odd random lockups on x31......HW issue?

[vikingboy]

Very very occasionally I get a total system freeze, everything stops responding including the mouse. This freeze is accompanied by a single beep (like a single POST beep code).
The only way to restart is to hold power button down for four seconds and restart.
This happens maybe once per week but I would be pi$$ed if this happened during some critical work as opposed to leusire time surfing.

is it time to reinstall WinXp Pro from the ground up?

Its a X31, 768MB Ram, 40Gb standard 5400rpm HD, wireless abg card, no docks, no pcmcia, no other plugins cd, DVD etc, bluetooth installed, 1.7Ghz (downclocked with CHC to 600Mhz (stable under prime) @ low voltage. background apps loaded include Eset NOD32 virus protection, DAEMON CD emulator for virtual images, Theatertek DVD playback tool, IBM message centre, Trillian Messenger and CHC.

thanks for any advice possible....I know this is needle in a haystack shooting time but just maybe...........

thanks in adv.
ian

[bhtooefr]

The CHC part is what worries me.

Try upvolting the CPU.

However, if the X31 is anything like other X series models with power management (read: the X21), a single beep means it's coming in or out of hibernation...

Edit: I forgot to say what that meant. Screwed up power management. It's either the Windows install or the motherboard.

[dmdsoftware]

Is the fan on when this happens?

I've personally experienced this exact problem on a X31 (beep, then total hardware lock - only power off corrects). It was caused by the graphic chip getting too hot after/during playing 3D intensive games or if one of those fancy 3D screen savers had been playing for awhile. Each time, the fan had been on, trying to cool down things.

It also happens on the X30 under the same conditions but instead of a hardware lock, the resolution drops to 640x480 and the colour depth drops to 4-bit (i.e. CGA, 4 colours) until a power off is done.

[bhtooefr]

Ah, it appears to be a difference in the way Intel and ATI's graphics chips crash...

I had a Dell that had Intel Extreme Graphics, and when gaming, if I were to do anything REALLY stressful (like, oh, spawn 100 of something), it would cause an instant crash. It would drop to 640x480x4b (which, by the way, is 16 colors, not 4 - that'd be 2 bit), and say that the graphics driver had crashed.

[dmdsoftware]

Ah, it appears to be a difference in the way Intel and ATI's graphics chips crash...

I had a Dell that had Intel Extreme Graphics, and when gaming, if I were to do anything REALLY stressful (like, oh, spawn 100 of something), it would cause an instant crash. It would drop to 640x480x4b (which, by the way, is 16 colors, not 4 - that'd be 2 bit), and say that the graphics driver had crashed.

It really looked like retro-CGA. Everything was in red, yellow, blue and black. Haven't seen that since CGA days.

[bhtooefr]

Red, YELLOW, blue and black?

The two most popular CGA palettes were magenta, cyan, white, and black and yellow, greed, red, and black.

Also, I don't think there IS a 640x480x2b mode...

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/775/640x480x24st.png - that's a gray/yellow/blue/black pallete... couldn't get true CGA colors...

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/4734 ... 0x46jy.png - that's 640x480x4b. Note that that's not NATIVE 640x480x4b - that's 640x480x32b downsampled.

And, yes, I took those on this X21. The little ATI tray icon comes in handy for things like that

[cakesy]

My god, how much stuff do you have running there. No wonder your video card overheated!