PC Halting, please help!

[mmp121]

Okay, I have been trying to resolve this issue by myself now for nearly 2 months. Its finally got the better of me and I am turning to everyone here to help me out.

First off, I am talking about Titan (see my sig). If you need any more details of the hardware, please let me know.

Software
MB BIOS - 1.9 (just updated it last night)
RAM settings - By SPD (I can try different settings, but not till I get home)
RAM Voltage - 2.60V (upped it from 2.50V based on this)
OS - Windows XP Pro with SP1
Video Driver - Catalyst 3.5 & ATI MMC 8.5

Now for the problem. The PC has been exhibiting (pretty much since I built it) a problem with stability. By this I mean it halts (no blue screen no nothing) just a frozen screen (no mouse or keyboard activity). However the bizzare part is that over the LAN I can still access the shared / mapped drives and still FTP to it as if it was still running. However the graphical end of it dies. And if I press alot of keys or move the mouse alot (~30 seconds continous) the PC beeps as if its input buffer or something is full.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

[The PIT]

Msi and corsair recommend 2.75v for memory. Just to let you know.
What bios settings are running?? Slow fast or turbo. If running turbo or fast drop down to slow.
We're also on Cats 3.9's now so thats another avanue. What power supply are you using???

[mmp121]

Well, if the 2.60 volts does not lead to a solution, I will increase the voltage. I feel nervous about higher voltages on the RAM, as I don't want to go too high.

I left out the BIOS timings on purpose as I didn't know if that would be of any help, but I have it set to SLOW.

I was going to upgrade to CAT 3.9 but there's a bug in its OPENGL and AIW cards, so I'll just wait to 3.10 (coming soon anyhow).

I'm wondering if the VPU reset feature that came out in 3.8 would help me.

I'm running with an Antec TruPower 430 PSU

[TransformX]

Did you try reseting your computer to bios-defaults ?

How is the grounding in your house ?

[mmp121]

Yes I've tried BIOS Defaults (that's what I did right after this 1.9 BIOS updated last night).

I live in an apartment, so I can't say how the grounding is. All I can say is that the thing is plugged into a surge protector. When I do get a house I'll probably get an UPS or something that also keeps the line's signal noise clean.

[Wombat]

Re: PC Halting, please help!

Originally posted by mmp121
Okay, I have been trying to resolve this issue by myself now for nearly 2 months. Its finally got the better of me and I am turning to everyone here to help me out.

First off, I am talking about Titan (see my sig). If you need any more details of the hardware, please let me know.

Software
MB BIOS - 1.9 (just updated it last night)
RAM settings - By SPD (I can try different settings, but not till I get home)
RAM Voltage - 2.60V (upped it from 2.50V based on this)
OS - Windows XP Pro with SP1
Video Driver - Catalyst 3.5 & ATI MMC 8.5

Now for the problem. The PC has been exhibiting (pretty much since I built it) a problem with stability. By this I mean it halts (no blue screen no nothing) just a frozen screen (no mouse or keyboard activity). However the bizzare part is that over the LAN I can still access the shared / mapped drives and still FTP to it as if it was still running. However the graphical end of it dies. And if I press alot of keys or move the mouse alot (~30 seconds continous) the PC beeps as if its input buffer or something is full.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

See if you can install VNC on it. Then you can find out what's going on if you can log in remotely.

[mmp121]

Actually VNC is installed on it, but it won't work. Perhaps it won't because the graphics sub-system goes down when it "halts".

Pinging the machine on the LAN works. This is such a perplexing problem.

[Marshmallowman]

Try it in VGA mode and no AGP driver for a while...if it still does it I would seriously think about swapping out hardware...eg video/mobo/ram

I take it you have done some good memmory testing, eg running memtest for an hour or two?

[agallag]

This may be too obvious, but does your video card have a fan on it? If so, is it still spinning?

[mmp121]

Originally posted by agallag
This may be too obvious, but does your video card have a fan on it? If so, is it still spinning?

Good point, I'll have to check that.

Some time last night the AIW card gave me an error and dropped the screen resolution down to 640x480 and 16 color (not 16-bit color).

I've had that happen before, and I've tinkered with the ATI AIW's SmartGART or whatever its called settings before. Apparently my tinkering is not helping much. I wish i KNEW what the problem was so I could try fixing it.

Thanks everyone for your idea's so far, keep em coming!

BTW, is there any software that can tell me if the ATI AIW FAN is spinning or not?

[mmp121]

Originally posted by Marshmallowman
I take it you have done some good memmory testing, eg running memtest for an hour or two?

I've run MEMTEST 3.0 (all 11 tests) once. With the ram at the slowest settings (3-3-3-7) and Slow in BIOS.

No errors no nothing. I could if you think it would be prudent, run the test in an endless loop for a few hours. Should I change the memory timing settings before doing another test? The ram is supposedly capable of 2-3-2-6. Should I set it at SPD and see what happens?

[The PIT]

Try the 3.9's as theres a fix for the AIW cards now.
If still no differance clean install and see what happens. Still no go start removing disabling devices and run with just the card in. Still no go buy a cheap card and see if that runs okay. I presume theres nothing in event viewer I presume.

[Kooldino]

If the new drivers don't work, try throwing linux on one of those drives to see if it's hardware or software that's hanging you up.

[stcynic]

To add to the list of obvious suggestions. Try reseating the video card. Other cards and memort too if that does not work.

I do not know anything about software to monitor the AIW fan, but you could run with your case off to see if the fan is spinning (even more obvious stuff for you).

When the screen locks up, can you turn the keyboard's numlock light off and on.

Definately try Marshmellowman's suggestion of running in VGA to eliminate the ATI drivers as the cause.

Good luck!

[Helevitia]

Wierd, I replied to this thread soon after you posted to it, but I guess it didn't take.

Anyway, what I was trying to say the other day was, isntall cat3.8 or 3.9 and turn on VPU recover. You may find that the video chip is hanging and causing your problems. VPU recover will tell you. The benefit is, your system will probably continue to run since the whole idea behind VPU recover is to reset the graphics chip in this kind of situation. I've had it recover my sytem once and it worked quite well actually. Also, turn off AGP Fastwrites.

Dave

EDIT: I just noticed that you mention VPU recover. Just upgrade and install the hotfixes for the OGL issues.

Dave