Member Avatar for si_clarke

Hiya guys...bit of a strange problem here; sort of making me hit my head on the wall multiple times an hour. Anyway...

Comp Specs:

AMD Anthlon 1 GHz
128mb SDRAM PC133 DIMM
30 GB Western Digital HDD
Windows XP Home
UWAVE m/b (It’s a Compaq system)

Right the problem...

Back in March time the computer intermittently froze, without any reason why...so I cleaned it out a bit, as it was extremely dusty. After that it worked... and it was running for over 41 days, I really thought I’d cracked it. Not that lucky though...

On Sunday night it ''froze'' again, no explanation to why. Doesn’t matter what the computer is doing at the time, and nothing is displayed in the error logs either. Now since then it hasn't stopped freezing, intermittently every single day. Sometimes it can go for 4hrs... Sometimes 1... And sometimes a freeze is just instant from boot. I cleaned it out again the other day, but this time it hasn't cured the intermittent freezing.

My diagnostic on the problem would be the RAM or maybe overheating... would you agree? (Confused to how it can run for 41 days though…)
Reason I ask is that I have no spare hardware here, and I don't want to be going out and spending money on new hardware if I’m not 100% sure it will fix the problem. Just posting to see what you guys think... and if you have any other ideas to what the problem may be.

-Simon

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Dani AI

Generated

Quick practical plan before buying parts.

Good instincts from (heat) and (memory) — both are common causes. For , the most cost‑effective route is to run a few non‑destructive, prioritized checks that will point to the failing subsystem.

  • Backup important files now (external USB stick or burn CDs). Intermittent freezes can precede complete failure.
  • Run a bootable memory test from a clean environment. Use MemTest86 and let it complete several full passes; a single error there usually nails RAM as the culprit.
  • Boot a Linux live CD/USB and leave it running for hours. If the system still freezes outside Windows, that strongly indicates hardware (not drivers).
  • Check power rails and caps. Measure +5V and +12V with a meter or read voltages in BIOS/monitoring utility; acceptable ranges are roughly 4.75–5.25V and 11.4–12.6V. Inspect the PSU and motherboard for bulging or leaking capacitors (see the capacitor plague history).
  • Run the HD vendor’s offline test (WD diagnostics) or chkdsk /r from recovery to rule out drive corruption if freezes coincide with disk activity.
  • Reset BIOS to defaults and, if available, apply the latest Compaq/HP BIOS update. If you can borrow a known‑good stick of RAM or PSU, swap them to confirm without spending.

If MemTest86 reports errors, replace RAM. If voltages are unstable or caps look damaged, the PSU or board is the likely cause. Take antistatic precautions when handling parts. These steps will narrow the fault so spending is targeted rather than speculative.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

The answer is in your post =(It’s a Compaq system)!:) LOL
Just kidding ,it maybe heat,this time of the year its gets hot in my house and even hotter in the tower,mine shut down the other day and wouldn't restart untill it cooled down a bit !
Or it could be ram.

Member Avatar for si_clarke

The answer is in your post =(It’s a Compaq system)!:) LOL
Just kidding ,it maybe heat,this time of the year its gets hot in my house and even hotter in the tower,mine shut down the other day and wouldn't restart untill it cooled down a bit !
Or it could be ram.

lol could be that its a compaq..... anyway

Heat isn't an issue really, CPU is running stable @ 40c when it crashes..the case has been open, breeze coming through the window.. and it still froze. I've got two chips of SDRAM in the post for friday... what do you think the chances are of that fixing the problem?

Member Avatar for caperjack

50/50 maybe

Member Avatar for Civilian

I had the same problem as you with the sudden freezing with no seeming pattern to it, i narrowed mine down to a bad stick of ram, remove all but one stick of ram and see if it happens again, if it does switch out that stick with another boot and see what happens. Hope it helps

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