My Athlon Computer :( help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! plz.....

[NetProwler]

I need Help on fixing this freezing problem I am having. And the video card, makes lines.

I have an Athlon 900 Mhz, 256 MB ram, NVidia GeForce256 32 Mb, I also have an Asus a7v133 and the operating system is Win98.

The temperature stays constant at 65C according to the Asus Probe. I wonder if this is too hot? If u know plz tell me how I can fix the temperature.

The other problem I have is that the display on the screen all of a sudden makes these pixel lines, I dont know why. I am most likely changing the card to a ATI EXpert2000... which one is better? or any others that are good and are about the same price. Plz send ur comments quickly cuz time is running out!
thanx!!!!!

 

[ElFenix]

are you overclocking your geforce?

 

[lazyboy]

65 C is hot IMO. But I don't know if the Asus probe readings are better. I get 35C on my Pro2A...signifigantly lower. What kind of HSF do you have?

 

[Passions]

wat brand ram u got?

 

[Philly C]

Check your heatsink/fan. If it's broken, not in contact, installed incorrectly. Might try changing it. 65C IS pretty hot. Vid card seems to be running hot and that's why it's making lines.

 

[ToBeMe]

I wouldn't neccessarily believe Asus Probe.......My PIII was showing 54*C in Asus Probe, but I knew it wasn't that hot because the same chip read 28*C in two other mobos & MBM........So I got my own probe and found it to be running at 28*c - 30*C consistantly! I would though recheck everything as a precaution though, especially if this is fairly new to you as far as mounting H/S Fans on Socket MoBo's!

 

[NetProwler]

I have not overclocked my GeForce card.....

 

[NetProwler]

I still need to know if it is better to change the video card or not? My ram is SDRAM and I dont know what a HSF is..... plz tell me. Is this type of card also compatible? I will try to look at my Heatsink and tell ya about it!

 

[smp]

okay.. if your case temps are too high, it might be causing your vid card to overheat.. I'm not too sure about that one though..
the 65 degrees that anus probe is reporting is more accurate than your bios, or any other progs (sandra or whatever).. since the thermistor is on the outside of the core, in the socket, it isn't reading temps INSIDE the core.. so it's reading false temps.. we can assume lower, since the inside of the core would be hotter than the outside and the outside would be affected by the ambient air around the socket and so on.. anus probe adds ten degrees (on average) to temps to kind of make up for this.. you're not going to accurate temp readings on a socket A athlon unless they start putting the thermistor inside the chip in the form of a diode or whatever the PIII has.. I wouldn't really worry about 65 since AMD says that the cap is about 90 or 95 I think... I'm at 58 and stable.. this is under load.. how long has this been going on? Could it be driver related maybe? I doubt it's the cpu temp.. maybe the vid card is too hot though.. how's your case cooling?

<edit> PIII's run at lower temps than Athlons do.. 30 degrees celcius is not realistic on a athlon </edit>

 

[DARRIN]

HSF is your heatsink &amp; Fan.

65C is too hot. My 1.2 gig running at 1.5 only gets to 59C. You either used too much heat sink compound (you did use some didn't you?) or you heat sink and fan are too wimpy. Where did you get your heatsink and fan at?

 

[DARRIN]

The only way I could keep my temps down was to install 2 four inch fans or to leave the side of my case off. Take the side of your case off and see how hot your cpu gets.

Are you overclocking your ram or anything?

 

[smp]

I don't think this guy is overclocking ANYTHING!!! He doesn't even know what a HSF is I doubt he installed it himself.. (no offence there netprowler)
65 shouldn't be causing stability problems... asus probe reports more realistic temps than any other mobo temp thing... look for Mikewarrior in the forums and check out the link in his signature....
next time you reboot, go into your bios and look around to see what the cpu temp is in there.. and let us know what your mobo temps are too..
Did you have this system made for you? or did you put it together yourself? How long have you had it for? More info plz

 

[DARRIN]

Hello? Netprowler?

Prowl back over here and give us more info.

 

[smp]

maybe his computer died..


<< Plz send ur comments quickly cuz time is running out! >>

 

[Adul]

the geforce is a better card then the ATI BTW,.

 

[DARRIN]

Tick, tock, tick, tock, .....

 

[NetProwler]

I am sorry for the late reply..... I have the old dumb phone line. I am not offended, cuz the system was made by this guy I know who owns a store. I too think it is the Heatsink, but I also thought it was the vid card conflicting.

The mobo is about 35C and the temp of the cpu is a bit less than asus probe. But I dont understand how it makes those damn lines.......

 

[NetProwler]

I have had the pc for about 3 months now, and it has gotten worse. I have even Upgraded teh driver for the vid card to the new Detonator3 at www.nvidia.com

So I guess I will keep the vid card and get the Heatsink replaced..... I have to make a decision by Friday (that is when I will tell him the problem)

What kind of Heatsink is appropiate?

P.S> I might not reply until tommorrow, so tune in plz! I will tell what happens

 

[smp]

You haven't asked this guy about the problem? Maybe he'll suddenly remmeber that he didn't apply thermal paste or install 4 in 1 drivers or something? If it's his fault make him fix it..

 

[NetProwler]

There is also another problem I have seen, the Ram for the system is 256 MB, but is always about 80-90% used during the duration of the computer time being on. I only have 5 items in hte taskbar, which aint bad.....

Can this link to something??????? hmmmmmm........

I must say, This forum thing is amazing! you guys rock!!!! and thanks for helping out friends!!!

 

[NetProwler]

I told him, but he said it is Athlons and that &quot;they are no good&quot; the guy pissses me off!!!!!

so he will fix it, but I need to know the problem so he can know too...... he has told me to do some stuff, but it still didn;t help...

 

[Punamo]

Try this ONLY IF you have run out of ideas:

1) Reformat your hard drive and just install the operating system and the latest 4 in 1 driver, nothing else, not even the sound driver nor the video card driver (use the VGA driver only). *
- This is to eliminate any software conflict
- Keep in mind that this is not the cure, it's just a way to eliminate the factors that might affect your system.

2) Check to see if it still freezes up or not. If it still freezes up then:
- Open up your case and use the biggest fan you can find and blow the cool air into your case (preferably towards the CPU). Basically try to cool down the system as much as possible
- Check temperature
- See the system is still freezing up or not

3) Post anything that you find after trying these steps and we'll try out some other stuff.

 

[DARRIN]

I just noticed something odd in your original post. You said that your cpu temp stays constant 65C. That is not normal. It should fluctuate. Mine is in the upper 40's when I boot up and rises to about 53C or so when idleing. When I play games it rises up to 58 or 59. Then when I exit the game it comes back down the the lower 50'c over a course of several minutes. Temp should not remain constant unless your heatsink is not making good contact with your core.

 

[skace]

I agree with punamo when he said, &quot;Open up your case and use the biggest fan you can find and blow the cool air into your case (preferably towards the CPU). Basically try to cool down the system as much as possible&quot;. If you toss a large fan next to your case (with the side open) it should all but eliminate the heat problem. That way you will know if cooling is an issue before you go through all the trouble of buying and installing a new one. After that you might want to talk to your friend at the store, ask him if he has a system he can test your video card in, that will eliminate whether the video card itself is bad. After that you can try another video card in your system and see how that works. All these things will narrow down the possibilities A LOT.

 

[NetProwler]

Thanx, I will try to check out the vid card tommorrow at his shop and I will make sure I can replace the Heatsink along with the fan..... Now I need to know what kind of fan will be suitable for Athlons.... I don;t wanna play around with the pc as in formatting and stuff cuz I have many valuable things on it. It is also in Warranty

And Darrin, my cpu starts at about the 40's and within 5-10 mins, it goes straight to 59-63..... Right now it is at 60 and I have loaded the computer for only about 6 minutes!!!

When I try to play games like Civilizations 2 or 3, it freezes... The system is not unstable but rather it just STOPS.


I need to know what is taking up the RAM too, it is always about 78-90% used. I think that ain;t good..... Tell me your opinion. I will tell you what happens....