Brand New PC...often hangs and restarts intermittently

[Newbie421]

Folks,

I brought a brand new PC, two days back. Config below:

AMD Phenom4 9650
Gigabyte Motherboard GA-MA78GM-S2HP
4GB of DDR2 800MHz
SATA HDD

I installed a fresh copy of windows xp. There is hardly any data on any of the drives....

My PC often keeps restarting intermittently and sometimes if it doesn't restart, it will hang for sure...and when it hangs, it is complete dead (even the Ctrl + ALT + Del doesn't work). I then end up manually restarting the PC during such state.

I read over several threads for the past one day to see and figure out. From several posts that I read, the possible solutions given by several people are:
1. Disable the "Auto restart" option in the Control panel
2. Possible faulty Hardware component (could be RAM or mobo)
3. Could be Heat sink issue
4. Could be driver or s/w issue

For #1, I dont think it is the real solution...I tried it then I get the BSOD..not sure of the msg..since I didnot note the error msg...
For #2, Its hard to convince myself that it could be a faulty hardware component, unless I come to a solid conclusion on it...

When I switched into Safe mode, it works fine...meaning for an hour or so, the windows didnot restart by itself and didnot hang either. So, I suspect it could be a driver that should be malfuntioning.

I am seriously looking for some other solutions that some of you folks can offer me, so I can alienate the buggy h/w or s/w issue on this bran new PC. I am desperately looking, so please anyone out there help me....

Thanks in advance for any of your replies...

[Team Leader]

For #1, I dont think it is the real solution...I tried it then I get the BSOD..not sure of the msg..since I didnot note the error msg...

My friend, you are getting the most famous/common problems in PC... BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) and the error codes and its description is actually very important. It can help to identify the problem... software or hardware. Since you can get working in the Safe Mode, I also doubt on the software or system files fault.

The next time you get the BSOD, note down the error code and its description and I may be able to help you... possibly.

[Newbie421]

Thanks a lot "Team Leader"!
I am going to note down the error code, for sure!!
When you said "the most famous/common problems in PC", do you also include the possibilties of a New PC??

[Newbie421]

Any idea about the below msg???????

*******************************************************
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart
your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is
identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the
manufacturer for driver update. Try changing video adaptors.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS
memory options such as caching and shadowing. If you need to use Safe
Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8
to select Advanced Startup Options and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x0000008e (0xC0000005, 0x80565D63, 0xF5884BE4, 0x00000000)

Beginning dump of physical memory

Physical memory dump complete

Contact your system administrator or technical support group for
further assistance.
**********************************************************

[Phoenix]

Hi Newbie421,

This error is generated due to an issue with the RAM.

It usually happens when the frequency of RAM is set higher or lower than what your motherboard can support.
You can go into the BIOS and set the correct frequency.
Since you say that you have a 800 Mhz RAM, set the working frequency in BIOS accordingly.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Newbie421]

Thanks Mr.Phoenix!
I will check that tonight.....

[Team Leader]

0x0000008E - KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

Check this link where some solutions are given for this error code
http://www.faultwire.com/solutions_b...008E-1151.html

[Newbie421]

All the settings on the BIOS looks fine.
I re-installed/re-formatted the OS(XP) and all the drivers..
Sometimes the PC hangs inadvertently or I get the following following BSOD error msg:

Anyone has any clue?

*******************************************
A problem has been detected and windows had been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

If this is your first time you’ve seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced start up options, and then select safe mode.

Technical information:
***STOP: 0x0000000A (0x00000017, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0x80527914)

Beginning dumping of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete

Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

***************************************

[Team Leader]

May I ask what sound card you're using? It seems like it might have been a sound card driver problem ... the IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL is, to the best of my knowledge, usually attributed to corrupt drivers.

See the Microsoft explanation for this http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro....mspx?mfr=true

[Newbie421]

I am not using any external Sound Card or Video Card.
The Audio codec comes on-board.
Using a 32-bit XP on a 64-bit Processor causes any crash??

[vivek9]

I too purchased a system with exactly the same config and I'm facing the same problem.
I'm not encountering any BSOD. The system either just restarts or freezes up.

Sometimes afer such hanging and reseting, I get BIOS error message:
"Main BIOS Checksum error"

Have you found a solution? Please let me know.

[Newbie421]

Hi Vivek,

In my case I believe I resolved the issue.
I updated my BIOS to the latest version, that is available for download from the Gigabyte website. After upgrading to new BIOS, I didnot see any issue as of now.

Good luck!

[vivek9]

Hi Vivek,

In my case I believe I resolved the issue.
I updated my BIOS to the latest version, that is available for download from the Gigabyte website. After upgrading to new BIOS, I didnot see any issue as of now.

Good luck!

Thanks, I updated the BIOS and it seems to be working.

[sharathrocks]

I have a pc with the same config. Even I have the same problem. But when I downloaded the BIOS for rev2.1 mobo n updated it via awdflash.exe the same problem persisted.. Please help me out..