Computer Locks Up After Being On For A While?

[Omega2k1]

For some reason(I'm suspecting heat...) my computer locks up after being on for about 5 or 6 hours. I know its not my processor heat. Its running at 106F idle and 117 under stress.
It my be my ****ty TNT 2 M64 video card, i don't have it OC'ed but i kinda don't think it is that cause i've got a 5in fan mounted on the side of my case, i cut a hole and mouted it so it blows on my processor and video card.
The only other things i think it could be is my ram or my powersupply, I don't have anything overclocked so my ram isn't likely the problem. My ps might be it... I just have no way of being sure though. It has not heat sensor in it. Thats what i get for buying a $20 400w powersupply.

If anyone needs my specs to help me here they are.
Athlon XP 1600 no OC'ed
ECS K7S5A mobo
256mb Samsung PC133 SD Ram
TNT2 M64 PCI video card(i'm planning on upgrading to a Radeon 8500 when i get the money).
Aureal Vortex SQ2500 Sound card(great card, to bad Aureal went out of business).
Maxtor 40gb 7200rpm hd
Cyberdrive 16x12x40x CD-RW
For cooling i've got a Thermaltake Volcano 6cu+ heatsink/fan combo on my processor, a 5in fan mounted in the side of my case blowing in my processor and video card. And 1 80mm fan mounted in the back of my case(weak fan too...).

Thats about everything thanks in advance for any help.
I'm also thinking about screwing on a Pentium fan on my video card's heatsink just for good measure .

[dave-harper]

it could be the chipset - some have nothing or heatsink or hs/fan though yours is in the middle of the pack

[Ifish25]

Originally posted by Omega2k1


If anyone needs my specs to help me here they are.
Athlon XP 1600 no OC'ed
ECS K7S5A mobo
256mb Samsung PC133 SD Ram

I have the same mobo with a Samsung 40g drive. 256meg RAM is really too low for extended operation with XP. Even XP has a memory allocation bleed due to less than perfect added programs and possibly inadequate self-monitoring of its own activities. I have actually sat and watched RAM drop steadily when my computer was on idle. When I had XP installed, I was running Release Ram just to monitor system changes. A couple of hours would virtually drain it of usable memory with 256 installed.

That said, the problem may be due to resource drain which often will lock up a computer while memory will just transfer added activity to swapfile. I think I remember that XP has a resource meter that can be monitored from taskbar. That would be the easiest way to determine if resources were the problem.

If you suspect heat, try installing Speed Fan to monitor heat buildup. You can set the program to display any of three different temps in the taskbar, including hard drive temp, CPU, and system temp. If temp is the problem, try reversing the back case fan to exhaust (not power supply fan!) to create negative air pressure to disperse air more efficiently to corners of the case and cool system better. I also had a problem with drawing in the exhausted power supply air through the back case fan. Reversing it to exhaust eliminated that problem.

[Omega2k1]

I know its not cause of system resources... Cause when it locks up i don't get all the little funny colors or system gets slow. It just completly stops in its tracks. I'll be listening to music and it will just quit. The hard drive stops spinning(luckily... it won't do any damage to my hd when i have to kill the system), and it just sits there. I know what a system resource loss crash is like, i run 3d Studio Max 4.2 and it kill my system after about 2 hours(from resource loss not heat). I've got the fan on the back exausting air(but like i said its a slow fan, it doesn't move that much cfm's). Also i've got plenty of ram, i'm running Windows 98 not XP, so much more and its useless in 98.

I dont' think its the chipset either. Its got a heatsink on it and i've got that big 5 in fan thats blowing on it(huge fan blows on a lot of things ).

[systweaker]

I recently had a similar problem. Inre advice from this board I checked all my power connections and replaced a suspicious looking one - the problem was solved. I too thought it was heat related because the problem happened after a few hours of on-time. Possibly the power wire was in contact just enough to make the connection when cold, but seperated with heat expansion. The system would just lock up and CTRL-ALT-DEL did nothing, mouse would not move. Only Reset worked. Does your drive make periodic click sound. Mine did, as the drive stopped.

[Omega2k1]

I don't think it makes a clicking noise(but i probably couldn't hear it over the fans in my system ).

I'll try messing with the power connections.

[systweaker]

After the dust cleared, I (Scandisk)found that there were lots of disk errors and lost clusters - even a message that the media descriptor bit was wrong. I had NU repair all that and used Scanreg to restore a good copy of the Registry. Once everything was running again, there were bits and pieces of application files missing and Netscape had font problems. Lucky I was backed up. Everything seems to be working now.

[Ifish25]

Originally posted by systweaker
After the dust cleared, I (Scandisk)found that there were lots of disk errors and lost clusters - even a message that the media descriptor bit was wrong.

I am somewhat paranoid about file errors and have taken a que from my old PBell master CD and always install DOS Scandisk in the bootup sequence by adding the code to AUTOEXEC.BAT file. I can always choose to bypass it when the mood hits me. Scandisk recently corrected a disk error that would have gone undetected by me.

@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\SCANDISK.EXE /AUTOFIX /NOSUMMARY

There is a space after .EXE and AUTOFIX

[Omega2k1]

Well i think i've found the problem. I think it was heat but i'm not sure what it was comming from. I went in my case yesterday and i tied my cables and rounded my ribbon cables(took a while) and got it cooler inside my case and also while i was at it i took off my heatsink and re-applies some thermal paste(i didn't use that ****ty Radio Shack stuff this time, i used what came with my Volcano 6 and it looks like its much better, my process is a whole 2 degrees cooler with this stuff then that radio shack stuff). So for right now i've fixed it(also i've found a way to keep my system cool when i get off it, i've set it up when i hit the power button it goes into standby).