Tab

Hey guys, Im running a fairly good system. Now i have this problem when im playing unreal, or any other game. Ill be playing away then all of a sudden BAM! System lock up. You know the high pitched whistle type noise you get from your pc when its on? Well when the system locks up i hear that whistle noise getting more and more high pitched, the only way out of it is to restart.

Anyway, I was being cheap and saw a good price on the internet on ebay for this computer so i bought it.

Its a 3200xp
512 ram
Matsonic Motherboard
Geforce 5700 256
120 gig hard drive

Yes, I will be swapping out the motherboard and the ram for a gig of corsair. I dont think its an overheat problem i checked the temp and it was only 46. So im out of solutions, hopping one of you people can help me out. Could it be my crappy mobo, or my no name ram causing the problem? The computer was bought from a reputible seller (sells alot of computers) Its brand new. I think Ill also be buying a new hard-drive

Dragonlich

What about the videocard? If the case isn't well-ventilated, and the card isn't cooled very well, *it* can overheat. What brand is it, and does it have a temperature sensor? (Asus does, for example)

Tab

Its a geforce 5700 256meg

Lasereth

Before I upgraded my PC, my motherboard was causing games to freeze. I switched out everything in the PC trying to find the problem. After taking out all three sticks of RAM, the HDD, CD-ROM, processor, videocard, etc. the only thing that stopped the freezes was a new motherboard.

I'd say it's probably either your RAM or your motherboard. It could be the videocard, but only if it's overheating really bad.

-Lasereth

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Xepidemic

hmmm.. it could be the motherboard and that high pitched noise your hearing is from a bad capacitor. Check your motherboard.


I once bought a mobo off ebay. It had bad capacitors on it. It worked and booted but I didnt wanna risk it. Blown caps happens when overclocking and theres to much voltage applied.

steveincolumbus

Try a new Power supply

Dragonlich

quick summary: any piece of hardware could be damaged, so replace them all. /jk

Seriously, you can test the memory using memtest86, which might safe you cash if it's okay.
You can check the temperatur of your videocard simply by touching it. If the backside (to the rear of the main GPU (=chip) is too hot to keep your finger on it, it's probably too hot; if not, it's not.
You can check the harddisk by going to the manufacturers' website, and downloading one of their test programs. If that says it's okay, it probably is.

Doing all of those things might exclude some parts. You can also remove all the non-essential bits (extra harddisks/cdroms/sound cards, etc), and slowly build your way up (playing games until it crashes), you *may* be able to get to the broken part.

sailor

Yeah, unfortunately, hardware diagnosis is usually a process of elimination. Dive right in...

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The Phenomenon

This is either a bad motherboard or bad RAM. I am 97% sure its one of the two.

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Tab

Ok, thanx ALOT for the help. The support you gave me is great, if anyone is interested in a matsonic motherboard for 20 bucks, you can buy it off me. If you pay shipping you can have it for free. Ill only give it to one of the people who helped me.

So im buying a new mobo and new ram, once again. Thanx alot. Ill also be giving away my ram. Both mobo and ram may be defective which is why im giving it away for free (to those who helped me) As long as you pay shipping.


I dont think its overheating though. . . .like i said, it was only 46 in my computer. Whats the reason for the new power supply though.

steveincolumbus

whining is most likely from either a moving part (fan, hdd, cd) or if its high pitched it is a capaitor, there is alot of caps in a power supply...

I seen several computers that have problems locking up, rebooting and blue screening with a dieing psu, could be due to bad filtering or to poor regulation in general...

just put your ear close to it and listen..... watch out of fans though, lost my finger tip in one once.... lol

what model mobo is it?

hell IM me and i will try and help if you want, Yahoo: Steveincolumbus

portwineboy

Honestly I'm going to differ a bit and say I think it's the HD.

I've seen more than a few go bad and the first sign can be a whistle type noise that gets worse when the thing locks up.

I'd reformat that old HD before I used it again and run a good disk check on it if you can.

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Tab

I reformat my HD monthly, highly doubt thats the problem. But thanx anyway Hard-Drives dont cost much right? Ill buy another one too.

steveincolumbus- Im sorry man I dont have yahoo, but if youd like I could talk to you through msn my e-mail is blueflame_88_2000@hotmail.com

debianuser

well, just because you reformat it monthly, doesn't mean it won't go bad.

I have a good suggestion for finding out where the whistle is coming from.
~ remove your computer case
~ Take short piece of hose (garden hose will also work) put one end up to your ear, and the other end up to where you think the noise might be coming from.
~ Start Unreal and if you hear the high pitch noise in the hose, then you know where it is coming from.
~ If you dont hear it, just move it around a little bit and restart Unreal.

Granted, using this method may take a while unless you get lucky and get it on your first try, but you will find out exactly where the noise is coming from and save you a couple hundred dollars.

~Zach

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Tab

Hmm, ill have to try that. Thanx, im already buying the NF7-S mobo and a gig of corsair though. My mobo and ram sucked anyway. I dont want to go and buy this and have it ending up being something else. If i swap out my HD, Mobo, Ram the problem should dissapear right? Theres no way it could be the processor, its just a chip and doesnt make any noise.

Tab

If anyone can help me out please add me on msn, my e-mail is in this post