Author Topic: Hard Lockup and Disco Problems (Read 331 times)

Gremlin · « **on:** August 21, 2003, 07:08:34 AM »

Since Ah V 1.04 I have had an annoying problem with hard lockups. Basically for no apparant reason the screen locks solid, no input has any effect even ctrl-alt-del doesnt work, i.e. the PC freezes solid. Since this problem started way back in 1.04 I have replaced my PC twice, eqach time hoping the problem would go away.

Now my second problem. I got ADSL last May and even though its been giving me pretty solid connections (generally) for some inexplicable reason I keep getting sqitched to TCP the discod every couple of hours. There isnt any warning, the net stats look completely flat prior to the event happening.

Now my third (and last) problem. When I switch arenas in AH I always get switched to TCP. I have to reboot the machine before i can connect to another arena after being in a different arena for any period of time.

Heres my system specs;
AMD XP2400 CPU
Asus A7V266 Mobo.
512MB PC2700 RAM
GeForce 4 128MB graphics card.
80GB Seagate barracuda 7200rpm ata133 HDD
No Virus scanner enabled.
Zone Alarm Pro enabled (I've tried uninstalling ZAP but the proplems persists.) ZAP allows AH access to all ports.
RADSL 512MB connection with DLink 300G adsl modem.

Any help/suggestions and/or immoral offers would be much appreciated:)

~~Gremlin.~~

FOGOLD · « **Reply #1 on:** August 21, 2003, 09:48:56 AM »

I had similar problems with seemingly random hard lockups. I blamed everything. Then I discovered my PC was getting too hot. Try running with the side off and an office fan pumping air in. If all is stable, buy another case fan. AMD processors are particularly bad for this. They won't lock up except in games. I have a fancy alloy case with 2 exhaust fans and it was still getting too hot. Put a case fan in pushing air in and no problems for 6 months or more.

Try this first, not like me who blames AH, drivers, reinstalled windows, blamed hotas cougar up down all around. Sound drivers blah blah 4 in 1 drivers. What a nightmare it was. Check temp before you go doing all the other stuff everybody tells you. Athlon should be below 50oC. Watch chipset temp too.

Don't know about the other problems.

Good luck:D

bloom25 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 23, 2003, 12:18:16 PM »

It's good advise to open up your system every 6 months and blow all the dust out and do a visual fan inspection.

I can't tell you how many times I've found processor heatsinks filled with dust or systems with no running casefans. On Athlons this will cause a hard lockup and on P4s the system will run like a dog because of clockthrottling.

BOTH newer P4s and Athlons generate an extreme amount of heat. The top end P4s actually output more heat than high end Athlons, but the retail heatsink and fan is better than some of the older AMD retail box coolers.

(It's interesting to note that the next Intel 3.4 GHz CPU (it might be called the P5) won't be released until late this year because it will output up to 103W as heat!!! Almost none of the current P4 supporting boards can provide that much power to the CPU.)

Nilsen · « **Reply #3 on:** August 23, 2003, 07:15:02 PM »

may i suggest watercooling?

oh i can.....

i suggest watercooling

Gremlin · « **Reply #4 on:** August 24, 2003, 01:50:04 PM »

Thanskd for the input even after a lenghty session on AH my sysprobe software only reports a cpu temp of 34c and mobo temp of 33c. I always have the side of the case open so I can always visually see the fans are spinning and not clogged.

I've just done a completely fresh reinstall of win2k. I normally do this every couple of months. The difference this time is I've made a huge effort to get the very latest version of every single driver, latest detonators, 4 in 1 even bios etc. If the hard lockups stop then ill make an image of the partition so that i can re-load it every couple of weeks!!

~~Grem.~~

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2003, 07:16:20 AM »

its been a long time but with my athlon- geforce combo, i had lockups out the buzoo. It wasnt the power supply it wasnt too hot, but what I had to do was install the via 4 in 1 drivers and set my agp transfer rate to 1x. I dont know if this is the max, but if yours is set higher, try 1x and see if it fixes the problem, then work your way up.

Gremlin · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2003, 07:48:30 AM »

Thanks, WhiteHawk I'll certainly give that a try.
1x is the lowest setting, my card can do up to 8x which it is currently set at.

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2003, 03:08:19 PM »

yes gremlin..try 1x. I bet thats the problem. Im not sure why but i had alot of problems with Athlon geforce AH combo, until i set my agp xfer to 1x. Then it was ok, i just cant believe that problem is still haunting people.

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2003, 06:07:07 PM »

Only the extremely old AMD750 (irongate) chipset required AGP 1x to work correctly. There are some older VIA chipsets that won't work right with AGP 4x enabled, but work fine at 2x.

Since this is Win2k, you might also try installing this:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871,00.html

On the right hand side of the page click the Microsoft Windows 2000 AGP patch link.