Video freezes and Pc resets

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Narey

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Hi first of all I thought I would list my computer specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Motherboard: M848A, AGP PCI IMB USV i2c/SMBus (AMIINT - 1000 BIOS)
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GS (made by gainward)
Hardrive: 120GB
Ram: 2GB DDR
OS: XP Professional Service Pack 2

If theres anything else you need to know ill try and find out

This problem has started over the last few days and i really dont know whats caused it as I have done nothing unusual to my knowledge and it was working fine a week ago.

First problem: The pc just resets for no reason, it could be after 4 hours it could be after 4 mins, its completly random. I thought it might have been overheating (which would have drien me mad as i have a MASSIVE fan and the side off the case) but Speedfan (and hardware moniter) tells me that its sitting at about 64 C (which I think is alright?), really no idea whats going on :(

Second problem: Whenever im wathching a video (on any program, VLC, Windows media player, Power DVD ect) it will run absolutly fine for about 5 mins and then it will just freeze and the program crash. Sometimes firefox will crash when im on it as well which could be due to videos being played on certain websites? for example teamtalk which has a window media player thing on the side

really no idea what the problem is guys, thanks for any help you can give me
 
hey, read all that now sorry i didnt see it before. alot of that i had done already ive done everything i hadnt apart from the memtest as i am at uni and without any blank cd's

few more details to add

the ram is 400 Mhz

and the PSU is 550WATT with 30A on the 12v rail

if you need anything else ill let you know

i have no idea if you need certain minidumps? ill attatch the first 4 (edit: some of the first 4 were too large so i had to choose later ones)
 
I'll get Howard come into here and have a look at your Minidumps, as i am not fully trained yet.

Regards Jase :)
 
thanks, trying to pile as much onformation as i can into this topic, checked the graphics card temperature and its sitting at 52 (idleish) ill try it when its being used in a bit. but i doubt it will more then double in temperature? (it says 125 C is when it starts to experience slowdown)

i also found a Memtest that could run in windows and its yet to find any errors
 
Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Your minidumps crash with various culprits and bugcheck codes.

This is a symptom of faulty hardware, possibly faulty or incompatible ram.

If you are using more than one stick of ram, try running your system with just one stick of ram and see if it becomes stable. If it doesn`t, try running with the other stick of ram.


Test your ram as per the instructions HERE.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:
 
hey, after testing the ram ive found that one of the sticks was faulty, im now only running 1gig. it now lets me play videos so thanks!

however the pc still resets now and then for no reason (very often right after its just started up but will then run for 6 hours without doing so)
 
It`s possible both sticks of ram are faulty as some faulty ram can pass Memtest.

Try using a known good stick of ram and see if that helps.

Regards Howard :)
 
according to that CPU temp site my temperatures are ok. I have another 1 gig stick at home which has never been really used (but i know it works)
ill get it on sunday and report back if i have any problems

thanks alot for the help guys
 
No worries mate.

Remember to post back, and tell us whether you have resolved your problem.

Regards Jase :)
 
dear oh dear oh dear, the pc is now no longer reseting but sometimes just freezes for no apparent reason

(using 1 of the old 1GB sticks and 1 new one)

sometimes the computer unfreezes after a few seconds, but during the freeze EVERYTHING stops working :'(
 
Freezing is a symptom of overheating or faulty hardware, or possible an underpowered or failing psu.

You will need to diagnose which of these possible causes is the culprit.

Regards Howard :)
 
struggling to find out whats wrong with the pc and it seems to be getting worse and worse (although video works as i said before)

i dont know if this means anything atall but when the pc starts up it seems to have to think for a few seconds then makes a click and says "ULTRA DMA mode 5 capable but disabled" i dont remember it saying this before but to be honest i dont really pay attention. the click and wait however is deffintly new
 
Are you sure the message you`re seeing during startup doesn`t say "ultra dma mode-5 S.M.A.R.T capable but disabled."?

Taken from HERE.

S.M.A.R.T. stands for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. It was developed by a number of major Hard Disk Drive Manufacturers in a concerted effort to increase the reliability of drives. It is a technology that enables the PC to predict the future failure of hard disk drives. S.M.A.R.T. technology has become an industry standard for hard drive manufacturers.

You can enable S.M.A.R.T in the bios, if you wish.

I`m concerned at the click you hear. This could possibly mean you have a hard drive problem.

I suggest you download the hard drive diagnostic utility from your HDD manufacturers website and test your hard drive.

If you can`t find it, take a look at this thread HERE.

Let us know the results.

Regards Howard :)
 
after my pc crashing over and over and over while i tried to install that program and after many many many changes of RAM and no affect my pc fianly died and wouldnt start up. i turned it on its side opened it up and was about to remove the ram when i thought i would try it once more. BIZZARLY the pc will work as long as its on its side (so far 0 problems) WHAT is going on!?!

if it truelly is working fine on its side the only thing i think it could possibly be is my massive fan could be too heavy for the motherboard while it is the right way up? (the pc didnt even make that clicking noise on startup and did it alot faster)
 
Sounds like something may be loose, such as the heat sink maybe.

Take off the heatsink and clean off all the old thermal pad/paste from the heatsink and cpu. Apply some new thermal compound and reattach the heatsink. See if that helps.

Take a look HERE for instructions on how to apply thermal paste.

Edit: also check to make sure the cradle that holds the heatsink in place is properly attached to the mobo.

Regards Howard :)
 
will do, thanks for the help. ill have to go buy some more thermal paste. the fan is beyond the wieght restrictions which is worrying but people say it dosnt really matter. im beggining to think it does :p
 
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