[Kyle_C]

Hi Jim,

I was reading your weblog and saw all the problems you've been having with your PC. Sounds a lot like what I went through last year with a new PC I built. I ran every diagnostic program I could think of and came up with nothing. I even ran the latest version of MemTest for over 3 days straight. Nothing. But when actually doing something "real" I would get anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours of use before it froze or gave me the ol' blue screen. I ended up exchanging the motherboard, power supply, and also used a different hard drive and upgraded the cooling. Still had the same problems. Then I decided to replaced the memory modules regardless of the MemTest results and, what do you know, that fixed it for good. It turns out it was the memory after all. All of the diagnostic programs completely missed it. Go figure.

Take care.

[tubesforever]

Excellent point.  I used to sell computers and the cheaper the RAM the more likely it would be cause issues like this.

We all like to save a buck, but you have to have the right type memory and it needs to do more than show active in the systems resources screen.

Good call.  I bet this could be his problem.

[hagtech]

Good call.  I think it makes sense to be my next move.  Better than buying a whole new PC!  Thanks for the tip!

jh

(hopefully this gets through so I don't have to type it again...)

[mingles]

I do tech support and I've seen lots of memory problems in recent years. Memtest doesn't find anything wrong, but if you swap in different chips, the crashing goes away immediately. Fortunately, most memory vendors have good return policies. I always try to buy from 18004MEMORY b/c they don't ask any questions for an RMA.

Until recently, I never knew memory could go bad. It can be fine for years, but overheating will destroy it.

[hagtech]

I had two 1GB cards in there.  Tried swapping.  Then tried one at a time (hey, 1G not bad if it works).  In all cases, there was actually no change.  Seems the computer likes to either hang at the same spot at end of boot, or goes for a couples of hours.

I've looked at power saving modes, screen savers, viruses, printer plugged in or not.  I've removed the camera driver.  Still can't get it.  And just now, it took me 5 boots to get past 1 minute.  And now it's been running for 5 hours.  I just can't get this one.  Kinda humid lately.  But still, why does it run fine at the Geek shop and not here?  Power looks to be ok.  And why would it be power if the thing regularly hangs in the same spot?

It ran fine at one house, then immediately hung after a move.  You'd think an engineer like me could figure this one out.

jh

[mingles]

Make sure the tubes are seated firmly ;~}

[ecir38]

I recently had a hard drive do similar things to me and couldn't figure it out. This was a brand new drive that had problems since day one (lemon) but just got worse. What made me replace it was occasionally I would notice that when checking the properties of the drive I noticed that the capacity was fluctuating. I replaced the drive with a fresh copy of the operating system and all is good now. Computer problems are like tracing down hum in your system .

BR

[WGH]

More random thoughts regarding the hang on boot:

When the computer runs fine at your shop, it is plugged into the internet or network? Does it boot at home without a network connection?

I have seen computers hang at boot when too much stuff is trying to load at the same time.

All Norton and McAfee products can cause problems and conflicts. After un-installing Norton products also use the Norton Removal Tool

I have never had a problem with ZoneAlarm, though there could be a conflict with your anti-virus if the lock-ups happen during network activity. What anti-virus program do you use? If you use something like a Norton Security Suite that also has a firewall, then running two firewalls at the same time could cause problems.  Nod32 is an excellent anti-virus program with no program conflicts that I know of.

Wayne

[hagtech]

I removed all anti-virus stuff.  Only have zonealarm.  Been connected to network directly to cable modem and/or linksys wireless router.  No changes.  Removed all kinds of programs, everything possible I could.

jh

[andrewbee]

Jim,

can / have you upgraded the system bd bios?
can you successfully boot from a optical disc win2k / winxp etc?
have you tried invoking F8 just before boot to load the drivers one by one to see if the hang occurs after any particular driver loads?
have you tried invoking F5 just before boot to bypass the loading of all unnecessary drivers?
have you tried a minimal configuration - power to system bd and one drive, preferably a floppy or optical? remove anything else that is not needed for operation e.g second video card,  modem, extra usb card etc.
is it plugged into a ups? remove it if so and go straight into the wall.
change keyboard / mouse for other units.
do you have any eternal usb devices e.g. hd connected on startup? if so remove them.
if all that checks out and its not memory (which it does not appear to be since you checked) I would back up my data and re-partion and format the hd and re-install the os.


Andrew

if all you took to the repair shop was the computer itself and no peripherals and it works fine there then look at your peripherals.