Win 98 SE Freezing

[jermani]

Hi everyone, I desparately need help with this as I have tried everything.

I run a AMD Athalon P3 equivalent on Windows 98SE. I have got all the published updates and service packs etc. What is happening more and more frequently is my computer simply freezes. I can be doing anything, and it just hangs. I can't do a soft reset, the only thing which will work is pressing the reset button. Even that doesn't work sometimes, and it seems the computer has refused to fully reset. The only option which definitely works is to leave my computer turned off at the mains for around an hour, then it works fine for a while after which it is back to freezing.

HELP!!!!

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Many thanks.

Jermani.

[Luxman]

Pure speculation here, but I wonder if your cpu is overheating.

[TripleRLtd]

Pure speculation here, but I wonder if your cpu is overheating.
Well, I agree.
Open her up and check the fans and touch the HSF. Also, in bios there is usually a section depicting the actual temps. Check it out. But, this is an old pc, right? Could be many things, so lets take it one step at a time. After checking heat problems, we will need to check other things as well: especially potential "malware" problems. So, let us know. And welcome to WD.

[mr.miffed]

I had a celeron400 that kept doing the exact same thing, sometimes fine sometimes it would freeze on boot, sometimes just after. It dawned on me that it was awfully quiet so I opened it up and switched it on to get a view of what was happening inside.

My CPU fan had melted.

As has been said before, sounds very much like overheating.

[Orangeman]

I had a celeron400 that kept doing the exact same thing, sometimes fine sometimes it would freeze on boot, sometimes just after. It dawned on me that it was awfully quiet so I opened it up and switched it on to get a view of what was happening inside.

My CPU fan had melted.

As has been said before, sounds very much like overheating.


Your computer is only place where something overheating will cause something else to freeze....:D

[Tekboy]

On a "trickier note" there is also the PROBABILITY, since Athlons do not overheat slowly, that the fan in question is inside the Power Supply. You might wish to take a closer look there. Is it a Gateway with a Slot A Athlon processor? The fan that cools the processor in that instance is in the PSU, and would make ALL of us right :)

[confus-ed]

On a "trickier note" there is also the PROBABILITY, since Athlons do not overheat slowly, that the fan in question is inside the Power Supply. You might wish to take a closer look there. Is it a Gateway with a Slot A Athlon processor? The fan that cools the processor in that instance is in the PSU, and would make ALL of us right :)

So huh ? I'm sat with a k7 650 slot A cpu on my lap as I type & the fan clips on the side of a 'humungous' heat sink which runs about 4" along the whole length of it ..

Google found me a piccy :-
http://www.de.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030216/images/adapter-vs-cpu.jpg

[Tekboy]

So huh ? I'm sat with a k7 650 slot A cpu on my lap as I type & the fan clips on the side of a 'humungous' heat sink which runs about 4" along the whole length of it ..

Google found me a piccy :-
http://www.de.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030216/images/adapter-vs-cpu.jpg

The ones I have dealt with had a fan on the bottom of the PSU, and a duct leading the airflow to those huge heatsink fins. Got cut on one of those very fins a couple of years ago.

My point is that Athlons heat up very quickly, and there is usually no delayed reaction. While the problem may be heat related, it is likely from a source other than a fan directly on the heatsink, unless it is that HUGE one -ed is speaking of.