Every 50-60 seconds, my whole system "hangs" for about 1-2 secs.... It's bugging me!!

[McRhea]

Right now, i've just rebooted for the 4th time since i've turned my comp on 1 hour ago. The reason? The system hangs... and it's VERY annoying. Every 50-60 seconds the whole system will freeze. The mouse will freeze up for about 1-2 seconds, and then everything will be normal again... And it's not just the mouse, it's the whole system that hangs.

I've noticed that the problem happens more often if i load up Age of Kings... the game hangs like that, and it hangs even after i've quit the game it hangs every 50-60 seconds.

It's like the system if trying to catch up... but why? I've got the latest drivers, and my comp is a high end system:

Pentium 3, 450 Mhz
128 Ram
10 gig's with 7 gig's free
Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64D Mixer
Millennium G400 32 Meg SH

With my old card, a Voodoo banshee, it NEVER gave me any trouble AT ALL! It loaded all games up very fast, and never lagged...
But since i've gotten the G400 it's been nothing but hangs, lags, problems with games.... the list is endless... i'm thinking of going back to my VooDoo Banshee! Unless you guys can help me.

I haven't overclocked the card at all, or my processor.

[Helevitia]

You probably installed a new program that is running in the background and polling info from your computer. Do a ctrl-alt-del and see what processes are running. Kill any non necessary processes and see if the problem persists.

Dave

[McRhea]

Nothing... it's still the same. And besides, why would my other card work fine, and the G400 really mess up? It doesn't make any sense!

[waxling]

A list of currently used IRQ's would be helpful. While your at it, what other hardware is installed? Be as specific as you can.

[Wombat]

Yes, let's see a list of interrupts, and a full hardware list.

[Zwisch]

Do you have a network card in there? It would seem related to that... If this is the case, do not log on the network and see if the problem persist.

[Zwisch]

... it could also be related to some hardware monitoring program that check CPU temprature and stuff like that...

[WayneHu]

Maybe you should reinstall your OS...

It was always my solution when I met this problem...

If you have Ghost, you can backup a bare Windows without any additional software... This is the fastest way that you can reinstall the entire system everytime and try to find out which software gets glitch...

------------------
Celeron 300P@558/2.0v, P3B-F, G400DH/32MB

[This message has been edited by WayneHu (edited 15 November 1999).]

[McRhea]

All right everyone... here's a list of IRQ's...

0 System timer
1 Standard 101/102-Key or
Microsoft Natural Keyboard
2 Programmable interrupt controller
3 (free)
4 Communications Port (COM1)
5 (free)
6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7 ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB
Universal Host Controller
9 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
10 Promise Technology Inc. Ultra66 IDE
Controller
10 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
11 Matrox Millennium G400 - English
11 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Win
11 Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64D
11 IRQ Holder for PCI Steering
12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port
13 Numeric data processor
14 (free)
15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15 Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE
Controller

How do i go about getting a full hardware list? Isn't that what i just got above?
One little other piece of information...
this computer is a Gateway... just letting you guys know... thanks for the help!

One more thing!! This "hanging" only happens after i've started AOK up. And it persists until i reboot... I went and tested on other games that i had, and none of them exhibited any problems... except that they started a little slower then they used to with my VooDoo Banshee card.

[This message has been edited by McRhea (edited 15 November 1999).]

[paulcs]

You have a bunch of devices piled up on IRQ 11, including a video board that typically doesn't like sharing. The good news is you have three(!) open IRQ's, and plenty of room for movement.

I think a good place to start would be to get your modem and soundcard off the IRQ your G400 is using.

There are several "IRQ experts" on the forum, and I defer to their greater knowledge of the subject. I don't know if this is the root of your problem, but it is the obvious place to start.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Bixler]

Promise has acknowleged a bug in their Ultra 66 drivers. Go to their website and get the latest version of their drivers and Bios.
http://www.promise.com/techsupport/Faq/u66.htm#q16

This REALLY sounds like it, cause the bug has to do with the card "polling" the HDD, and the interesting thing is, this fixed a problem I was having with my Marvel g200 and Creative DVD player, and neither one was even hooked to the Promise card.

New Promise Driver, and all is well.

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 15 November 1999).]

[RAB]

I had the same symptom and it turned out to be an IRQ problem even though the device manager did not show any conflicts. My problem was a NIC even though my G400 was on IRQ all by itself.

Here's what cured it. I moved my NIC to the slot closest to the AGP slot. This put it on the same IRQ as my G400, but no further problems.

You might try something similar. Delete your modem and sound cards from device manager, shut down, move them to the slots furthest away from the AGP slot and reinstall the drivers when Windows is restarted. (One problem I had was deleting both at the same time, so you might want to do them one at a time.) This should put them on lower IRQ's and hopefully resolve the unseen conflict.

RAB

Bixler answered the same time I did and makes sense. Your Promise card could be as fussy as my NIC. It might demand the highest IRQ it can get, like my NIC. So if the Promise drivers don't fix it, still move the modem and sound cards down a few slots and move the Promise up ahead of them (closest to the AGP slot) in the stack.

[This message has been edited by RAB (edited 15 November 1999).]

[Wombat]

I'd try moving the mouse down to IRQ3. I'm not sure if the SB minds being on IRQ5, but it's worth a shot.

[Walrus Bonzo]

I could be completly wrong. And probably am.

But have you even thought that it could be a virus?

Will

[McRhea]

K guys, i went and got the latest drivers from Promise for my Ultra 66... and i just installed them... everything seems fine, for now...

And how do you change the IRQ settings? I'd like to move some things off of that IRQ 11 port... it's a bit crowded...

If i have any more problems i'll let you guys know! I heard that groan!!!!!!!

Thanks a million, everyone here is great!