Random lockups - Please help

Ken

Ken

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Hi :)

This problem has been with me since I first bought my ASUS A9N-SLI Premium. It hasn't occurred very often over the past few months so I've managed to put up with it. I recently bought a WD Raptor and the lockups has returned again occurring regularly.

The Problem - The screen will basically freeze with a still image of what was last on the screen and I can't use the mouse or keyboard. If I happened to be playing some music, the sound would loop like a broken record. It seems to like locking up when idle although it does lockup when I'm browsing the internet for example. It happens rarely while playing games.

Setup - My setup is as shown in my signature but with a WD Raptor as the boot drive. It's running Win2KPro with nVIDIA 6.70 and 81.98 drivers. I did not install the ethernet, sound and IDE driver as I am using a seperate sound card and network card and I have read that the IDE driver is best not installed.

A thread I found has reduced the number of lockups occurring from many a day to 2-3 a day...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1028734285

The following shows that this problem is not confined to the A8N-SLI Premium although I have still included ASUS threads...

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/weird-nforce4-freezing-problem-vt63281.html
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/38623/?o=0 (many members complaining about the same problem in this thread)
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=8659
http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=64558
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/nf4-system-freeze-looong-sleep-vt62937.html
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=947347&highlight=locking

The list goes on. I have read countless threads from googling. Some have had success using different chipset/graphics card drivers while others have used different ethernet drivers. Some updated the firmware for their Maxtor drives and some, like me, have yet to find a fix.

I have run memtest with no errors. PSU's rails are fine with very little fluctuation. I've seen a few members with the excellent PC Power & Cooling PSUs experiencing lockups. CPU is at 45C with both cores folding and case temperature is 37C.

I have seen a few members say that they still have the same problems after RMAing. I wish I had some money to buy a motherboard based on the ATI chipset as it seems this is the best option rather than risking buying an nForce 4 board and risking experiencing the problem again. :(

Many thanks in advance,
Ken
 
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You seem to have covered all the bases (PSU and memory being the usual suspects for random lockups). That it happens when idle perhaps suggests a hard drive issue (windows housekeeping going wrong) but you've been there too.

Is the board still under warranty? I'd buy an ATI board (since you like the idea and it's always fun to have a new toy :D), then RMA the Asus and sell the replacement to cover the cost.
 

Ken

Ken

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Thanks for your reply. :)

Yep, the board is still under warranty. I think I'll do as you say when Summer is here. Way too much going on right now being in my final year at uni and I need the computer right now even if it does freeze up occasionally. Hopefully, I, along with your help guys will find a way to fix this :D. I think I'll make a site dedicated to this problem and its fix since so many are experiencing this very frustrating problem!
 
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Shot in the dark I know, it dont happen to have a marvel giga lan on it does it?

There was a driver out that was installed with M$ updates that locked peoples computers up, the cure was to go to marvels site and download the new version.

Bit hungover so cant read through links etc just and idea.
 
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i remember having exact same problem a while back...turned out to be nvidia SWIDE drivers...just incompatible.
ya never know huh?
the fact that ya have run memtest would suggest hdisk side of things?

ROB :O)
 

Ken

Ken

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Thanks again all.

I disabled Marvell LAN and I didn't install the SWIDE drivers. :)
SeanyK said:
Have you checked for IRQ conflicts?
Looks like you're on to something here...

irq.jpg


Very happy to see this as I may have a stable computer soon. You're a star. :D

As well as all those IRQ conflicts, I'm concerned that I'm not seeing any nForce4 Serial ATA controllers. :confused:

Edit: Is it true that a conflict is only occurring if there is yellow exclamation mark next to the device? Devices can happily share IRQs if I recall correctly.

Edit2: I've no idea what the unknown device is and updating the driver doesn't work as it can't find any suitable drivers. :( I've disabled it now. I thought it was my MX510 but the mouse is still working.
 
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Soldato
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Hi mate, If your running Windows XP, IRQ conflicts are supposedly a thing of the past, unfortunately, thats not true, as I have had issues myself with IRQ sharing.
If its Windows 98/2000 etc, I believe you can change the setting manually by right clicking the chosen hardware and going into properties then resources.
The soundcard sharing IRQ 18 with the Graphics card is not good.

Try using a different PCI slot for the soundcard to force it to use another IRQ.

Mine does not say nforce4 serial ATA controller either, it says like yours, 'Standard etc'
 

Ken

Ken

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I can't thank you enough mate!

As you can see, ever since I switched the soundcard to a different PCI slot it's been stable! For over 24 hours! I've played a game, encoded a video, browsed the internet and left it idling while I slept and not a single lockup.

stable.jpg


Thank you so much! :D

rating_5.gif
 
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