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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Fix my computer!
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Steve Kraus
Film God
Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000
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posted 10-17-2002 10:13 PM
I've always had good luck with buying generic PC's so this past December I bought a new system from a firm (Cyber Power) a friend recommended. He said I'd get more bang for the buck with a AMD system and recalling a 486 system I had with a non-Intel chip I went that route. Cyber Power is vendor where you configure your own system. I ordered mine sans OS. They assembled it and formated the HD. I installed W98/SE when I got it.AMD Athlon XP-1900+ CPU
Shuttle AK31A KT-266A 4X AGP motherboard
512MB PC266 DDR RAM (2 * 256)
Leadtek Geforce-2MX 400 64MB Video
HD Maxtor 40GB 7200 RPM UDMA 133 Harddrive
Creative Labs SB Live 5.1 OEM Sound
USR 56K V.90 HW PCI 2676 OEM Modem
ARTEC 16X DVD-ROM EIDE
case/fans/keyboard/mouse etc. To the above as-built config I added my CD/R/RW burner and the network card for DSL. The problem I have is that it crashes or locks up constantly. Several times on some evenings. And in many different ways. Programs crashing over and over til reboot. Blue screens of death. Total lockups. Or lockups where the mouse still moves but nothing else. A friend said maybe it was inadequate cooling. I said heck, I'm running with all the covers off so probably not that! So what can I do with this thing? How can one diagnose it to find out if it's a hardware problem or some weird software problem. I've reloaded the OS several times. I really don't want to switch, especially not to XP. Are there tiny incompatibilities with the AMD chip? What should I do? I'm considering scrapping it and starting over.
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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster
Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-17-2002 11:06 PM
What brand of RAM, not speed, and was it really good high end RAM, or just some generic stuff? And is it really capable of operating at that speed? Alot of RAM out there is very inferior, some I think is even partially damaged when you get it, possibly by static, possibly the dealer just got sent some lower quality stuff, or reject stuff by his distributer. The dealer can never tell unless he can test each stick before it goes into his stock. Very little new hardware goes to waste! That NEVER happens except with high end RAM. ALSO, and this is a BIG ALSO. Many dealers will re-sell you returned components that were returned as defective, tested and they felt it was ok and put back into stock. However, they may not have tested say a CPU under the same conditions, running the same program that was going down, etc. I've been told by many IT techs that this is VERY common. One large computer retailer here in SLC does this. I used to buy from them and was sold a returned CPU once. It was obvious as it still had traces of heatsink goop on it. Got a refund on it and never went back there. Its hard to know when this is going to happen, its inexcusable, but its alot more common than you might think as these dealers sometimes have a 5% or less profit margin!!
You can download programs such as SiSoft Sandra and others that can measure bandwidth of your memory, performance of your CPU, and other hardware in your computer. I had similar problems with an AMD machine I built on an ASUS mommieboard. All it took was some really good quality RAM, in this case I put in Micron, and it never locked up again except in very rare cases. I also stayed away from AMD after this experience. Have not had any major probs with any Intel/Asus, or A-bit based machines I've put together. There may be those of you that want to support the underdogs as far as CPU's, motherboards, and other hardware but in the last 4 years I've built way in excess of 100 computers and have found that its best to stick with name brand hardware.....I.E.: IBM hard drives, Intel CPU's, A-Bit, or Asus motherboards, etc. Doing so makes things alot more reliable in the long haul. Saving a bit of money on hardware here and there now may only end up costing you much more in the long run with the troubles that will creep in. Many software engineers insist on Intel CPU's for instance as their software is written around the functions of the Intel CPU's, and what it can and cannot do. The SLC area is a major software design center, and at computer trade shows I have had this Intel/Asus feedback on several occasions from software designers. As a state, last year, Utah had more PC's per person than any other state in the country. Don't ask me why though.........
Most of my computer problems have been bad hard drives, or OS related problems. Rarely a computer based problem. The machine I am typing on now is 3 years old. Dual 1 ghz P3's and running XP Pro. BTW, you are only using half the computing power available to you with that OS. Runbning a 32 bit system CAN make things alot more reliable overall. Some of your software is probably designed to run under a 32 bit based system. Its not about speed, which does increase normally, but just about reliability, crunching lots of data without crashing. In my case mainly large photographic files, sometimes approaching 100mb per image. Even these photographic files though are small today. But this dual P3 machine never crashes. It also runs 24 hours a day, is in a server case with beefy supply, and has way too many fans and too much Utah desert dust it it.
Mark
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Sam Hunter
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 779
From: West Monroe, LA, USA
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 10-17-2002 11:19 PM
I would be laery of the interaction of the Video card and the sound card. Also, Mark may have a point in the memory. Check your Bios setup closely.
I have had no problems running AMD as I have a very similiar setup to yours. I run a AMD Athlon 850 with a Geforce video card and 512MB of ram. Changing your operating system will not help you out. It is a hardware issue for sure. Try running your PC in protected mode that you can selectively tell it which driver to load and see what happens. Somewhere in Win98 there is a log that tells you what happened and where and gives you technical details about it which sometimes will help you out. I just cant remeber what it is.
Anyway, good luck with it.------------------
Samual Hunter Sr. KC5ZSL
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