Lock up issue! SAVE ME

[C64]

I am having problems with my computer that I built off Tigerdirect.com.......Im running Windows XP professional and it seems to enjoy locking up at random. I have a XFX P4MA-MNB mother board w/ ATA-133, and a Maxtor ATA-133 harddrive. The motherboard has a VIA chipset im not sure which it is though. I found on VIA's website that XP doesnt support ATA-133...I find it hard to believe but could that be the problem, or could the chipset itself be the problem?? If the ATA-133 is the problem is there a way to change it to ATA-100, and finally if I get a motherboard with a different chipset that isnt ATA-133, will an ATA-133 harddrive work on an ATA-100 motherboard? Pardon the bombardment of questions, but anyone who can help please help, I'd greatly appreciate it

[Scott Tiger]

Welcome to TechIMO.

How big is your power supply? I seriously doubt that the ATA-133 problem (if it is one) is really an issue.

Also, what kind of RAM did you buy? Generic memory has been known to cause problems. Head here:

memtest86.com

to download a good, free, memory tester.

Notice how my post is broken up into small one line paragraphs? It makes the post easier to read faster. Please note that I'm not knocking your post above; I'm just pointing it out because the easier your post is to read the better your chances are for getting a worthwhile reply.

Again, welcome to the forum.

[John Prophet]

Welcome to the forum!

How many Ram sticks do you have? Maybe try it with just one stick at a time if you have more than one

Also make sure you have the latest drivers for everything.

[C64]

Hehe I see what you mean.....

I have a 300 watt power supply, and my RAM is from SimpleTech

I have 2 512mb pc2100 chips in my computer right now. I have yet to check the RAM with the memtest though

Could the fact that my pc may not be adequatley cooled be a problem as well....? or possible the chipset drivers etc. for the motherboard?

[C64]

Oh I didn't see the other reply....I have 2 ram sticks in now, but I had the lockup issues before installing the second chip....

[HeadBand]

what are the rest of your system specs it could be that you are overclocking your memory

and yes it could very well be heat

[John Prophet]

well heat COULD be it.

The way to check, besides to look in the bios and see if you can find the temperature etc....is to try to notice when the lockups are happening...if it takes a while and then locks up t could be heat building up....if you reboot and it locks up again right away that would seem to be heat related.

[C64]

Heya,

My system specs are as follows

XFX P4MA-MNB 400/533fsb motherboard
2.0 ghz celeron processor
1024 RAM or 128mb RAM ***
ATA-133 Maxtor 40gb Hard drive
TEAC 5.25/3.5 floppy
DVD RW/ 48x cdrom

***I put 128mb ram back in after running a memory test suggested by the gentlemen...or lady above And I got over 800 errors......down with generic ram!

In regards to the heat problem...the lock ups are random sometimes after an hour sometimes after a day its just random....

Any other ideas on what can be wrong?

[Scott Tiger]

Well bad RAM is enough to bring any machine/OS combination down.

Leave that out and see how stable the machine is.

[C64]

I switched out both 512s and put in the 128 and it did the same thing....

WHAT IS THE MATTER this is not as easy as it used to be....