MTM2.com

Here's the deal.

My secondary comp here, the one I was using as the mtmx server for a while, has been acting funny lately. Prime symptom is freeze ups. It began when running linux so I thought I'd reinstall windows, but the problem persisted. During the change, an old 2 gig hdd kicked the bucket and it actually prevented the comp from booting. No biggie, just chuck it. But the freezing continued. Meantime, I've been sharing the keyboard, mouse and monitor with my main comp, so I figured maybe it was the switch causing the problem so I went out and picked up a new one. No go, same problem. Next I took it completely apart, rechecked all the jumpers, cleared the bios, removed all non-essential parts and tried again. No go, same problem. I had been using the onboard graphics (intel 815) so I installed an old pci card. Same problem. I flashed the bios up, but it wouldn't run and had to flash it back to the original that was already in there. Then, once, when booting, the disk check went haywire with crossed linked and invalid files - after all the freezes and reboots it's probably not surprising. The maxtor site says sometimes a hdd can cause hangs but these are happening in the os, not in the boot sequence. Still, I used their utility to repartition and format the drive. During the xp reinstall, it froze three times before I gave up on it. I feel I've pretty much eliminated all variables except the hdd and the motherboard. The cd and floppies appear to be working, the mb recognizes all parts, the network card has shown no signs of malfunction, and everything appears to work at the dos level. And the hdd utility reported no errors. But someplace between that and the full operating system, linux and windows both, it hangs.

The mb is abit SL6 (P3 800 running 100mhz fsb)
The hd is maxtor 27 gigs.

Has anybody seen anything like this? I've already replaced a switch that probably had nothing wrong with it, and I don't want to try trial and error with mb and hdd but to tell the truth I've addressed all the usual avenues to troubleshoot this thing and have come up empty.

Input welcome.

It could be that the RAM is defect. How about switching RAM to check it out?

You could try to boot Knoppix, which is an OS that runs purely on CD and doesnt tutsh your harddrive. Knoppix has the tools to check your hardware. In case Knoppix hangs too, it has to be the RAM. If you browse the harddisk in Knoppix, and the harddisk crashes, the OS will keep on running from cd (and ram).

http://www.knoppix.org/
http://ftp.surfnet.nl/ftp/pub/os/Linux/ ... -17-EN.iso

I've tried the Knoppix live cd but it wouldn't load. It hangs during the boot up routine. As for ram, I have three pieces installed at 128 megs each for a total of 384. When it boots, all ram is detected and appears fine. I did, however, switch them around in the slots in case that might make a difference.... it didn't. Do you know of a diagnostic utility for testing ram? I could of course do the trial and error thing with one piece at a time but that's slow and hardly scientific.

Thanks.


[ edit ] uh oh, this just got harder.

http://www.kingston.com/tools/umg/umg08.asp

[ update ]

I ran a memory test http://www.simmtester.com/ and it passed. At least with this program it did.

I sent a note to kingston technologies, so we'll see if they reply.

Switching your ram from slots doesnt really matter. Best thing is to remove them all, and take a ram-slice from another working computer which will save you the hassle of checking all the current slices out in the machine.

www.memtest86.com

> memtest86.com

Ah ha! Progress. I'll let you know how it works out.

> Switching your ram from slots doesnt really matter.

For troubleshooting, it does. It changes the address of the bad ram. Even the memtest86 site describes a scenerio in which changing slots can be helpful. True, it doesn't get rid of the bad memory but it can, at times, change the behaviour that's being encountered. But no debate, that wasn't the problem here - not exactly anyway.

I heard back from kingston and they recommended memtest86 too, which is nice to get an added endorsement from the big memories guys.

So, here's what happened. I ran memtest86 and bingo it kicked out memory errors left right and center. I didn't allow the first pass to complete after several thousand errors were reported. Obviously, DocMemory is junk. Anyway, the next problem was to try and figure out which piece was the bad chip. I removed all sticks and put them back in one at a time and then tested. The first complication. They all passed I then moved a memory stick into the next slot and tried again. It passed. I then moved it into the last slot, and got some errors again. Different errors but errors nonetheless. So, looks like a bad slot. I put two pieces of memory in the good slots and managed to get xp installed. But the freeze ups continued, even tho there was no memory in the bad slot.

There was still the outside chance the power supply was to blame but this was looking more and more like the motherboard. So, I went out yesterday and picked one up. A bit tough too cuz nobody carries P3's anymore. At any rate, I'm happy to report my comp has been running trouble free for the past two and a half hours. Not an icicle in sight. The new mb is not as full featured as the old one but it'll do until it's time for an upgrade.

The only other thing of note is that the cpu heat sink was clogged up pretty heavily with dust and crud. I'm half a mind to think part of the problem was over heating. But enough. Looks like the problem is solved. This is only the fourth mainboard I've ever seen go bad, and of those it's only the second one to quit after a good long time of proper service. Who would of thought a memory problem that was actually the mb - sort of a counterfeit memory problem. No wonder it was a hard one to pin down.

Thanks for all your interest and input, Scrooch. Ya helped put an end to a long and frustrating problem.

Great to read your computer is ok now, I'm glad memtest86 gave some information.