uga2000dave Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 A few days ago my computer started randomly freezing up... no mouse or keyboard control (can't ctrl-alt-delete) and the busy light stayed constantly lit. The only thing I can do in this state is open/close the cd drive trays. This sounds like a virus to me but I was wondering if anyone has had this happen to them recently. I'm running XP on a Pent. 3, 256 MB RAM machine. The only fundamental changes I've made to the system recently are installation of a dvd-rom drive and a usb pci card. Most of the time I can perform usual tasks and it won't freeze. The last few times it froze were once when I was trying to download the housecall.antivirus.com online scan utility, once when I was in the middle of defragging, once when I tried to burn a CD, and once when it was in the middle of the bootup disk scan (which runs every time I restart from the freeze-up). Each time the bootup disk scan completes it lists two or three files that have to be truncated and each time they've been different. My next step is to try to fix this via safe mode, but since I'm at work right now I'd figure I'd try this forum to see what you guys think. Hopefully it's not a hardware issue... Thanks in advance, DAve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCH-Bruce Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I had a machine in our office that was doing as you describe. It is a Intel P3 450mHz and we found that the cpu cooling fan was the culprit. Don't know if that is what your problem is but it sounds very similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uga2000dave Posted June 22, 2004 Author Share Posted June 22, 2004 I'll check the fan when I get home and see if it sounds like it's about to go. Better that than a defective HD. Thanks! DAve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natimage Posted June 22, 2004 Share Posted June 22, 2004 I truly hate to say this, and hopefully it's not your case, but I had similar problems a while back and ended up replacing the mother board. Mine was completely shutting down, though! Not just freezing. Hopefully it's something as simple as the fan!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThumpAZ Posted June 23, 2004 Share Posted June 23, 2004 Have you upgraded this machine to XP, or is it a factory install? It is of little matter, but is something that might be useful to know. I have found on several machines with XP that adding a form factor to form factor adapter card (in your case the PCI to USB card) can cause similar annoyances. Most of the time, this involves the machine not booting at all. There is a MS Knowledge Base article on this, but the number escapes me right this second. Do a search of the KB for "XP hangs during startup" One simple thing to test is to remove the PCI to USB adapter card and watch it for a couple of days to see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webmedic Posted June 23, 2004 Share Posted June 23, 2004 Also to note if your motherboard is going out you will be able to look at it. In most cases you will be able to see the capacitors bulging. This is a sure sign of your motherboard going bad. If it is an abit board you can almost count on it. I sold a bunch of abits during that period and they had this issue allot. The other thing it could be is your power supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uga2000dave Posted June 24, 2004 Author Share Posted June 24, 2004 Have you upgraded this machine to XP, or is it a factory install?It is of little matter, but is something that might be useful to know. I have found on several machines with XP that adding a form factor to form factor adapter card (in your case the PCI to USB card) can cause similar annoyances. Most of the time, this involves the machine not booting at all. There is a MS Knowledge Base article on this, but the number escapes me right this second. Do a search of the KB for "XP hangs during startup" One simple thing to test is to remove the PCI to USB adapter card and watch it for a couple of days to see what happens. TCH-Glen: I think you hit it right on the head... First, I did upgrade my OS to XP. Second, I haven't had any hangups since I removed all devices from the PCI USB card (it is still plugged in, though). I'll do a search here in a second like you suggested and see what I can find. Hopefully there's a fix for this - it's not a critical problem (I have two available usb ports already but four devices) but if it can be corrected I'd like to give it a try. Thanks for the help, everyone! DAve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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