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system locks up , cpu maybe ?

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Name: lolface
Date: April 4, 2007 at 16:24:16 Pacific
OS: xp- pro -sp2
CPU/Ram: pentium 4 2.4b
Product: gigabyte ga-8ie
Comment:

hi , i have recently recieved my mum's computer that was giving major problems .
when i started it up it would just restart as soon as it got to the xp loading screen .

i tried to format but got bsod every time.

after a few hours of switching hardware around i dicovered a dodgy capacitor that looked somewhat blown .

after replacing the mobo with a funtional one , i successfuly formatted and performed a clean install of xp .

things seemed fine ,but when i was copying data across from a dvd to desktop it just locked up .

the first thing that came to mind was ram , so i put some good ram in , and the same thing , i tried the ram in all 3 dimms , still locked up randomly .

so i embarked upon the old process of elimination , replacing optical drives , psu , graphics card , memory , and mobo .

becuase i have 3 other computers that are functional and used the tested parts form them .

after all this i have come to one conclusion it must be the cpu !?

it only locks up when you are using cpu cycles , it happily stayed on for 8 hours in idle .

btw , when transfering the cpu and block to the other mobo , the cpu was stuck on very hard to the block and i had to force it off with a stanly knife , it popped off but it hit the floor ,not really too worried as i know the resiliance of pc hardware despite what people say .

no physical damage that i could see pins were fine , BUT if the problem is the cpu why can i boot into windows and install progams and its fine but then locks up doing random things like just acessing a folder .

any thoughts ?





Response Number 1
Name: GaPeLo
Date: April 4, 2007 at 16:54:28 Pacific
+1
Reply:

Maybe its your PSU??? have you check that one??? did you clean the cpu fine, and aplied a decent coat of termal paste on the cpu... whats the tempeture in idle? and what is the cpu?



Response Number 2
Name: lolface
Date: April 4, 2007 at 17:26:49 Pacific
+1
Reply:

hi gapelo ,

as mentioned above i replaced the psu and it still had the same problem .

the cpu was very clean upon installing it into the mobo.

i just swapped the cpu , and installed a p4 2.8 out of my other pc and it works fine now , i thought that was the case .

thankyou anyway for your reply .




Response Number 3
Name: GaPeLo
Date: April 4, 2007 at 17:35:02 Pacific
+1
Reply:

NP... GL!! and happy troubleshooting...



Response Number 4
Name: OtheHill
Date: April 5, 2007 at 14:16:00 Pacific
+1
Reply:

When you re-installed the CPU did you use new thermal paste/ pad?



Response Number 5
Name: lolface
Date: April 5, 2007 at 20:33:19 Pacific
+1
Reply:

no i dident apply any thermal paste , both surfaces were pefectly flat and the temps were fine .

its alright if you dont use thermal paste aslong as the surface contact area of the cpu and heatsink are perfectly flat ,assuring good heat dissapation .



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Response Number 6
Name: OtheHill
Date: April 6, 2007 at 03:48:59 Pacific
+1
Reply:

You are wrong. You need to use paste.



Response Number 7
Name: lolface
Date: April 12, 2007 at 15:39:10 Pacific
+1
Reply:

othehill ,

no im not wrong i said '' you dont need to use thermal paste '' wich you don't, but it is reckomended .

the point that i was trying to illistrate is '' not putting thermal paste on the cpu is going to make little to no difference in tempreture , the temps were normal so there is no reason to investigate into thermal problems .

btw if your swapping out cpu's and planning on taking it back out in 30 minutes 'there is no point on aplying thermal paste and making the job harder for yourself .

normally i would use paste but you really dont need to have it .



Response Number 8
Name: OtheHill
Date: April 12, 2007 at 15:43:50 Pacific
+1
Reply:

I don't know where you got your info from but it is wrong.



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