On Monday 06 August 2007 15:08:34 Chris Kurecka wrote: > On 8/6/07, Chris Kurecka <ckurecka@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > A simple test is to swap it. You mentioned having another PC. If the > > > power supplies use the same connectors, you could try swapping them > > > over and seeing if it makes any difference. > > > > I just stopped memtest86+ after letting it run for 8 hours. I haven't > > used it before, but it looked like it would keep looping indefinitely > > until stopped. On 1x1GB stick of RAM, it said it was running: > > Test Pass Errors > > ================= > > Std 20 0 > > > > Which I assume means the memory is fine. > > > > I don't have any thermal paste offhand, so I'll try to get some. Are > > there any retail stores (particularly ones in Southeast Michigan) that > > might carry > > it? Or is it pretty much only available online? Also, is > > > there any particular type/brand I should be looking for? > > > > The PSU in my old machine is for a Dell micro-tower (Pentium 4HT > > 2.4GHz). I think it's only 200-250W, a lot less than my current PSU, > > but if the only risk is that it might not turn on, I can check and see > > if it will fit in the tower in place of the current PSU. If there are > > larger dangers, please warn me. I won't attempt it until at least > > tonight, and haven't verified that they're compatible yet. > > > > At least the good news is it seems to have not frozen in about 10 > > hours of being on, which is near the upper limit for me. I actually > > took the case wall off and increased the A/C in my house though, which > > I hope doesn't become the "solution." > > > > Thanks everyone, > > > > Chris > > To reply to myself, a coworker is going to bring in some thermal paste > (hopefully tomorrow) for me to try. He did tell me though that based > on the fact that all the fans are good, the paste seemed pretty good, > and more importantly that the CPU and disk go crazy when the system > does freeze, he doesn't think that it's heat related. I should point > out (and probably should have before), that every time I've gotten my > PC to freeze has been while I'm using it, not when it's just sitting > there, and it specifically happens immediately after either mouse or > keyboard input - it seems to happen more often with the mouse, but I > think just typing has triggered it as well. But it's from simple > stuff like clicking or using the scroll wheel. Maybe even just moving > the mouse. And then the system freezes, but the CPU monitor in the > panel sometimes keeps going and shows 100% CPU use, and the disk light > is going nuts. Sometimes though, the screen doesn't update and I > don't see that. > > I'll keep looking into heat & power issues (especially since I need to > fix the paste now regardless), but I was wondering if anyone had any > thoughts on that? Don't go over board on the paste. Only a very small amount smeared on the chip and not the silicon is needed, too much can give you problems. Personally I would not bother with a 250w power supply any thing less than 400W these days what with power hungry graphics and multiply hard drives, the original may be failing under load, though why the key board and / or the mouse would cause this is beyond me. I did have a power supply get very temperamental last summer when things were getting very hot and after installing a new graphics card that was drawing more power than the old one. I connected a multi meter to one of the power cables and kept an eye on it for a day. The machine in question was freezing and some times rebooting for an hour or two during mid afternoon, (hottest part of the day), and after cleaning fans, heat sinks and putting another fan in the case and not curring the problem, the meter showed a drop when things were hot -- Guy Fawkes, the only man to enter the house's of Parliament with honest intentions, (he was going to blow them up!) Registered Linux user number 414240
