I recently aquired a Dell 8200 with a 1.8Ghz P4 and a 64MB NV20 video card. I formatted the hard drive and installed Windows 2000, including all of the updates.
The computer will randomly pause for anywhere between 5 and 45 seconds. During the pause the video will freeze - in addition the keyboard and mouse become unresponsive. Also the audio will loop, repeating about 1 - 2 seconds of audio repeatedly. After the episode completes the computer returns to normal for 5 - 10 minutes then it will pause again. The pausing seems to occur more frequently when the system is under load, for example playing HALO or other games.
I think the problem is with the CPU or the Video card - other thoughts would be welcome. I have run extensive perfmon reports on all of the subsystems while the pauses occur. What I have found is that all of the subsystems appear to be operating normally with the exception of the CPU. The CPU utilization drops to 0% during the pause, although the CPU queue still has work to be done. I am wondering if I have an overheating problem in either the CPU or the video card.
Has anyone run accross this or a similar problem? Any ideas on how to isolate it further?
Thanks in advance
Robert
The computer will randomly pause for anywhere between 5 and 45 seconds. During the pause the video will freeze - in addition the keyboard and mouse become unresponsive. Also the audio will loop, repeating about 1 - 2 seconds of audio repeatedly. After the episode completes the computer returns to normal for 5 - 10 minutes then it will pause again. The pausing seems to occur more frequently when the system is under load, for example playing HALO or other games.
I think the problem is with the CPU or the Video card - other thoughts would be welcome. I have run extensive perfmon reports on all of the subsystems while the pauses occur. What I have found is that all of the subsystems appear to be operating normally with the exception of the CPU. The CPU utilization drops to 0% during the pause, although the CPU queue still has work to be done. I am wondering if I have an overheating problem in either the CPU or the video card.
Has anyone run accross this or a similar problem? Any ideas on how to isolate it further?
Thanks in advance
Robert