Unusual lockup issues

[Phandalyon]

Hello fellow [H]'ers.

I am having some strange issues. I am working on a computer for my dad. It locks up randomly. The one time that it consistently locks up is on download.com. I can visit any other website (that I have tried so far) and it will work fine. But it will lock anywhere from 2-20 seconds after loading download.com.

It is a hard freeze that required a reset or power off at the button.

Current hardware setup:

Chaintech VNF4 Ultra motherboard
Athlon64 3000+
100GB Maxtor SATA HD
2x256MB Corsair PC3200
MSI Radeon 9200 128MB PCIx
Windows 2000 Pro SP4

The OS has been reinstalled 5 times with 2 different CDs
I am thinking about installing another OS to test if the problem still happens, but I have not done this yet.
Tried 1 stick of RAM at a time with no change
Tried different HD with no change

In the process of:
trying diff video card
removing all drives except HDD
trying diff RAM.

Any suggestions other than what I have tried or am trying? My dad fought with the issue for 2 weeks and has finally packed up the computer and sent it to me. It is just wierd that it locks on that particular website. I have updated the JAVA and flash versions just to be on the safe side. IE is ver 6SP1.

 

[pstang]

what psu?

are you using the latest drivers for your components, loading chipset drivers first,

run memtest to check ram

try using firefox on download.com to see if the same happens

 

[Phandalyon]

what psu?

are you using the latest drivers for your components, loading chipset drivers first,

run memtest to check ram

try using firefox on download.com to see if the same happens

The PSU is some cheap piece of crap my dad bought at Circuit City.

I have all latest drivers for all components

I have run Memtest for about 6 hours with no issues

Firefox still locks up at download.com.

I think I have it figured out though. I replaced the video card with a super old PCI one I had laying around. Now I am not getting lockups but I have lost USB and mouse support. I am guessing that the PSU is overloaded, the Vid Card is bad, or the mobo is bad.

I am going to replace the PSU next and see what happens.

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

edit: unplugging/replugging the mouse got that back. Now I am going to reinstall USB. I think replacing the video card has fixed the issue. Now I just need to figure out why.

 

[GeForceX]

Locking up has to do with the PSU most of the time. Perhaps download.com is too graphical for the computer? But that's such a weak guess. What's the brand of your PSU and model name?

-J.

 

[Phandalyon]

Well, as I stated before, swapping out the video card resolves the issue.

This morning I put a new PSU in with the "bad" video card and the computer still has lockup issues. But even worse now. It will lockup on startup. So I ordered a new video card this morning and I am hoping that it resolves the issue completely. If not, I know it is a bad motherboard and everything is figured out. Video card should be here in a day or 2. I will update when I try it.

 

[MD_Willington]

How do the components on the mainboard look, any signs of failing components??

I'd check that before throwing any more money at it.

MD

 

[Phandalyon]

How do the components on the mainboard look, any signs of failing components??

I'd check that before throwing any more money at it.

MD

Everything looks fine. No problems at all. It is a brand new motherboard, so it could be bad. But it is a last resort. I don't know if I already mentioned, but I needed to buy a PCIx vid card for testing purposes anyway, so I bought the cheapest one on Newegg that had decent reviews.

When I am using a regular PCI video card there are not problems whatsoever and the computer runs like a champ. So if it is not the video card that is causing the problem then it is probably something isolated to the PCI Express system on the motherboard.

edit: I should also mention that the motherboard and video card are both about 2-3 weeks old, so replacing them under warranty should not be a huge issue.

 

[Phandalyon]

Well, replacing the video card seems to have taken care of all the issues I was having. Thanks for the help everyone. I can now ship this computer back to my dad in working order.