Hi there, I'd really appreciate some advice on tracking down the source of a friend's PC hanging. It occurs intermittently. On some occasions Windows Explorer just seems to freeze, but the mouse will move and the system is otherwise unresponsive. I can't even get Task Manager to come up by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL. The system has to be powered off completely. At other times it crashes with 'smearing' of graphics across the screen. There have been no recent upgrades to the system and this occurs despite a clean installation of windows. At no point has there been a BSOD or any minidump files logged by windows. There don't seem to be any significant events in the Event Viewer.

I've included details of the system and a log of what I've tried so far below.

Any help you can offer is very much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

Stuart


CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Motherboard: Asus M2NS-NVM (Boston)
DIMM1: 256MB DDR 2 PC2-4300 (266MHz) Manufacturer: MOSEL
DIMM2: 256MB DDR 2 PC2-4300 (266MHz) Manufacturer: MOSEL
DIMM3: 1024MB DDR2 PC2-4300 (266MHz) Manufacturer: MOSEL
GPU: Integrated nVIDIA nForce 6100-405
PSU: FSP Group Inc. Model No: FSP250-60HEN
OS: Win XP SP3 Home OEM

Manufacturer Website: support.packardbell.com/uk/item/index.php?i=spec_boston&ppn=PB82105101

No BSOD at any point
No minidump logs produced by windows at any point
No significant events logged in Event Viewer

Format and clean install of Windows XP SP3 with all updates
Latest drivers from manufacturer website installed
Latest Nvidia graphics driver installed
Latest BIOS update installed from manufacturer website
Run chkdsk /f /r - no errors
Defragment drive - completed with no errors
Run Prime95 Stress Test - crashed after 40 minutes, max CPU temp 43 degrees
Cleaned heatsinks and fans
Reseated memory and cleaned contacts
Reseated CPU Heatsink/Fan - new thermal grease applied
PSU & CPU fans both checked and working
Check Psu voltages within reasonable tolerances: vCore = 1.40v, 3.3v = 3.28v (0.6%), 5v = 4.86v (2.8%), 12v = 12.28v (2.3%)
Run Windows Memory Diagnostic - no errors (run for 10 hours)
Run Memcheck86+ - no errors (run for 12 hours)
Swapped in known good memory from another machine, run Prime 95 Stress Test for 10 hours, max CPU temp 44 degrees, no crash
Subsequently crashed with 'smearing' of graphics across screen after ~ 4 hrs normal use
Run Video Card Stability Test (freestone-group.com/video-card-stability-test.htm) - run for 1 hour, no crash
Swapped original memory back in

I wonder if your hard drive is failing. Type res in the search area of start menu. Then select resource monitor from the list above. Keep it open on the desktop until the freezing occurs. Keep an eye on the response time column. If the times are excessive then your hard drive is failing.

You could also do a hard drive diagnostic from the manufacturer of the hard drive: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Thanks, it's actually a new drive, installed after the hangs started to occur. There were unrepairable bad sectors on the previous drive. I've done a SMART check on it too and it seems to pass it all with top marks. I don't think Resource Monitor is available on XP unfortunately.