# Pc Keeps Restarting And Freezing



## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

Hi, my mate was having some problems with her pc, she kept saying to me it keeps slowing down freezing and restarting, and once i got round to look at it i found hundreds of problems ranging from bad drivers, to low memory and a complete clutter of spyware and viruses, so i thought ok im gna format the hard drive and reinstall windows, she at the time had 256MB of ram so i recommended to her to upgrade it to 512MB of ram which we did and that made the pc faster, but after reformatting the restarts were still there and the pc still kept freezing, since that time the pc completely shut down and wouldnt load windows, so i reformatted it again and it was fine but still the random restarts and freezing returned. I'm not too sure what to advise to her now im completely confused, are the freezing and restarting two different problems? or inter-related? new formatted and clean version of windows xp with SP2 and all updates is installed, can this problem me software related? can itunes and java script cause problems? Before formatting her pc she used to get error reports after each restart relating to javascript because she has programs like limewire and other websites which are java based which could have caused restarts but what i dont understand is after formatting these error reports did not appear again and her pc
seemed fine but the random freezing and restarting still continued!! Her pc does also get quite hot when on for just a few hours so i advised her to keep her case open but still it freezes and restarts, does any1 have any idea what could be wrong?

PC Specs are:

AMD Duron 2.0GHZ
ASRock K7VM4 Motherboard
512MB RAM
MAXTOR 80GB HARD DISK DRIVE
GIGABYTE DVD ROM/CD WRITER COMBO DRIVE
64 MB ONBOARD GRAPHICS CARD
WINDOWS XP WITH SP2

Here are the motherboard specifications:

1.2 Specifications

Platform: Micro ATX form factor (9.6" x 8.6", 24.4 x 21.8 cm)

CPU: Supports Socket A (462 pins) for AMD AthlonTM / AthlonTM XP/ DuronTM processor

Chipsets: North Bridge: VIA KM400, [email protected]/266/200 MHz, AGP 8X/4X

South Bridge: VIA VT8235CE, supports USB 2.0, ATA 133

VGA: VIA UniChrome Graphics, Max. 64MB VRAM

Memory: 2 DDR DIMM slots: DDR1 and DDR2
PC2700 (DDR333) / PC2100 (DDR266) / PC1600 (DDR200),
Max. 2GB (see CAUTION 1)

IDE: IDE1: ATA 133 / Ultra DMA Mode 6;

IDE2: ATA 133 / Ultra DMA Mode 6;
Can connect up to 4 IDE devices

Floppy Port: Supports 2 floppy disk drives

Audio: 5.1 channels AC’97 Audio

LAN: Speed: 802.3u (10/100 Ethernet), supports Wake-On-LAN

Hardware Monitor: CPU temperature sensing;
Chassis temperature sensing;
CPU overheat shutdown to protect CPU life
(ASRock U-COP)(see CAUTION 2);
Voltage monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3V, Vcore;
CPU fan tachometer; Chassis fan tachometer

PCI slots: 3 slots with PCI Specification 2.2

AGP slot: 1 AGP slot, supports 1.5V, 8X/4X AGP card (see CAUTION 3)

AMR slot: 1 slot, supports ASRock MR card (optional)

USB 2.0: 4 default USB 2.0 ports and 1 extra set of header for two
additional USB 2.0 ports upgrade (see CAUTION 4)

ASRock I/OTM: PS/2: 1 keyboard port / 1 mouse port;
1 RJ 45 port; 4 rear default USB 2.0 ports;
1 VGA port; 1 parallel port: ECP/EPP support;

Audio Jack: Line Out / Line In / Microphone + Game port

BIOS: AMI legal BIOS; Supports “Plug and Play”;
ACPI 1.1 compliance wake up events;
SMBIOS 2.3.1 support;
CPU frequency stepless control
(only for advanced users’ reference, see CAUTION 5)

OS: Microsoft® Windows® 98 SE / ME / 2000 / XP compliant


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

How long since you blew the dust bunnies out of those fans, the heatsink and other areas of the case?????

Also, what is the wattage and brand name of the power supply. 

The third thing I would suggest is that you download and run this program and report the temps and wattages with fan speeds. That should help us to know more about your problem:

SensorView Pro 

http://www.stvsoft.com/download.php?id=122


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

so you definitely think its got to do with heat and nothing else? i'll get back to you with those temps and see if i can clean from inside a bit more, thanks for your advice!


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## Ralck (Dec 10, 2004)

One other thing to check, is download the utilities from the harddrive manufacturer and run these to check the disk for errors and problems.
Memtest86 is another good program to run to check the memory; run it overnight or as long as possible.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

yep i'll do dat aswel thanks


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

ok as soon as the pc has loaded, inside bios the CPU temp starts at 46C but almost straight away it goes up to 55C in a matter of minutes, and the motherboard temp stays at around 35/40C, the problem i had was i cleaned out the dust in the heatsink and around the CPU, turned the pc back on and windows failed to launch, i kept getting a blue screen, and when i tried to reinstall windows i got another stop message referring to non paged file area? or somethin like that, the hard drive at this time (only a few mins after turning the pc on) was very hot and the PSU smelled funny, any ideas now? im completely stuck i cnt even reinstall windows  The power supply is 300W and the brand is Macron.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

I suspect when you were in the case, you might have jarred some wire loose in there or moved something that is supposed to be connected. Just open up the case, go in there and make sure all wires are connected and secure.

In addition, that power supply is not a major brand and might be giving you trouble. While in the case, look for any bulging capacitators or burned places.

Post back with questions/concerns.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

all the capacitors on the mainboard and inside the power supply are all fine, no wires are loose i checked everything, should i put new thermal paste on after removing the heat sink? and should i buy a new and more powerful PSU? is 300W enough for this machine? thats wat it currently is, i thought a 450W would be better, wat does every1 else think? is it worth changing the PSU or waste of money?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

zaid786 said:


> should i put new thermal paste on after removing the heat sink?
> 
> If the cause of your difficult is overheating, this will help a lot if you use Artic Silver 5.
> 
> ...


 First of all, change the thermal paste, then run that program I gave you for temps and report back what it says. We can go from there.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

memtest indicates atleast 12 "badram" errors and 4 "individual errors" for the new 512MB ram stick, i ran the test for upto 3 mins and then it just froze! i also used powermax to test to maxtor hard drive and it passed all tests. I went back and checked CPU temp and once i turned it on initially the temp was 34C for the CPU and when i checked after all the tests it had rocketed to 57C!! ( the new thermal paste order has been placed lol)


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

UPDATE: (AFTER A LONG TIME I KNOW LOL): new ram now with it passing memtest 86, brand new power supply 450W, applied new thermal paste, cleaned out all dust so its completely clean, all temps are perfectly fine, reinstalled windows, and when installing SP2 or other windows updates the pc restarts by itself or gives a blue screen! the support on microsoft support is soo confusing and does not help! event viewer says this:

Error code 0000000a, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000001, parameter4 804ed882.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

When i click on the link i get this:

Details 
Product: Windows Operating System 
Event ID: 1003 
Source: System Error 
Version: 5.2 
Symbolic Name: ER_KRNLCRASH_LOG 
Message: Error code %1, parameter1 %2, parameter2 %3, parameter3 %4, parameter4 %5. 

Explanation 
A blue screen (Stop error) was reported. The message contains details about the error. A matching event with Event ID 1001 might also appear in the event log. This matching event displays information about the specific error that occurred.


User Action 
No user action is required.

I have no idea what this is or what it could be? im thinking a bad device driver but which one? how can i find out from those details?

I also get this error:

The performance counter name string value in the registry is incorrectly formatted. The bogus string is 1848, the bogus index value is the first DWORD in Data section while the last valid index values are the second and third DWORD in Data section.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Details 
Product: Windows Operating System 
Event ID: 3001 
Source: LoadPerf 
Version: 5.2 
Symbolic Name: LDPRFMSG_REGISTRY_COUNTER_STRINGS_CORRUPT 
Message: The performance counter name string value in the registry is incorrectly formatted. The bogus string is %1!s!, the bogus index value is the first DWORD in Data section while the last valid index values are the second and third DWORD in Data section. 

Explanation 
All performance counter names and explain text are maintained in string tables managed by the performance counter subsystem (Perflib).

The current contents of the performance counter string tables are corrupted and cannot be displayed. To correct the problem, rebuild the string tables.


User Action 
To rebuild the string tables, on the computer that displayed the message, at the command prompt, type Lodctr /r
The contents of the string tables are automatically rebuilt.

For more information about the Lodctr command, see Help and Support.



Version: 5.0 
Symbolic Name: LDPRFMSG_REGISTRY_COUNTER_STRINGS_CORRUPT 
Message: The performance counter name string value in the registry is incorrectly formatted. The bogus string is %1!s!, the bogus index value is the first DWORD in Data section while the last valid index values are the second and third DWORD in Data section. 

Explanation 
All performance counter names and explain text are maintained in string tables managed by the performance counter subsystem (Perflib).

The current contents of the performance counter string tables are corrupted and cannot be displayed. To correct the problem, rebuild the string tables.


User Action 
To rebuild the string tables, on the computer that displayed the message, at the command prompt, type Lodctr /r
The contents of the string tables are automatically rebuilt.

For more information about the Lodctr command, see Help and Support.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Currently there are no Microsoft Knowledge Base articles available for this specific error or event message. For information about other support options you can use to find answers online, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx. 

Please if anyone can help it would be much appreciated!!


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

1. There is a possibility that you are infected with a variant of the Sdbot virus. Please read this:
A diagnostic program may immediately close and you may receive a "STOP 0x00000050" or "STOP 0x0000000A" error message in Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, or Windows XP

2. If you confrim that you're Sdbot-free, then you'll need to perform Troubleshooting a Stop 0x0000000A error in Windows XP. You will need to Run *eventvwr *and look for matching events to the ER_KRNLCRASH_LOG, but with Event ID 1001 instead of 1003, and post them back.

3. Run *cmd *and type *Lodctr /r*


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

This just happened now:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0X0000008E (0XC0000005, 0X000000BO2, 0XECB254CC, 0X00000000)


Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further @ssistance.

and this:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0X0000008E (0XC0000005, 0X000000BO2, 0XF5C71F14, 0X00000000)

THIS HAPPENS 3 OR 4 TIMES IN A ROW..WHEN I GO TO LAST KNOWN CONFIGURUATION IT STOPS FOR A WHILE THEN STARTS AGAIN..


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

The 0x8E stop error could mean you need to update your BIOS. Please post back specific details on your BIOS version, your FSB setting and your exact RAM type.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

i just updateed my bios and it still happens, the bios version is P2.50 which is the latest according to the Asrock website and the ram is a Generic DDR333 512MB (166 Mhz) chip, where do i find out the fsb? :S


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

You are right, your BIOS version (v2.50) is the latest for this motherboard.
The FSB setting in this motherboard is controlled by a jumper called FS0.
The FS0 jumper is located just above the VIA VT8235CE chip. See image below:






It is a three-pin jumper. Check out its setting in accordance with the image below:






I believe it should be set to FSB200 for a Duron (pins 1-2 jumpered).
If this is the case, then you need a PC1600 (DDR200) memory module, while the one you have is DDR333.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

i checked the FSB its set to FSB333 :S should i change the jumper to FSB200? and then buy a DDR200 ram chip? will that solve the problem?


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

I agree with Zazula the duron needs to run at 200mhz and the ram should be set at the same speed for max system stability.

You could try to set the ram manually in bios, set it to 100mhz. But I think it only lets you go down to 133, if so try that

Its under the advanced menu>DRAM Frequency, if this is set to auto bios will set the frequency by the ram installed so try and manually set it to see if it improves anything


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

ye tried changing the DRAM frequency, i changed it to 133Mhz (the lowest setting) and i thought it worked for a while but then it froze twice in windows installation so i turned it off..


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

So, actually now we're facing the strange situation where your computer boots with a 256K RAM module that fails memtest, and does not boot with a 512K RAM module that passes memtest, correct?


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

yes thats correct, and also i placed the 512Mb ram chip in my pc (the pc with the problems is a different one) and it was on for 3/4 hours and i did everything with it, played ram-intensive games, watched a few videos etc etc, and i also did memtest86 in my pc with 5 straight passes and no errors!

EDIT: Also last night i retested the hard drive and it passed all tests again including a low level full format using maxtor's power max, and also i changed the cd-rw drive with a known working dvd writer and still the blue screen, and i also changed all of the ide cables but no difference, i also noticed that the pc has front audio and front usb wires on the motherboard so i removed them, and i also removed the floppy cable, and i also removed the PCI 56k modem from the motherboard, so all that was on the motherboard was a new dvd writer, the 512MB ram that passed memtest with atleast 10/15 passes, the hard drive which i tested, the brand new PSU, no floppy attached and no other wires on the motherboard apart from the power and the cpu fan ofcourse (which is working perfectly), i mean i dont know what else to do, do you think i have a faulty cpu or motherboard? replacing both of them could solve the problem right? Also the response from the motherboard manufacturer was extremely short and it seemed as if they didn't understand a word i said! btw the old 256MB ram is also DDR333 aswel as the new 512MB ram chip which is also DDR333.


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

OK, your computer used to be fully functional when it was set to FSB333, so keep this setting.

1. The BSOD in the bare-bones configuration is still this one:
*** STOP: 0X0000008E (0XC0000005, 0X000000BO2, 0XECB254CC, 0X00000000) ?

2. Your 512K RAM module passed memtest on this computer or on another one?

3. Have you tried powering up the bare-bones configuration with the 256K RAM module?

4. Does your motherboard give a BSOD every time you boot - or you can power on and nothing happens?

5. Do you see the BIOS loading OK with no error messages?


*Don't say die yet, we'll work this out.
*Don't expect the mobo OEM to be of any substantial help.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

1) no i get different blue screens aswell, i got a different blue screen with a different hard drive i tried and sometimes it freezes instead of a blue screen. (if i can upload images somewhere i can show u both BSOD pictures that i took)

2) 512K passed memtest on both pc's

3) yes tried the 256K that ram stick is damaged itself cause it failed memtest, how can i expect a positive result from it?

4) yes BSOD everytime during windows setup, not while i boot, either blue screen or freeze.

5) no error messages from BIOS

when u say fully functional..its been like this for a long time i believe, its my friends pc she tells me that it was like this for a long time..i used to think it was just the bad ram stick intially and heat problems but this has stretched so far!!


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

1. Images can be uploaded as attachments to your post. See "Additional Options" in the box beneath the "Reply to Thread". Include the BSODs of this current bare-bones configuration only (not the other HDD).

2. If the 512K RAM module passed memtest in this current configuration, then your motherboard was functional; i.e. it's not fried.

5. I believe this is an additional positive indication for your motherboard - the BIOS loads OK and then the Windows OS cannot successfully take over. You've got only the Onboard Video enabled, correct?


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

ok attached the image, yes onboard video card, i added an AGP graphics card which works in my sisters pc (a different pc) which i added to this pc and i still get the blue screen, so it cnt be the video RAM can it?


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

A. When you install an AGP video card, you have to enter your System Setup at boot time, change the Onboard Video setting to Disabled, Save Changes & Exit, and then Reboot. When you remove this card, you again will need to Enable the Onboard Video.

B. From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315335/en-us:


> When you install Microsoft Windows XP, you may receive a Stop Error message that is similar to one of the following while the Setup program is running:
> *STOP 0x0000008e
> STOP 0x00000050 PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA*
> 
> ...


So, have you tried both DDR slots in your motherboard?

C. Since now you've zeroed your HDD, can you then change the boot sequence to start from CD, insert the WinXP installation CD and perform a Windows Repair Installation? (If you need more advice on how this is done, please do not hesitate to ask. Moreover, if you're unsure about the correct settings while zeroing your HDD with PowerMax, ask as well.)


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

yes i've tried both slots, and yes i did what you said about the AGP graphics card, i've removed it now and its back to onboard, how can i perform a repair installation when the hard drive is empty? :S


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

Yes, my bad, I meant Clean Installation. But you said the Windows Setup will not move at all... I suppose I'll have to think harder, then...


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

yep, it sometimes it gives a blue screen jsut before formatting the hard drive, sometimes it does it when its copying files, even if it gets to 100% when it says saving configuration settings it just freezes  this pc is possessed i tell u!! lol btw do u have msn? would be so much easier to chat about this


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

If you've successfully formated and partionioned the HDD with the correct settings (NTFS for XPSP1 and later) via PowerMax, then the Windows should be installed straight away... at least this is how it went on my own Maxtors.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

this is a very strange situation..i really dont understand, can u think of anything else i can do before i replace the motherboard? lol


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Create this bootable cd and boot from it and run prime95 from it, this may not tell us much but all the tools you have been using such as maxtor and memtest plus a whole lot more are already on there so you will have it for the future.

Prime tests the ram, psu,mobo,cpu and heat related problems but it don't tell you witch component is bad. It don't test the video card or hdd although it does write to the drive

Run its torture test under options tab and choose "small FFT's"I am interested in how long prime runs. In my experiance if prime fails quickly on the test then there is a problem with the cpu.

But don't jump to conclusions based on this, just report back what happens and then I think we would need to review this entire thread and put are heads together


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

yep i have ultimate boot cd, and i did try and use it was really confusing lol but thanks for tellin me what to do..i'll give it another go

EDIT: ok i tried running bootcd but the prime 95 test isnt there? where can i change the options like u said and which one am i ment to run?

screenshot below:


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

It is not listed as prime95 it is called "mersenne prime test" on UBCD, the options are on the tabs once you get it running.

You may also want to try "stress cpu" (F4) just to see what happens but I have no knowledge of this test


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

this is what its like when running


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

and also i cant press anything during this test..cnt even exit it..its like that since is started it..i can only restart the computer using the restart button..how do i know its actually working?


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

Its working, see at the bottom "test 1" it should move on to test 2,3 ect. It should notify you if it produces a error, or the computer may freeze, you should be able to exit by hitting C if not the computer may be froze.

I am not familar with this test and can't get any info on it, try Mersenne Prime Test


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

thats the one im doing and i cnt exit using ctrl +c or ctrl+ alt + del, i have to restart the computer manually to exit..


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

i also wanted to point out..when i turn the pc on the cpu temp in bios is at 30C but after 3/4 hours its on 53C, thats not a gd sign is it? i've applied new thermal paste recently..


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

> thats the one im doing and i cnt exit using ctrl +c or ctrl+ alt + del, i have to restart the computer manually to exit..


I must have froze then.



> [i also wanted to point out..when i turn the pc on the cpu temp in bios is at 30C but after 3/4 hours its on 53C, thats not a gd sign is it? i've applied new thermal paste recently/QUOTE]
> 
> If it got up to 53C while at idle then thats a problem, are you sure you applied the paste correctly if you used to much it could do that


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

it wasnt on idle..i checked after using kill disc, or a maxtor tool or memtest..its not when its idle..ye i think i applied it properly..i did it once for practise and then removed it again and applied it again


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

i tried using stress CPU test but after a few seconds it does this:


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

Look, zaid786, I know most people stick to memtest, but I tend to prefer the MS diagnostic for RAM.
Could you please download the Windows Memory Diagnostic utility, create bootable media, change the boot sequence as needed and let it run for ~6 hours? Let's see if this 512K stick is for sure OK...

As far as the CPU test is concerned, I'm not familiar with it, we'll need Doby's input on that.


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

i've decided to upgrade this pc anyway, i've purchased a new motherboard and i'm buying a new CPU aswel, the rest of the stuff i'll use with it..thanks for your help tho, and i have used the windows memory test aswell along with all the other tests inside the ultimate boot cd..


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## scaffolderus (Sep 23, 2006)

*PC Keeps restarting programs closing*

My PC (XP) had begun to restart for no apparent reason and programs would close without warning. It began to behave really strangely. Things had gotten so bad that McAfee would only run for a few minutes before closing and not letting me complete a virus scan. I was going to scrap my 3 year old PC and start over. 

I could only stay on the net for a few minutes before my PC closed down. In one of these brief sessions looking for advice on how to detect the worm that I was certain I had, I came across your site and Tumbleweeds advice about dust....

I had the side panel off and, you guessed it there was more dust and fluff nside than in an industrial Dyson vac. 10 minutes later with an air blower and a brush and hey presto! 

Many thanks to you guys and Tumbleweed.

Cheers!


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## zaid786 (Jul 2, 2006)

topic can be closed, problem fixed!


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## Doby (Jan 17, 2006)

What was the fix?


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