PC problem

Tony

It's not ticked and never has been.

Oh dear.

I'll give that a try. It's not the main problem, though.

Just disable suspect software, and/or try to replicate the fault in safe mode (F7 on boot IIRC). PCs are basically a few components - you have to work through and isolate. My guess from what you say would be MB on a new PC - the trickiest component to test alas.

Rob

Ah, I see.

If it only shut down after running AVG then we'd be fairly safe in calling it a software fault but as it also does this during boot up then it's more likely hardware. My first call would be a faulty RAM stick which only manifests when particular sectors get used and also after running memory intensive software such as AVG. Try removing, cleaning and reseating the sticks and also running a RAM checker such as DocMemory. If you have any swap the sticks for known good ones or even just remove one at a time and run the machine with limited RAM until the problem manifests again.

Uninstall AVG or disable it at start-up. I've come across this very issue before on another PC. Unfortunately I don't recall exactly what the problem was with AVG but IIRC it was due to an upgraded version. I have no issues with AVG in general - I use it myself on a number of PCs with excellent results - but there is a certain problem identical to yours being manifest on some machines.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

Take a look at;

Make sure all the fans are running and up to speed (including northbridge and graphics card fan), make sure the CPU heatsink hasn't lifted and was installed correctly in the first place. Remove any expansion cards and then add them back one at a time if this makes the system stable. Try swapping the RAM with another machine. Run Memtest86+ with all peripherals that aren't needed to boot Memtest disconnected (boot from flash drive or floppy) and see if the machine is stable. Again, add back one at a time.

Run the manufacturer's hard disk diagnostics and run the full test, it might take a few hours but it should show up problems with the HDD if there are any.

In message , George writes

Or ...

I installed the heatsink the wrong way round once, which meant that it wasn't in good contact with the correct part of the processor, causing it to overheat and shut down

In message , Jon writes

I'll take you up on that, it's not been a problem for a good few years now

In message , geoff writes

Want to take me up on it as well? I could do with a pint right now.

Seriously though, it's still a huge problem despite what you may have heard.

My original recollection of this issue was that it was attributed to a dodgy batch of electrolyte used in cheap caps, even then I thought it was pretty minor, and mainly and issue with cheap pc's

... but then again I don;t deal witha large number of pc's

I am genuinley curious as to what extent it is (and was)a huge problem, anything I can find is at least 3 years old, and no real indication of the scale of the problem.

Having said that I'll now need to go and check the 4 year old pc that i occasionally let the kids use and has been showing intermittent problem for the last few months :-)

cheers

David

My previous machine died of this with the same characteristics to the ops' back in March (?) last year.

A colleague also had a machine fail in July last year of the same thing, although their board was toast in the process (mine was just unstable and deteriorating due to what looked like a single faulty cap).

So I hate to say, but I beg to differ - there are plenty of machines in circulation still that may suffer from this, although most failed quickly (in 12-24 months from manufacture).

IIRC Dell still have a motherboard replacement policy in force on some of their GX range due to the same thing.

Per my other reply, similar experience to my own. Mine was a single faulty cap (not leaking, just an ever so slightly rounded top)

The only other thing I could suggest by way of narrowing it down to software or hardware would be to run a linux live CD to see if it bombed - that way you're avoiding Windows.

Damn, there goes the capacitor theory...

Does memtest throw up any errors ? note that there are two versions, one completely free, and one commercial with a free derivative - one didn't work properly on my mobo and threw up errors immediately although the machine has been solid for 18 months.

If one doesn't work, try the other :-}

In message , Clint Sharp writes

Yes - with regard to his mobo, O smug one ...

It was, I've repaired several Mobos with this problem, It's not a problem with 12 month old Asus boards

London Pride, if you please ...

In message , Colin Wilson writes

GX and SX range. Just had a Dual Core machine fail with bad caps, well under a year old (big name brand). Had some clone boards fail with bad caps at just over a year old recently.

The 'bad' electrolyte problem has been a major cause but fairly recently there was also a *huge* batch of caps that were overfilled with electrolyte and have been fitted to a lot of big name machines. Cooling as always is a problem that kills caps quickly as well.

Happens in safe mode too. Should have mentioned that.

I've fairly extensive experience of electronic faults but this one doesn't follow the norm.

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

pop over here with it, we can fart around swapping bits over, chuck another HD in etc, get my free pint(s) by eliminating the capacitors as being the problem,

a process of elimination, which is much easier when you have everything to hand

In message , geoff writes

Ah, but then you made a rather sweeping statement in the first instance and didn't specify Asus only. I see probably 30-40 systems a month for repair and I can say it's definitely still a problem that affects quite a few big name box manufacturers. I usually only get to see 'clone' stuff when family or friends phone me so I couldn't comment on Asus specifically.

Tell you what, I'll buy mine, you buy yours and we can share a pub...

In message , Clint Sharp writes

I was specifically referring to his problem - some one "bet" that was what HIS problem was, I bet that it wasn't

OK - just as soon as I've finished my diet (a month so far since I had a beer, almost a stone lost ! ... five to go)