Has this happened to anyone else?

[Occhidiangela]

Given that the card I am using, SOHOware was never any good on my original DSL set up either, I am going to throw 20 bucks at this problem and get a D-Link ethernet card, and a new cable.

Me, I thought IE6 was corrupted. Talked to a nice MS fellow from India last night. We discussed my trouble shooting steps, he took me one place in System Info that I had not been, adn we discovered that winsock32n and win.com were "not available" but his comment was that "that is OK."

I ended up reinstalling IE again, reinstalling Windows, re installing the card's driver, a variety of re boots, and simple things like my speed test to RR site were . . . abysmal. And, I just cant down load anything.

From the FTP site, it would start and then jam up. Fast blue bar, then . . . it chokes and that is all.

Same with the RR Speed site.

I give up, I am going to change hardware, and get a new cable from modem to card. I hate throwing parts at a problem (an aircraft maintenance boo boo) but my trouble shooting tree has exhausted itself. All of your suggestions have been worthwhile, and the port scan will once again be tried once I change the card.

Auto setting helped, but not really. I will recheck to ensure that the MS Network is enabled, but it was last night . . .

Blech. Thanks for all the assistance, we may be dealing with cheap parts, here.

[Zyr]

I surely hope the new card and cable solve the problem!

There's a possibility that the problem isn't on your computer at all, but on your cable node, which is basically a LAN for your neighborhood. If one of your fellow RR subscribers is hogging bandwidth (running a server, in violation of RR's TOS), you could have exactly the same symptoms. (I've run into this myself intermittently in the last few days.) Easiest way to check this would be to connect a different computer; if you experience the same symptoms, that would show the smoking gun...

If your budget permits, a new hard drive would surely simplify testing. Take your current drive out, put the new one in, and install either W98SE or XP. The clean installation with default settings would bypass any issues with the registry or settings in any software. You could then put your current drive back in as D: (or whatever's appropriate) and still have access to most of your data, though programs on the drive wouldn't work.

I hope it's the card or cord, but I'm not optimistic... Good luck!

[LochnarITB]

I didn't think about that. Cable connections are ring topology - like a single pipe feeding multiple faucets - and dsl connections are star topology - one pipe to one faucet. Even without another computer hooked up you should be able to tell if this is the situation. Do large sites (big code - applets - lots of graphics) snap onto the screen or does it seem like each piece slowly trickles in and then the next piece, etc.? So many possibilities - argghh - let me get my hands on it! ;)

[Occhidiangela]

Good News. The new card and driver solved pretty much everything, though the trouble shooting process did clean up a lot of corrupted crap on my Window's instalation PC. THe D-Link card did the trick . . . sorta. I then downloaded, much faster, lall of the updates from MS. Hooray.

For about 36 Blissful hours, I finally go to have my broadband connection, which I have paid extra for for these past 2 months, and finally got to play on the West Realm with a Ping less than 200. How nice. No discoes during the game. How nice.

Left the PC on last night when I went to bed, and something has come a cropper, and a big cropper. I am back once again to the *&!!@#$% monitor shuts itself problem. I smell a software problem, though, since I get to various points along the initial boot up routine and then there is a distinctive "click" and Mr Monitor shuts off . . . and, everything else appears to freeze. Can't open CD Rom drive door, for example.

I cant' get past the PCI test in the initial start up without the monitor shutting itself off and the CD RoM light staying illuminated.

I have tried to recover using the windows start up disk. I can get to A:\ prompt, but as soon as I try to get much farther, the monitor turns itself off (I can here the click).

The warm reboot buttton is completelly non functional.

Two blind control alt del reboots. (sans monitor.) does not appear to work. I have unplugged, re plugged, disconnected and reconnected the monitor, the power strip, used the button on the back of the PC to turn it off . . . a variety of the simple trouble shooting steps that usually help when Windows burps.

I can't fixt this *&^%$#@! thing if I cant read the screen.

Two choices.

1. Take advantage of the after christmas sale and get a new hard drive, install it, put Windows onto the new drive and make it C drive, make the old HD D. DOH: Ya can't do that if the monitor keeps turing off! Crap.

2. Find a way to trouble shoot this PC in DoS mode. Trouble is, I tried the old "hit Del to enter setup" on the BIOS screen and about 20 seconds into it, the monitor turned itself off.

This is what happened a few days ago. Getting the other monitor is 99% likely to make this happen again.

How nice: I had two days set aside to do some stuff for Bolty. GUess I'm screwed.

Sorry Bolty, if you read this, I am feeling like road bacon on the information highway again.

[LochnarITB]

:D :(


Nubian Temptress

[Griselda]

I'm certainly no expert in these matters (which is why I haven't posted to this thread yet), but you should be able to get to the BIOS without windows at all. So, I don't think it would be a problem with windows. Since it seems to affect other areas besides the monitor (CD drive, reboot button, etc.), it's probably not your video card or drivers either.

I'm thinking that leaves the motherboard, unfortunately. :( If you can get it to work for long enough to flash your BIOS, that might help. Otherwise, I think it's possible to download the BIOS file to a floppy on another computer and try it that way. It's possible for very, very bad things to happen if this is done incorrectly, so it might help to read up on the process (via another computer, I guess). It might not hurt to wait until the move computer-knowledgeable people here recommend something, but I'd be looking at the BIOS if it were my computer.

-Griselda

[Occhidiangela]

Just this afternoon, I thought to myself. : OK, since we updated Windows, we probably ought to go to the AOPEN Web Site and see what is new with their products.

UH, OH! Just a little late, eh?

Grrrr

[yangman]

Sounds like something came loose in your case.

I would suggest you open the case up and make sure that everything is plugged in and secured properly. Power cords, IDE cords, all of your PCI cards, your video cards, and also your RAM.

I would say the RAM is most suspecious.

[Kevin]

Sounds very much like a heat problem to me. Especially since you can't recover from it with a reset and there appear to be other core components affected. It could also be a grounding issue (though those generally don't show the same symptoms unless you have lots of vibration in the environment). There is a remote chance that it is a dead BIOS battery as well, generally that isn't an issue when a system has power though, but that isn't always the case, it can cause very flaky behavior when a system switches to low power modes.

Dying in the BIOS set-up (which has nothing to do with anything at all on the HDD, all in the chips) is a bad sign. As Griselda said that pretty much rules out windows though. It seems if you leave it off for a bit and then power back on it that you can get some run time out of it, is that correct? That is another heat pointer.

You were in the case recently, something may have shifted. If you have done it before, I would pop the CPU out, clean off the old heatsink compound, apply some new compound (thin even layer) and reattach the heatsink. I don't remember the specs on this system (if you gave them), but older systems loosen up sometimes and I have seen instances where you work in the case and bump the heat sink/fan combo and the processor overheats. So check that. Make sure the fan is running smoothly on everything. Several motherboards put HS/Fans on the chipsets, these can go out as well. That would do the same thing. Ditto for video cards. Heat sink compound can dry out too, especially some of the cheaper stuff. I've seen it turn hard and then it starts acting like an insulator. So it won't hurt to check on that. I would recommend getting some heat monitoring software, but it sounds like you don't have the stability to do that.

It can also be the memory as well. Or a card that isn't seated just right, and the expansion/contraction that happened after the long run time made it looser. I would just pop and firmly reseat everything. Look to make sure that there isn't anything metal that may be coming in contact with the motherboard. I have seen instances where the pressure leaflets on the ATX cut-out plates areound the PS/2 connectors had been bent a little bit, and if you moved the mouse too hard it would cause one to come into contact with a trace on the board, and lock the system. So check all that. Pulling and reseating the cards will allow to check for corrosion as well. Not common but can be there. I've seen capacitors go on cheap sound cards and the leaking cause issues. Since they didn't use sound that much it wasn't as obvious as it may have been.

Check all the cables while you are in there, and give the system a good dusting. Compressed air blown through a clean lint free cloth (lense paper works pretty well) works great and greatly minimizes that complaints that many have against it (that it can cause minute moisture build up and cause problems that way). Blow the dust out of the case (not around in it). Doing a gentle wipe down to get the last little film off helps too. If the case is pretty much dust free this isn't a big deal, but I have seen dust and heat related issues before.

If you can get into the BIOS, turn off all the power management options it may have. You may be shutting down a card/slot that has for some reason started to not like that.

But this sounds like heat to me. And the CPU is the first culprit in heat cases still.

I would generally also recommend running memtest86 to check the memory as bad memory can cause odd flakiness as well, but that probably won't go either (though that is all DOS based runs off a boot floppy. www.memtest86.com).

Hope that helps. I'm glad to hear the other stuff is fixed, I hadn't really had much time to pop in on this one earlier.

[Zyr]

Wow! Talk about a clear demonstration of the perversity of the universe!

I can add nothing to the excellent suggestions already made except my sincere wishes for a speedy resolution to what Mrs. Parker termed "this fresh Hell."

[kandrathe]

Well if it turns out not to be a bios setting problem, one last hope is that it could just be the monitor. Hopefully it is an old crappy one which you wanted to replace anyway. Otherwise, depending on your config, a new Mobo is cheaper sometimes.

[Occhidiangela]

But I don't know why. That is most distressing.

Left it off for a day, fearing that fan or heat was the cause, and then my son turned it on the next day and played Brood war for an hour. I found him at it, so I made him save and exit. I went to MSI website for Live Update of BIOS. Yep, I am waaaaaaaaaay out of date, stupid me.

Flashed the BIOS to the new version. I wonder if I somehow corrupted the BIOS while I was in the case the other day . . . but had that been the case, I would not have been able to play for that first day and a half. Grrrrrrrr, Ghosts are not good.

So far, so good, though, insofar as new BIOS seems to have solved my problem. OH, and I have not over clocked my processer, I see no reason to do so and invite heat problems on myself, in case that comes up.

I had, when I opened the case to put in the network card, dusted pretty thoroughly, but I did not use the lens paper for the compressed air, thanks for the tip, I will next time.

If I have to start working the heat sink compound angle, it will be a bold new step for me, and will be after I get a wrist strap. I really should have had one on the other day, but I did have the machine grounded and grounded my hand to the case conscientiously every time I was about to touch something.

I checked all of the cables while I was in there, and all is hooked up.

So, for all of your ideas, to each and every one of you

Grazie Mille. It is nice to have friends. :D

But it looks as though the BIOS was the problem I will go in and adjust it next month if nothing else untoward happens.

Looks like I can't blame this one on Bill Gates.

FWIW: MSI KT7 Pro2-A motherboard, with Athalon 900 MHz. Via KT 133 Chipset.

[Nastie_Bowie]

Sounds like Junior has the "Midas touch". :lol:

Now, since Wednesday, my machine is acting up. Grrr. Luckily, I still have 2 freebies coming from Microsoft. (standalone Win2K)

"WinMgmt.exe is generating errors. Windows will restart the application." This shows up on top every sixty seconds, kicking me out of D2.

Windows fought me tooth and nail when I wanted to delete the executable file, and after about four or five "are you sure you want to do this?" windows, off to the recycle bin with ya.

Didn't cure the problem, I know. At least I can play D2.

I am sending MS a copy of my DrWtsn.dmp file today. Hopefully they can sort out the problem.

[Zyr]

Nothing Transparent...

[Occhidiangela]

It happened again this AM. I wake up, can't turn it on, recycle the hard power on off sw on the back a few times, with a minute or so between touches of switch, and nothing. It whirs for a second or two and self shuts down.

Son wakes up half an hour later and Brood War and he greet me when I come upstairs from making breakfast.

Mo Board likely getting tempermental . . . that is my opinion.

[Nastie_Bowie]

It happened again this AM.  I wake up, can't turn it on, recycle the hard power on off sw on the back a few times, with a minute or so between touches of switch, and nothing.  It whirs for a second or two and self shuts down.

Son wakes up half an hour later and Brood War and he greet me when I come upstairs from making breakfast.

Mo Board likely getting tempermental . . . that is my opinion.

Send your son over to my house please, he can play Brood War, here. :lol:

[Kevin]

Get a copy of motherboard monitor http://mbm.livewiredev.com/ set it up to log the temperatures. Get the system up and running and then go back and check the logs after the next crash. That should help you pinpoint things.

If case temperature is leading processor temp, then the heat is probably coming from another sub system.

If processor temperature is leading case temp, then it is probably a processor heat problem.

Of course really being able to tell those two apart can be difficult.

I would also suggest hitting http://www.memtest86.com and running that (leave the system off overnight and then power it up and run the test in the morning) to help insure that it isn't a memory issue as well. A pass or two of that should be good, and it runs off a boot floppy.

Just some tools to help pinpoint.

[kandrathe]

In general, most components inside your case should not exceed 130F. 90-110 is my preferred range of "big chip" heat. So check the north, south bridges, CPU and Video. I use the tried and true method of static strap and feeling them with my fingers. If it is too hot to touch or hot to the touch, it is too hot. The Thunderbird core in the Athlon's does run hot, and sometimes very hot. What is your motherboard? Socket or Slot A, right? You have the extra problem of high ambient outside temperatures to deal with on those days if or when you decide not to air condition. Where I live, we have a few days or weeks at most of temperatures above 90.

A new good CPU fan would not be too expensive (< $25). With fans it is always a trade of between RPM's thus airflow versus noise. Also, see if you can find into on Mean Time Before Failure. It is amazing sometimes to see the huge ranges in MTBF for similiar prices.

For other hot "big chips" you can get heat sinks and hack saw and file them into the right sizes to disipate some of the other unprotected chips (like northbridge). If you have an open vent in the back, consider getting another 12v case fan to draw through the heat. Think about air flow and how much is getting over the hot parts inside the case. I even either replace my ribbon cables with round ones, or use 1/2" or 3/8" clear tubing (split it lengthwise) and break apart the ribbon cables to make them round.

EDIT: Another thought. One of the most CPU intensive things that you can do is ZIP, UNZIP alot of files. If you do this and the thing shuts down you have CPU heat issues. I know you are having download problems, but see if you can get SISoft Sandra. It has many good CPU and Mobo tests.

[Occhidiangela]

It is what it not locking up and causing what I suspect is a hi temp. Possible short, not sure, thanks again for the tips, I need to get past the BIOS script in order to run the tools. Will do that after I ever get a successful re boot.

[Nastie_Bowie]

It is what it not locking up and causing what I suspect is a hi temp.&nbsp; Possible short, not sure, thanks again for the tips, I need to get past the BIOS script in order to run the tools.&nbsp; Will do that after I ever get a successful re boot.

Hmmm. About 6 months ago, my "muling" comp acted up.

It started with a clicking noise from the cd-rom, then the machine froze. I bump started (hold button in 5 secs) and the machine froze halfway through reboot (wallpaper up, no icons, no taskbar, hourglass pointer). After an hour of frustration, I remove the cd-rom, switch jumpers on the dvd-rom to master, and voila!

A $15 cd-rom from the computer show, and my muler is running better than it ever did. Makes me wonder.

I know what you mean when you say you are hesitant to throw parts at it.

Good luck!

NB :rolleyes: