Hello, I have a very irritating problem with my pc. It freezes up whenever it feels like it. There is no specific time or place. It will just stop. I get no response from anything. Ctrl-alt-del does nothing and the mouse and keyboard are also unresponsive. I have been to other sites and posted my problem but to no avail.I was on the last site for about 2 months trying everything they said...Nothing.
Hopefully someone here knows or has had this problem before. my specs are below. Thanks for your time. The freezing has been going on since I got the computer 2 years ago. I cant seem to fix it.





HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel

Hard to tell where to start..., you say you've tried everything. It sounds like a video driver problem, but I'm sure that's one of the first things you checked. Right? You have gone to the nVidia site and downloaded and installed the latest driver, right? Perhaps it would help (and give us a clue about what you've done so far) if you tell us more. Oh, and by the way, welcome to the forum.

ChurchLady

The last thing that I did was to change the video card. That was about a week ago. At first it seemed to fix it. But slowly the freezing came back. Yes I have updated all that I can. The only thing that seems odd is that I am unable to disable the onboard video in the bios. It gives me the options of onboard 1mb or onboard 512kb. But on the side info menu it says that disableing the onboard video is an option. ?????

If two video adapters are listed in device manager, disable the onboard one (right-click\Properties\Device Usage).

I disabled the vga driver (oem) in the device manager when I put the card in. It made no difference. It is still disabled. I even tried to remove it but windows found it at next start up.

Your system should have the integrated i810 or i815 system, you can use the steps below to properly configure a new video card.

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/support_doc/bph06273.html

Keep in mind this is only part of the problem. If it's been happening since you purchased the computer, it could be any manner of things. First thing to do is check that all your fans are running properly, and you don't have a boatload of dust and other crap built up in the case. After that, I would definitely replace the power supply (not sure if that HP model uses a proprietary one, in which case have fun!)

First, try to get things back to where they were before (Remove the new video card). Once you are up and running, disable the onboard video via Device Manager. Shut down and add the new video card. When you start back up, insert the card's CD and follow the instructions. Should be a piece of cake if done properly

ChurchLady

Assuming this person is running 98se or ME, those instructions will not work. See the link I provided and the rather lengthy process required for 98 or ME.

Check and see if things are getting too hot inside.
(CPU fan working?) heatsinks dirty? poor ventilation around the case?

Could be the problem.

Hope this helps. Eric

The computer will freeze sometimes when I first turn it on after a couple days. It can take 30 secs or sometimes 15 min. It is as random as it gets.




HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel

I have replaced the mobo, video card, updated all of the drivers, did a clean install of win98 a couple times. Both cd drives have been replaced. I havent replaced the power supply 188watts. Oh yah and another thing that may help you. When I run the video in 16 colors it wont freeze up. It did maybe a total of 2-3 times during the 3 months that I had to resort to that. The shared memory total is 1mb. That seems kind of odd. My new card has 64 and no option for 16 colors. Maybe that will help you out.









HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel

The possibility exists that it may be a bad computer, bad mobo, bad chipset, bad capacitors, etc. 20/20 hindsight, but it sounds like you should have taken it back when it first started freezing up.

The power supply is pretty iffy even without the added video card. You might try another psu if you can get one to try.

I havent replaced the power supply 188watts.

Wow,I'm surprised it will even boot with that small a power supply.
I bet if you install a 300 or bigger ps you will cure your problems.

LilJoe

Punch in what you have and see if the psu is beefey enough. I am thinking yours is a bit small.



http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

"Believe what you need to."

Looks like Im 100 watts short of what I need. We tried returning the computer but they would only replace the mobo.

They were sure that was the problem. If im at 287 watts then should I go for a 300 or a 400watt?
HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel

400

LilJoe

Random freezes are almost always caused by a bad power supply ir bad memory. First run a memory test for several hours, if that comes up clean replace the power supply with one adequate to the system.

Memory test:

http://www.simmtester.com/page/products/doc/docinfo.asp


Power supply calculator:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Shelly

Well the memory test passed every time. The power calculator says that I am 100 watts under what I need. I have 188 I need 291. I got a 300 watt supply only because of the $40.00 price diff. It was either 300 watt normal psu or 400 watt lighted w\dual fans psu.
HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel

I have also noticed that when it locks up the noise output of the computer changes tone.
HP Pavilion 8750c\8655c
256mb,533mhz,pent III
Nvida Geforce mx400
Phoenix mobo w\intel