scanning or when i've left it on for a couple of hours idle. Also seems to manage it when on standby - just refuses to wake up.
No warning box or anything comes up, but the keyboard and mouse stop working, and the taskbar clock stops.

Any ideas?

[Whyzman]

Would you run the harddrive diagnostics and let us know if it finds anything? These can be downloaded form the harddrive manufacturer's website.

Also, you might want to run a RAM tester: http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, have you tried monitoring the temps in the BIOS?

[Big Red S]

HDD diagonostics don't find anything.

How do i monitor the temps while it's running? I can see them if i go into the bios on startup, but i don't know how to monitor them while windows is working.

I can't persuade my comp to recognise the floppy for the memory test. Do you know of any windows based ones? If not, i'll borrow a CDRW from someone...

[Sylvander]

You might want to try this
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434

[pop pop]

Smells like memory. Do as Whyzman says and run memtest86. Let it run for a good long while. Be SURE you run it per directions (generally from a boot floppy, do NOT attempt to run under Windoze, in a DOS window).

If it's not RAM or temps, mobo may be suspect.

[david eaton]

P4 1.7 w/fan from old compaq machine

Does that refer to the P4 and fan, or just the fan?

Has the heatsink/fan been refiltted with new thermal compound?

[Big Red S]

Both Fan and CPU are from the same old machine. Just checked (my brother put it together for me) and there's no new thermal compound. Will do that.

Just installed Linux (friend came round with a CD and i've been meaning to install it for a while) and it still freezes in that, which in my mind excludes software problems?

I'll redo the CPU/heatsink and do what i can to get memtest to run, then i'll get back to you.

Thanks!

[Whyzman]

Windows Installation
For windows installation begin by downloading either the Pre-Compiled Windows package to build a boot-able floppy disk or an ISO (zip version) to create a boot-able CDROM. After the file is downloaded an extract must be done to uncompress the file(s). To extract right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract All" option. The extract option will let you choose where the files will be extracted to. To build a bootable floppy go the the folder where the files were extracted and click on the Install icon. The floppy disk will appear to be unformatted by Windows after the install is complete.

To build a boot-able CDROM use your CD burning software to create an image from the un-zipped ISO file.

Since Memtest86 is a standalone program it does not require any operating system support for execution. It can be used with any PC regardless of what operating system, if any, is installed. The test image may be loaded from a floppy disk or may be loaded via LILO on Linux systems. Any Unix, Windows or DOS system may be used to create a boot floppy or bootable CDROM.