Computer FREEZES at Bios

[marcoco]

My PC randomly freezes and restarts.
After investigating, I bought a new PSU 350W Solarmax.
I thought this fixed the problem, until this week it started doing it again.

Today, I disabled the 'quick power on self test' in the bios,
uplugged all the ide drives, and removed all the pci cards.
Sometimes I make it through the test without problems, and sometimes I randomly freeze
while scanning the memory.

I've run memory tests on another PC and they came out clean.
I've swapped the video card and the problem persists.

Looks like its either my mobo or my CPU, or something dumb like cords or connections.
I dont have another AMD mobo to swap out the CPU or vice versa.

If anyone has any ideas, please throw them at me.

System:
Mobo: Iwill KA266r
RAM: Crucial 256 ddr X2
CPU: Athlon Tbird 1000
Video: Nvidia Geforce3 ti500
PSU: Solarmax 350

 

[copyfixer]

Just a thought. Have you tried resetting bios on the mb?

 

[marcoco]

If you mean resetting the CMOS, yes.
If you mean updating the bios, then no. I am worried that it will freeze during the update process
which would then risk rendering my mobo useless.

I think I found the problem.. since there really wansnt anything left plugged into my PC, I unplugged the
PSU, blew out the invisible dust particles in the plug and reconnected it.. things seem to be fine so far.
Oh boy, all that work for a loose plug.

 

[marcoco]

It looks like I spoke too soon.

This solution only fixed the problem temporarily.
I dont know if it was just a coincidence that it worked after I unplugged/replugged the PSU from the mobo
or if it really physically did something. My computer still has random reboots and freezes.

When I wrote the original message, it was happening extremely often (5 min interval), now its doing it
but I get sometimes as much as a few hours before the next reboot or freeze.

 

[RemyCanad]

Do you think your Northbridge chip is overheating. I don't know what happens when one does but this could be it.

Do you think it could be something overheating? I am wondering this becuase once you took the time to unplug everything and then put it back in it might of cooled down.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Software testing of RAM is not the best way to
test it. No substitute for hardware checker.

Did you try the RAM in different slots?

 

[datallah]

It does sound like a potential RAM problem. Are you overclocking at all? You might be pushing too far.

If you have several DIMMS, try them individually to see if it is just one of them.

Your CPU or chipset might also be overheating, make sure all fans are working correctly and your heatsinks are correctly installed.

 

[marcoco]

As per your recommendation, I swapped the RAM into the unused slot.
PC worked fine all day yesterday.
Today, PC rebooted 4 times already. grrr!

My CPU is running at under 40C so I dont think that's the problem.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Are thre any particular apps that you are running when it freezes?
(ie. Antivirus, Firewall, Games, etc...)

 

[marcoco]

No. It is very random. sometime it freezes/reboots even before windows gets going.

 

[mechBgon]

Try a new PSU from a time-tested brand like Antec, Enermax or Sparkle Power, perhaps.