Freezy PC

Status
Not open for further replies.

jfwalls

Baseband Member
Messages
21
Alright, I've been plagued by this problem for months, and can't quite pin it down. I've got an intel d915pgn motherboard with a pentium 3ghz prescott cpu. I'm running 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistx ram, and have a Diamond x550 256mb video card.

What's happening is my computer tends to freeze up randomly, and when I restart I often get an error code of 2 beeps, a pause, then 8 more beeps. Now I've never been sure if the 2 beeps should be counted or not.

Anyways, 8 beeps is a memory error, and 10 is a video error. I thought the problem might be a video error from overheating for awhile, but I think I've pinned it down to the ram.

When I run the computer with just 1gig of ram installed into the first 2 slots I don't seem to have a problem. I've been running it like that for a few days now and no freezing.

I just put the other gig of ram in a while ago, and started playing a game, and bam! The computer freezes again. I restart a couple of times, get the error code, play the game again, and it freezes again.

It seems to do it more when I play a game, but not always. Sometimes I will run the computer all day and not have a single problem. Sometimes it will run for a week or so with no problem. Lately though it has been crashing constantly, no matter what program I was running it would freeze up within 10 minutes of starting windows XP. That's when I took out the ram and tried running it.

I've also switched the ram out to see if it was bad, but that didn't make a difference. I suspect it might be overheating, as my computer tends to run hot, but the freezing is so sporadic I can't be sure, and sometimes it gives me the error code when I first start it in the morning.

I'm pretty good with computers, and have always been able to troubleshoot a problem and solve it, but this one has been a real pain in the *** to figure out. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Test out your memory for errors, by using memtest86. You download the image off their site, and burn it onto a CD. Then you boot off the CD, and it will run automatically. Let it run for a few hours. If it reports several errors, then they are bad sticks.
 
I've got 6 different sticks of ram, I've tried them all in different configurations, and it always freezes. I don't think all 6 sticks, 2 of which were bought only 2 months ago would be bad.
 
Check your temperatures, to see if your computer is overheating. Use SpeedFan or Everest to monitor the temperatures.
 
It does overheat sometimes, but only when I play games. It does freeze more often when I play the games, but it also freezes when I'm doing nothing but surfing the internet, and sometimes even when it's been sitting turned off all night it won't start in the morning.

I've tried all the standard troubleshooting options, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when it freezes.

It would really help if someone could explain the beeps to me. It beeps 2 times, pauses, then beeps 8 more. I don't know whether the 2 beeps are like a warning and I should only count the 8, or if I should count them all which would be 10.

If I knew precisely which one it was then I could more accurately work on the problem. 8 beeps means a memory error, and 10 means a video error. The symptoms sometimes seem like it's a problem with the video, yet at other times it seems like it could be the ram.
 
Overheating. How is your airflow? Download Everest Home Edition, RightMark CPU Clock Utility, SpeedFan, or CoreTemp to monitor your temperatures. I'm thinking right now that it can be a defect in your motherboard.
 
It's an intel motherboard, so it's an intel bios, and it's up to date.

I have Everest, but I use the desktop utility that came with my motherboard to check on my temps because it has an alert system that will log whenever a sensor exceeds the set threshold.

Overheating is an has been an issue, but only when I play a game for an extended period of time. I'm already going to solve that problem soon when I buy a newer and better ventilated case. However, lately it's been freezing and crashing before the temps get too high.
 
I meant what kind of BIOS, as in Phoenix? Award?....To find out, use CPU-Z, and go to the mainboard tab. It will tell the BIOS brand there.
 
OK, I got it. Took a little searching to find it, but it's made by AMI, American Megatrends Inc. Hmm...I've never heard of them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom