Computer Locking up!

[Buggyman]

Greetings,

I kinda on the embaress side about thisd problem.
I have a pretty good knowlege of the working of the Computer.. Mine I keep running sharp all the times.
But my wife computer is a differant story.. for the life of me I cannot figure out what's causing it to lock up. here are the basics;
It's a no name brand we built from the ground up.
It has a 750 CPU Duron proccessor.
20 GB hard drive
We have win/98se as the OS (it wouldn't accept Win2K)
we have over 300 megs of rams.
All drivers are current.
If you need more .. just let me know.

The problem?
It locks up after being on for a while (like 30 minutes or so)
It gives no warning it's about to lock up. it just freezes.

What we have done?
We formated it
We've disabled the onboard Sound card in the BOIS (that helped some)
We've removed all the unneeded programs from the Startup and bootup filles.
There is no conflict listed in any of the files.
The CPU fan works fine. In fact I put one of those turbo fans on it to see if it was just getting too hot. all that did was make it nosier.
When it locks up, the only way to restart it is to shut the main power to it off and on. The restart button doesn't work when it's in a locked state..
My thought is a Hardware conflict.
But I'm at lost to what the problem is.
If any of you can give me some suggestions I would appreciate it.

Thanks
Buggy

 

[Buggyman]

A little more info.
My wife says she thinks it's the IE6.0 browser. She said that once I disabled the sound card in the BIOS it did much better. But we she goes from one website to another then it locks.
I'm not so sure.. because when she was online here it locked up while she was posting a reply.
whatever it is.. it's driving me nuts!


Thanks for any suggestions..

Buggy

 

[lithium.]

Most of the time when a computer locks up it's a driver issue. You said win2k wouldn't install or something if you need help I can help you I have installed it on many systems.

 

[MSBS]

Hmmm.....after being on 30 minutes or so.......could be a power supply probelm or possibly the CPU is getting to hot. Just a guess. I have had a similar problem and it was the power supply. A new case with a bigger power supply fixed it right up.

 

[lithium.]

MSBS is right it could be the power supply I had to get a new power supply after I got my new p4 and overclocked it. It was crashing alot.

 

[aaron]

It could also be a matter of not enough RAM.

 

[Buggyman]

Humm... The power supply suggestion caught my eye now.

In what ways could it be a power supply problem?.. wouldn't it just turn completly off if the power pack was bad?

I did do one thing last night. I did a Windows Update and it showed an update for the VIA drivers. so I downloaded it and am watching that end.

The win/2k didn't like anything on her pc.. the harddrive.. nothing. so I abandoned that one quick.

I already put a Turbo fan on the CPU processor.. it did no good at all. just made it noiser.

Thanks for all you help.. maybe we'll track it down yet.

Buggy

 

[Buggyman]

oh I forgot...

320 megs of Rams...

Thanks

Buggy

 

[aaron]

Originally posted by Buggyman
In what ways could it be a power supply problem?.. wouldn't it just turn completly off if the power pack was bad?

it doesn't have to shut down to be the power supply. It could just be locking up from it. You could buy a new power supply that you know will be powerful enough for it and see if that works. Try taking it into a shop and see what they say. It will cost some money however.

 

[Buggyman]

Well.. the reason I said that part was interesting was that when it locks up.. you have to kill the main power switch to the PC. the reset button will not work.

Your right on the $$$.. it's almost cheaper just to buy a new Puter.

 

Buggy

 

[aaron]

Originally posted by Buggyman
Your right on the $$$.. it's almost cheaper just to buy a new Puter.

LOL... tech support is expensive.

Well.. the reason I said that part was interesting was that when it locks up.. you have to kill the main power switch to the PC. the reset button will not work.

I just asked my dad about it and said it has happened to him before. He said any computer place should test the power supply for free to let you know if it is good or not.

He just undid everything that was not needed and just kept booting it up and plugging one thing in at a time. (leave the main things in like the MotherBoard and a couple others) If you don't know much about comps. take it in after you get the power supply tested.

 

[Unimatrix]

naw...it ain't the power supply. One of the 1st things to go if your power supply fails is your CPU fan. BTW...just as a thought:

1) In your BIOS make sure that the temperature alarm is switched ON.

2) Are all your components nice and dust free? If not, get em dusted down..not hard mine you, just nice and soft.

3) Try swapping your graphics card over with your wifes.

4) Also when you format you fdisk it as well?

Uni

 

[Buggyman]

Well ..I am hardware savy.. Software leaves a lot to be desired.
Her PC doesn't have a setting in the BIOS for the alarm.
I make it a habit to blow out her pc anytime I crack the case.
In fact I did buy a new graphic card for here PC that goes in that new slot set up (mind is blank at the moment on the name) It would work at all. so I swapped the new one with mine. More on that later.
Lastly.. Yes I did FDISK it when I Formatted it. Because I changed the Partition. More on that later as well.
Gott run.. will be back later.
Thanks for all the feedbacks.
Buggy