Odd problem.

I come seeking again the sage advice of the wizards behind the overclockers forum. You helped before but my problem is bigger this time...

I built two computers for friends and family, I built them identically and they each have the same problem. Did this about a year ago.

Here are the specs..

AMD 1.4 Thunderbird
Iwill KA266+ with Ali Magik 1 chipset
Stock HSF
Ati Rage 128 32 Mb
256 DDR
300 W power supply in a generic case
On board Sound,
56K Modems
40 Gig HD
Floppy
52X CDROM
24x??x?? CDRW

As I said I built two of them and loaded them up with Windows ME, XP wasn't out yet. Everything checked out good so I delivered the systems.

The problem is they tend to lock up, requiring a hard reboot, if they are left alone. Basically the user walks away for 5-15 minutes and when they come back the screen is either black or frozen and no keyboard/mouse inputs will restore the system.

I assume there is something wrong with the windows sleep scheme and the MB restoring power to the components. I really don't know...

So I leave this quandry on the altar of wisdom, under the exalted dome of the Overclocker's Forum.

It could possibly be Microsoft ME. Try installing XP or even Windows 98 and see if it works better.

Check in the Control Panel under Power Options. You can regulate standby and monitor and hard drive shutoff options there.

I should probably expand on my explanation by detailing what i've tried so far.

1. I disabled all sleep/hibernation functions.
2. All power down options are set to 'never'
3. Updated Monitor drivers to the exact monitor in used as opposed to generic plug and play drivers.
4. Also, Loading XP is a problem because it freezes halfway through and forces a reboot. Luckily it's smart enough to undo the changes.

Thank you all for the responses.

Could be the powersaving on the harddrives, when they shutdown they can be hard do get back to life.

What are the CPU temperatures like?

What are the CPU temperatures like?

Click to expand...

Average for an unoverclocked system with a stock HSF. 45-50 deg C.

The event occurs during idle time too. I just bet if I ditch the Iwill MB the problem would go away.

Kerilana said:

Average for an unoverclocked system with a stock HSF. 45-50 deg C.

The event occurs during idle time too. I just bet if I ditch the Iwill MB the problem would go away.

Click to expand...

I did a little research on the subject. Someone else had that problem and he fixed it with a new Bios.

Try Here:
http://www.biosmods.com/

Flash a newer one and see what happens. There appears to be an ACPI issue with that board.

Al

*Edit* The newer bios listed for that board has extensive ACPI changes.

I've never used ME before (thank god for what i've heard) but is there a windows update for that OS? That could be your problem right there. Make sure both systems are up to date on all their patches. I know XP had a problem comeing out of sleep mode in the beginning days that was solved w/ a patch from windows update.

My second suggestion is this. Do as others have said and look at the power options and make sure you have the hard drives set to never fall asleep. I was running 2000 on my older computer and it was experiencing the exact same problem as you have stated and this is how I fixed it.

Good luck