Weird Repetitive Crashing

Sep 19, 2007 10 Replies
J

I'm getting a crash that almost always is instigated while surfing a graphically busy page (using Firefox), though other programs have (rarely) caused it to fail.



It manifests itself as frozen raggedy looking video, OR a full POR like you pressed the reset button.



What do you think... bad power supply or bad memory?



Thanks!



...Jim Thompson



-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

formatting link
| 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave


Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

Could be the memory on the graphics card :-(

Did you try with another browser such as the IE that usually comes with PCs?

Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
L

Sounds like my laptop last year...The cooling fan was not blowing and the thermal pads were ineffective due to age. I rewired the fan to switched 5V and removed the thermal pad from both the CPU and the GPU, replacing these with thermal grease.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

Hmmmm! That's worth checking. I've had another PC with a fan that ran "on occasion" ;-)

...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | | http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | America: Land of the Free, Because of the Brave
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
L

I used my finger nail to scratch off the greatest portion of the thermal pads. Then I mounted the brush on my Dremel to get the last bits. I blew the debris out then wiped the ICs with acetone before applying the thermal grease.

Good luck with your repair!

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
S

Bad cooling on the processor chip and/or video card. try SPEEDFAN (use google to get it), to show temperatures inside.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
J

I use the Gecko suite and have had a similar problem.

Can't help you there.

If it can be traced to certain sites, try Opera on those. (Gecko-based browsers are notorious for their memory leaks.) Alternately, AdBlock the images on the offending sites or shut down Gecko more often.

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
U

I've had the same problem on my Win2k box. It could be a bug in the version of Firefox we have loaded.

[8~{} Uncle Monster
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
M

See if there is an updated video driver.

Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
S

Also possibly a hardware issue with the video card.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"it\'s the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
I

All the thermal pads I've encountered on CPUs so far dissolved fairly easily with cellulose thinners - which leaves the surfaces absolutely pristine ready for silver loaded heat transfer paste., any kind of wire brush or abrasive is probably a very bad idea!

Vote
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required