Computer Lockups

[Astro33]

Recently the computer kept on locking up while I was typing up something in MS Word. I have no idea why. Occasionally the computer used to lock up once in a while during games and other applications. I thought it was the sound driver for SB Live value, which I did not upgrade but just used the one that came with XP Pro. I thought it was because of overclocking (it would not cold boot at 133+ FSB), so I made everything default which is just P4 1.6a. However, the lockups continued as I worked on my document. I don't understand why there would be lockups with no program besides MS Word running. I scanned for viruses with the most update NAV 2002 and nothing came out that seem to be the cause for system lockups. Could it be that previous overclocking has damaged my CPU? I checked the temperature and it never went above 49C-50C. I cannot believe this lockup problem is occuring again. I built this new computer because the same problem was happenning on the old system. The 'old' components that I am using for this new system is the sound card, NIC, mouse, keyboard, dvd rom, floppy, an 18 gig IBM hdd. Does anyone have any ideas? I am not even certain this is OS problem or hardware problem. One thing though, when lockup occurs, the USB MS Intelli Optical would shut off its lights. I am not sure if that will happen for any type of lockup. Not quite sure how the mouse power is regulated. If this is not the place for this help. Please let me know of a good place. I dont want to go to local best buy because its 60 dollars an hour and dont think they have 100% guarantee for repair. The OS and the whole computer was setup using the new 80 gig hdd. The 18 gig IBM drive was put attached later after all installation was completed. Please help. Thanks.

P4 1.6a (was at 2.3 @ 1.575 V now back to 1.6 and default V)
Asus P4B 533 w/audio/usb
512 MB Samsung PC2700
80 gig WD hdd, 18 gig IBM hdd
Gainward gf4 ti 4200 64 MB
Toshiba dvd rom, floppy
3com NIC
sb-live value

 

[GAZZA]

Well if the same thing happened on your old pc and it has follow onto your new pc then it's a good bet that one of your components isn't cooperating correctly , I would suspect either your sound card , NIC or the hard drive .

Can you try taking them out one at a time and then booting backup to see if the problem reoccurs untill you find the suspect component ?

Also what kind of lockups are you getting , program or complete pc lockup ?

Do you know of what other programs/services are running in the background or even in your taskbar (bottom right) ?

 

[WarCon]

Does it lockup only when in Word? There are macro viruses and even just bad macros can cause all kinds of mischief.

Go to the Macro section of your Word and see what macros are in your default template. (normal.dot)

I run Word97 and only have these three (AdTBMenuItem, AdTBToolbarItem, FileRunTextBridge) I believe the they are from the OCR program Textbridge.

Word is a funny place to lockup since it isn't pushing the processor at all.

..................edit................
(If this same problem (locking in Word) happened on a completely different system and you have been using saved Documents and transferring them you probably do have a macro virus)

 

[Astro33]

the lock ups are complete pc lockups.
it occurs sometimes just using nothing but IE. Just so happened that during that night I had to write up a paper and it kept on locking up even with just word running right after boot. I have installed Norton Antivirus 2002 with all its updates. Complete system scan is clean. I thought it could be soundcard but then when I just use word, from a fresh boot up, I dont think the sound driver would be accessed other than during the bootup. Yet it would still lock up after 1 hour or more. Now for the past 30+ hours the computer has been on there hasn't been any lock ups. I have played sound files many times and no problems. One thing I noticed now, when I start from a fresh bootup, for the first couple times the programs start up slightly slower than when I overclocked. I think p4 1.6 has more than enough processing power for these programs. I will try removing the components 1 at a time later, but the thing is there is no sure way of reproducing another lockup.

 

[WarCon]

Are you scrolling the page when the lockups occur? Or can it lockup when your doing absolutely nothing?

 

[Astro33]

I am not sure. It is random. If it happens everytime during scrolling of a page I would have noted it.