Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / Hardware fault detection.

Author
Message
Flashing Blade
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 15:15
Link
A while back my son's computer would reset after being on for 20 minutes. He has the same computer set up as me, so I just kept swapping bits like RAM, grafix card, etc until I found the culprit - turned out to be CPU - problem solved.

Now my computer is doing similiar thing, not just resetting but sometimes freezing.
But the big problem is this is such an interitent faul. Sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, some times it'll be fine for 2 or 3 weeks.
I been living with it until a reset during boot up killed my Windows this week.

What I'm after is somekind of program that will record a hardware fault when it happens. Does anyone know of such a magical program?

Thanx


The word "Gullible" cannot be found in any English Dictionary.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Mr Makealotofsmoke
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Dec 2006
Location: BillTown (Well Aust)
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 15:17
Link
nope, i dont think one exists because some hardware cant send that info. Have you tryied your PSU? it can sometimes be the PSU dying and loosing power outage making the pc not have enough power


http://www.myspace.com/pictureperfecttheband
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Raven
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 15:25
Link
Power Supply or more likely the cooling for you're GPU/CPU is failing causing it to lock up.
Some older systems this causes freezing, newer ones will reboot, and the latest ones will save everything to RAM for Windows to act like it was in hibernation and then allow you to reboot them once the CPU/GPU has cooled down.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Flashing Blade
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 15:46
Link
I just want to find the culprit and buy a replacement - I like the easy life.

Also, very occasionaly, windows does a blue screen thing and says says there is some kind of hardware problem.

I'd go through swapping hardware with my son until I found the problem, but with the fault being so intermitant I'd rather find fault another way. And I KNOW it'll be the very last thing I change.


The word "Gullible" cannot be found in any English Dictionary.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Agent Dink
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2004
Location:
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 16:14
Link
I am going to either say it's overheating, or there as in issue with your power supply or Ram. I was having similar symptoms with my RAM while playing intensive computer games. Sometimes I'd get a blue screen, and sometimes the computer would just turn off or reboot. I changed out the RAM stick and everything was A'OK.

Overheating... This is also a good possibility. Is there any sort of pattern with the overheating? Does it happen anytime, or just in newer games, or intensive programs?

Back to top
Profile PM
GatorHex
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 16:27
Link
Nothing worse than an intermittent fault. I often find it's the damn motherboard. I'd see if there is a bios update for it. Put it's model number on the net and see if anyone else if have similar issues.

DinoHunter (still no nVidia compo voucher!), CPU/GPU Benchmark, DarkFish Encryption DLL, War MMOG (WIP), 3D Model Viewer
Back to top
Profile PM Website
JerBil
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th May 2004
Location: Somewhere along the Z axis...
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 17:12
Link
Have you ever cleaned the insides? Dust can cause overheating, as can a failed fan.

Ad Astra Per Asper
Back to top
Profile PM Email
hessiess
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2007
Location: pc!
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 17:45 Edited at: 14th Sep 2007 17:46
Link
pull the side off whel its on and look for slow/stoped fans. if the gfx card is fan cooled pull it out and clean it. also get a desk fan, leev the side off, point the fan into the comp, see if the problem prosists.

grab a Linux live cd, and run the memtest feature to rule out bad ram.

learn blender, you will never regret it.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Flashing Blade
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 19th Oct 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 18:14
Link
I wouldn't say overheating because it nearly always happens shortley after I first boot up - if my computer manages to stay on for more than 10 mins then its usualy good for the day. It may be the reverse - a component failing when its too cold.

Quote: "Have you ever cleaned the insides? "


When it killed my windows and I was in a bad mood, my wife offered to hoover (vacum clean) the inside. I laughed and gave her a patronising wink. "Bless your cotton socks", I said.
If hoovering it out works she'll never let me live it down - I'll try it when she's out.

I'll try swapping the RAM too has I have some spare....somewhere.


The word "Gullible" cannot be found in any English Dictionary.
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
dark donkey
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th May 2006
Location:
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 18:18
Link
Quote: "When it killed my windows and I was in a bad mood, my wife offered to hoover (vacum clean) the inside. I laughed and gave her a patronising wink. "Bless your cotton socks", I said.
If hoovering it out works she'll never let me live it down - I'll try it when she's out."


Thats easy to solve. Dont, use compressed air
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Agent Dink
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Mar 2004
Location:
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 19:51
Link
Not just a sissy can of compressed air either. Rent a whole fricken air compressor (if you don't have one), turn it on and let it shake the house and bother the neighbors with noise pollution as it compresses the air, stretch the hose from the garage to the livingroom and blow out all the dust in a huge cloud, leaving the mess to your wife and the hoover. Then it will look manly

Back to top
Profile PM
Raven
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 20:03
Link
Quote: "I was having similar symptoms with my RAM while playing intensive computer games."


That is a very good point. I had an issue on an old system where not only the RAM was dying (it was after a Linux crash of speculuar proportions) but also the BIOS was on it's last legs.

Not the bios itself but the flashram chip somehow had become damaged. This was back when they weren't welded to the mobo so was actually quite easy to fix mind.

If it is doing it on boot it could very well be the bios chip dying (about the only component you can't test unfortunately).
For the RAM, download a Linux distro, and run MEMTEST on boot (DSL is 50mb and has it so can be tested within an hour), if you run a standard test it'll tell you if the RAM is nackered; if you run an intensive test it'll tell you why it's nackered.

To test the CPU, run a CPU benchmark app; like specperf or cpumark.
To test the GPU, run a GPU benchmark app; like 3D Mark 05.

Make sure they are intensive. Also for Windows, right-click on My Computer and select properties. Choose the advanced settings and "error reporting". Make sure "reboot on crash" is unchecked. This will then flash up the bluescreen whenever the system calls a reboot. There is also an error.log (hidden system file) in the boot drive (on vista it is in a folder called boot) that logs all errors that have occured while windows has been running.

There is also an error log checker available in your administrator tools. You may also wish to check that.

If that isn't technical enough, then let me know; i'll get some caffiene and make a full post on how to do it under 2000/XP/Vista step-by-step. One shame of Windows being so damn easy over *nix system is very few people know how to debug, error check, admin or lock down their systems at all let alone to a decent degree.

You'd be surprised at just how much you can gain from knowing Windows as well as most Linux users know their distro. Most of my comps tend to run far more stable, and quicker than others I know simply because I tend to optimise them once a month, and from installation tend to end up locked down from potencial attacks.
Too many security vunerabilities in the past that have come to bite me in the arse have taught me I needed to really know the OS inside and out.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 14th Sep 2007 20:07
Link
Welded to the mobo? Surely you mean soldered?


Since the other one was scaring you guys so much...
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Pincho Paxton
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Dec 2002
Location:
Posted: 15th Sep 2007 08:09
Link
Quote: "I wouldn't say overheating because it nearly always happens shortley after I first boot up - if my computer manages to stay on for more than 10 mins then its usualy good for the day. It may be the reverse - a component failing when its too cold."


Dust in the fan.. sometimes the fan will spin, other times it will be stuck. Just get a brush, and clean out the fan over the CPU.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Raven
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 15th Sep 2007 14:23
Link
Quote: "Welded to the mobo? Surely you mean soldered?"


Most current board actually soldier the flash-ram on the board, then bond the plastic protective casing directly to it.

For all intended purposes that bugger is welded on now, cause there ain't nothing taking it off without causing serious damage.
God knows why they've started doing it that way mind.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-19 05:26:12
Your offset time is: 2024-11-19 05:26:12