System Stability problems

[mrsambo12]

I have been having a great number of problems recently. In windows, the system freezes, reboots, and sometimes screen turns black with a broken green line across the top. I installed some updated video drivers a few days ago, but I reinstalled my old ones. What could be causing the black screen/green line problem? I have never had that before. What other problems could cause the symptoms im having? the above problems are hapening quite often. Should I just reinstall windows all together?

I just put this system together. I bought the Motherboard refurbished from newegg. I have an athlon xp 1700+ in it. On bootup it doseant say Xp 1700+, it just says Athlon 4. It shows the correct Mgz. Do I need to update BIOS?


Thanks for your help


Shuttle AK31 w 512mb OCZ pc3000
Athlon XP 1700+
Geforce3 TI 200

 

[AntiHeiss]

Update your BIOS and reinstall Windows and if you still have problems then repost and we'll go from there...
Good luck...

 

[takiwa]

what type of video do you have...onboard or AGP/PCI?

 

[repo man11]

I have seen the black/wi green line before, but only when I was experimenting with overclocking. Once I reduced FSB, it went away. I think I might have gotten it when I had my vid card overclocked as well.
Try to go back to your last working configuration. Uninstall and reinstall your vid drivers. If you are still having probs, reinstall the OS. If you are still having problems then, I think you might be looking at a hardware issue. I don't think the Athlon 4 BIOS recognition is a problem. But if there is a more up to date BIOS available, it would be worth a try. Just make sure to know what you are doing if you've never done a BIOS flash before. There is a good guide on the front page.

 

[David]

On bootup it doseant say Xp 1700+, it just says Athlon 4. It shows the correct Mgz. Do I need to update BIOS?

An AthlonXP is essentially an Athlon 4, without power saving features designed for laptops. A BIOS update may help, but I dont think it is necessary.

 

[mrsambo12]

Could an inadequate or faulty PSU cause these problems? In my other system, I had a generic 300W, like in this system. Everytime I would try and overclock by raising the FSB and Voltages I would get plenty of freezes and no boots. Worked fine after I upgraded to a good 400W. But that system was loaded with alot more fans and drives. And with the Geforce3 I am using in this system, I cant overclock it over 200/430. When I had it in my other system I had it at 225/480 with no problems at all, very stable.

Im also wondering if it is the used Motherboard I purchased from Newegg. Tonight I am going to do a clean install of operating system and drivers. I am also going to update BIOS. Thanks for the advice

 

[David]

Could an inadequate or faulty PSU cause these problems? In my other system, I had a generic 300W, like in this system. Everytime I would try and overclock by raising the FSB and Voltages I would get plenty of freezes and no boots. Worked fine after I upgraded to a good 400W. But that system was loaded with alot more fans and drives. And with the Geforce3 I am using in this system, I cant overclock it over 200/430. When I had it in my other system I had it at 225/480 with no problems at all, very stable.

Im also wondering if it is the used Motherboard I purchased from Newegg. Tonight I am going to do a clean install of operating system and drivers. I am also going to update BIOS. Thanks for the advice

PSU is very often the cause of Stability problems. Often more important than the PSU Wattage is the brand. A crappy 300w PSU will often be outpoerformed a lot by a branded (Enermax and Antec are good brands) PSU.

If the fans are sucking power then I suggest that you get a cheap AT power supply - 200W or so. Rig all the fans (apart from the CPU fan) to the AT PSU and then you can save strain on your main PSU and also have more control over the fans (ie have 1 case fan and a CPU fan on the main PSU and run the rest off of the AT PSU. If the computer overheats turn on the AT PSU and run the other fans).

For more, and better, info on Cooling and PSUs, see the relevant forums.

 

[KaHNZa]

My old Abit KT7 used to do that a lot. I upgraded the BIOS and swapped video cards and the problem went away for good.