Tech support MYSTERY!

[Smidge204]

Okay, normally I can puzzle out odd computer behavior, but this one is really giving me a hard time... mostly because if the time period involved.

Without warning, my computer will freeze up solid.

No blue-screen, no error, no weird noises... it just stops. Audio, video, network activity, and anything else that may be happening at the time is halted. The screen freezes as-is without any glitching. Keyboard and mouse become useless.

Pressing the reset button on the front panel has no effect, other than the CD-ROM drive's activity blinks as it does when the computer is rebooted... but nothing else happens. The power button still works, though, and everything works fine after a cold boot.

The system remains stable for hours. I haven't really bothered to time it until the last occurance - which was 9 hours - but I know it's been stable up to three consecutive days. I never power my PC off, BTW.

Most troubling, I can find *no* correlation between this event and system use. There are no consistencies with running applications or services, and it happens both when I'm actively using the machine and when I'm away, day or night. It is not temperature related (no component temperature exceeds 32C, ever)

I've already sought out and installed all of the latest drivers and BIOS.

I'm curious as to what others might think of the problem. Here is a detailed system spec report:

http://smidge204.homeftp.net:84/DetailedSpecs.txt

=Smidge=

[VectorSatyr]

Sometimes, my computer freezes up completely due to technical difficulties with the wireless network. Try investigating your internet connectivity.

[hRook]

Does your motherboard have failsafe features on it for hardware or cooling problems? Your issue is analogous with problems I've had with computer heating issues or loose hardware connections inside. Check and make sure your RAM is latched in and stuff, and all of your PCI cards are secured.

Also, you could have a nasty piece of spyware or a virus that could be doing it too.

[RyanHedge]

Hmm, everything looks good. Have you ran memory tests along with preformance tests Smidge?

[BRPXQZME]

Yeah, I've only had these problems with high temperatures (obviously), the computer thinks it has high temperatures (in which case it cuts out anyway), kernel panic (your OS usually lets you know somehow), and hard drive failure (failed hard drives tend to stay failed). Also driver problems (eep) and multicore synch stuff and meh (more eep).

Also, I turn off my machines when I don't use them... so I never got these problems when I did use Windows. Hrmph.

[DimensionWarped]

Turning off your computer when you aren't using it is quite possibly the very definition of communist you recycling bastard!

[BRPXQZME]

Say what you want, I used Windows 95 for half a decade without it crashing once. All the trouble began when I tried Win98. All the trouble ended when I shelled out for a PowerBook.

[Smidge204]

Yeah, I've only had these problems with high temperatures (obviously), the computer thinks it has high temperatures (in which case it cuts out anyway), kernel panic (your OS usually lets you know somehow), and hard drive failure (failed hard drives tend to stay failed). Also driver problems (eep) and multicore synch stuff and meh (more eep).

What trouibles me the most is the behavior of the reset button. This leads me to believe it's a problem on the mainboard, or at least hardware related.

I ran a battery of benchmarks and stress tests and the rig handled it all quite gracefully. It's been 20 hours since it happened last and everything appears to be in good shape.

=Smidge=

[Epon]

This happens to my laptop all the time. The thing gets superhot even when its properly vented in an open area. But the fan is working fine.

I'd check your heatsink, make sure its fan's not dusty and has a proper "connection", if you will, to the processor. Clean out some dust, etc. Make sure everything is secured and whatnot. As for the reboot button, that's funky.

[Smidge204]

I am 100% certain it's not a heat issue.

=Smidge=

[Koray]

Heat failsafe kills the machine, it doesn't lock it up.

Why not try and clear the CMOS and then reconfigure your BIOS, this may be a voltage issue where something is being surged or something somewhere. Set the memory timing and voltage to normal, and then step it back up to where you want it slowly.

If that doesn't work, start swapping out parts one by one until you narrow it down to a singular part. I really think it's electrical.

[Smidge204]

Hmm... an electrical problem in an electrical machine. Facinating

I guess I have little choice in the matter but to try and eliminate possabilities one by one. The problem with this approach is the lockup is not something I can replicate on command, so I have to change something and wait to see if it happens... which could be a few hours to a few days.

All CMOS settings are default/autoconfig except one which was causing a BIOS warning (non-fatal error) on startup. I'll have to set it back and record the error again...

Edit: It happened again, approximately 30 hours, 30 minutes (+/- 15 minutes) of uptime. The "error" I was getting before is related to the C1E function, which was just telling me that it was enabled. Looking up exactly what this does (lord knows the mainboard manual doesn't tell me!) I think it may be best to leave this function enabled... time will tell. If this doesn't work, next step is to try yanking the video card and using the onboard video for awhile.

Edit 2: Locked up again after 23 hours. Yanked video card, using onboard video.

Edit 3: Lasted about 28 hours this time, and the screen went BLANK when it froze. This makes me believe it was not the video card (which was just displaying the last graphical data before the system died) and points even more strongly towards the mainboard.

=Smidge=