PC Freeze - Cant Isolate the problem

[ajaju]

Issue:
- PC freezes at its own will. Sometimes once in an hour .. sometimes once in 24 hours.
- The freeze is NOT associated with a specific task.
- The freeze involves no response from the keyboard or the mouse. The cursor is stuck at its last location. The power fans and LEDs are all ON.
- No other visible issue with the system.


Here's my system configuration:
-------------------------------
ASUS K8v Se Dlx
AMD 3200+
2 x 512MB of Crucial PC3200 RAM (in slots 1 and 2)
ATI 9600 Pro 8x AGP
Plextor 12x Cd Writer
NEC 2510a DVD Writer
Western Digital 80GB HDD - partitioned into C: and D:
Seagate 160GB HDD - partitioned into E: and F:
Internal 6in1 card reader
PSU: 420W Thermaltake Silent PurePower
Fans: Case, PSU, Video Card and CPU
All PCI slots are empty.
Latest Via 4in1 hyperion drivers
OS: Windows XP w/SP1


Here's what I have done/tested so far to troubleshoot without ANY success:
- memtest - no RAM errors
- RAM stick swap in slots.
- Changed AGP bios settings from 8x to 4x.
- New drivers for vid card.
- Changed Video Aperture in BIOS from 128MB to 64MB.
- Power Management disabled in BIOS
- Monitored CPU and MB temperatures(Asus Probe) - they never exceeded 50C
- swapped a USB wireless microsoft mouse with a standard PS2 mouse.
- INcreased RAM voltage to 2.6 and changed BIOS settings to 3-4-4-7
- HTT disabled in BIOS.
- Checked BIOS version - its 1004, the latest is 1008 - but the latest one adds new CPU support ONLY.

I would like to get some more ideas/suggestions from your folks before I start RMAing my components.

thanks!

(didnt know which forum to put this in... so this is it... mods - pl. feel free to move it if deemed necessary)

 

[Unforgiven]

try swapping out the power supply to see if that could be the cause.

 

[ajaju]

Thans for your reply. I will try to do that - while I do not have any other PSU lying around - I first would like to attempt to soft tweak all issues before i start replacing hardware.

Just wanted to know if i have missed any other trick/BIOS tweak etc.?
thanks

 

[Unforgiven]

i think its safe to say that your efforts in the bios have been pretty darn comprehensive and your troubleshooting of soft tweaks is pretty much exhausted. that chip requires a power supply with at least 16-18 amps on the 12v rail MINIMUM. its all relative to how many devices you are running but the power supply may be something to strongly consider.

 

[cougar78]

I have had something similar happen to me. I however haven't done as much testing but I did switch out power supplies and took it to a computer shop. However, tried to install SP2 after reformatting still getting freezes. So in your case I hope switching ps's help