Pc freezes up on me during boot up and when im logged in

Sounds like memory is a possibility as well. Have you had your memory checked ?

I bought a new pc100 128MB chip and swapped it back and forth with the original memory chip on the mother board and same problem still freezes.

Also, check to see if the processor is overheating.  I had a machine that would lock up when the processor got too hot. I replaced the CPU fan and problem disappeared.

>>>>i have it stripped down to bare bowns.

Do you have a cooling solution recommended for this AMD processor ?

If this is a overheat issue, the computer should free in the BIOS screen. Boot into BIOS and have it there for couple of minutes to test this.

If this does not happen in the BIOS but within OS, run a test on the harddrive too.

i dont think its the cpu overheating because alot of the time it locks after being off for a while. e checked he fan and cpu and its getting plenty of cool air. i bought a nre mem chp and just used that alone. still froze up but i will try this memtest and see hwat i come up with. thanks

let it go through about 10 cycles.  It'll take a while, but it will give you a good idea if your ram is OK or not.  

Are you overclocking this CPU?

Jared

there is no over heating problem with the cpu. it locks write when i boot it up and the cpu is cool. it doesnt lock up in the same spot all the time. it could be during boot up, running a scan disk or even just getting to my desktop. there is no set pattern on when it freezes. its sporatic

Not all problems from overclocking come from heat.  If your memory timings are out of whack with what your system can handle, then it will cause lockups and misc problems.  That's why I asked if you were overclocking the MB.  

I would go into your bios and restore factory default settings just to be sure that you settings are legit while troubleshooting.

Jared

i am having problems with making a bootable cd from memtest86 web site. i unzipped iso file and tried booting up to cd drive and get no where. ami doing something wrong??

"i am having problems with making a bootable cd from memtest86 web site. i unzipped iso file and tried booting up to cd drive and get no where. ami doing something wrong??" - Thats a pretty big question... you may need to have your BIOS pointing at the CDROM as the First Boot Device. If it sees the harddrive first, it will boot from that instead. As in, is the CD bootable... kinda hard to actually answer that one without seeing what your computer is doing.
I think if you look overall at all the suggestions, we are kind of wondering.. if you turn the computer on and just go into the BIOS and let the computer sit a bit... does it freeze up?
Have you changed your BIOS to its Default Safe settings yet to see if that changed anything?

You have already changed the Ram, but did you try a different Ram slot? I have had 2 motherboards now with one bad Ram slot. One had a missing pin, so it never worked period, but the other one was just faulty which I traced to a cracked motherboard.

It is hard for me personally to advise you on this because there is so much to look at. If you:
a. change your Bios Settings to the Default Safe Settings (so that there are no performance enhancements)
b. change your Ram to a different slot
c. Allow your computer to sit in preboot mode (going into Bios is simplest way to do that) for about 10 to 15 minutes and see if it freezes

and nothing changes and your system keeps freezing, I would guess that you have either a bad CPU (they can be faulty), bad motherboard, or bad power supply. Without actually sitting with you, I would recommend (if possible) having a second case, and testing each component with it. (ie. install motherboard into the case, and if it runs, then... power supply is problem). Change CPU.. if it works... then CPU is most likely faulty. etc... Sometimes it means having a second computer, so may not be possible to test like that.

As the answer I have given for those kind of question all the time, check the compasitor on the motherbaord and see if they are getting bigger or burn. It will cause the system hang when compasitors not working properly.

try to determin the correct IDE cable. there are few types of it.

http://www.kids-online.net/learn/click/details/idecable.html

let say your m/board has 2 hard drive connector. u need to filled them up with the IDE 40 or 80, and your pc won be stalled. this costs u a lil but might save a lot. (means u need to have 2 ide cables instead of 1)

this happened on certain machine with XP
-john

another 1 thing.. if your mother board.. try to locate the capasitor / transistor looks like below
http://www.motherboardrepair.com/images/msi-withbadcaps.jpg
(position : left, at 9 o'clock position)

u shold get a repair or replacement..

For more info read the below :
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Feb/gee20030207018535.htm

-john

I'm just going to throw this in here since everything else has been. Do you have another power supply you could swap in just to try or plug into a different outlet somewhere. Power sags have caused this behavior.

Okay I went into bios and pc did not freeze up on me after waiting 1/2 hour. i also set bios back to original settings and rebooted pc. as soon as i rebooted i froze right before loading desktop. will try diff memory slot again even though i dont think it will work.  lets hope this works

so did you see any compasitor having problem on your motherboard?

well i checked all the mem slots on my mother board one by one with 2 different memory chips and still no luck.pc freezes still. i also did check the compasitor and found no sighns of burn marks or oversized do to heat.    

theres 3 things left mother board gone bad cpu or power supply. i can try another power supply thats no problem but if it still freezes after that whats next?? i dont have processor for that type motherboard and i dont have another mother board for that type processor?? have i reachd the end of the road

try the hard disk cable.. it might save you.

i believe this is due of upgrading from past os (not XP-based) to XP based system.

Do you have a CD-Rom drive hooked up?

If so try using the WINdowsXP cd and booting with there, for some odd reason if there is any trouble with your processor or memory it will pop up and say that the install failed

i have tried a new ide cable and guess what. same thing happens. pc freezes.

things i have done so far and havent worked

1.swapped hard drives with 2 different op systems 98& xp- didnt work
2. tried new ide cable - didnt work
3.checked motherboard for burn marks on compasitors - no burn marks looks fine
4. i booted into bios and this is the only place that pc did not freeze up
5. tried 2 different memory chips in all the mem slots one at a time and - didnt work
6. will try new power supply and see what happens

other than what is listed above have i covered all the bases or is there anything else i can do before this motherboard
gets chucked into the motherland. i do have another mother board coming for a different pc that im fixing. when i get it ill pop that cpu into new motherboard and make sure that its working okay.

compasitors???? I think you mean Capacitors... that one threw me a bit when I read it... lol. Just a note to bytes00, you answered
a problem I have with 2 dead ABIT VP6 motherboards I have held onto for 2 years. Excellent motherboard, wicked fast, Dual processor
and onboard ATA100 Raid... but they died before a year is out. I am out to hunt down those compasitors!!! Yeehaa! ;-)

Carl, it sounds like it can be only 4 things from here... bad CPU (which I kinda doubt), bad power supply (which is a bit more likely),
or some strange incompatibility with the OS... or finally, a faulty motherboard.. (which I also doubt because the problems I personally have had with motherboards have been a bit more severe.)
Just before you throw your hands up in the air and scream "I GIVE UP!", you may want to put a different OS on it (even if you load it
temporarily on a garbage drive you have sitting collecting dust somewhere, to see if that just clears up the issue. Its an hour or so of your time but it would give you closure to the whole deal.

oh, just a note... have you checked Gateway for tech support question/answers? They may have found a problem with a similar system. I have not experienced their tech support, but have heard it was supposed to be fairly good.

nowadays.. as per my understanding, all clone pc has their life-lenght around 1-3 years, and after tht, the capasitor of the board will be leaking of alkaline, and when the alkaline is drained out, thus making the board failure.

alkaline in capasitor act as a media to transfer ions from positive side to negative side.

-john

similar issue : https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21220390/no-booting-beeps-computer-has-died.html

Leaky capacitors are a well known problem.

If you want to learn the truth about the leaky capacitor fiasco, go to the IEEE web site at the following link and read about it for yourself.  Interesting story.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/feb03/ncap.html

bobvc99

Well I have done everything possible except a new power supply. Hooked up a new power supply to mother board and guess what. Didn’t work "what a surprise!!" well its official it looks like the mother board is the verdict. If it was a bad CPU it probably wouldn’t even boot up right. well I definitely have lost the battle but hope to win the war with a new motherboard.tigerdirect.com here i come. I will have to say thanks for all the effort it looks like my gut feeling was right

installed new motherboard and everything is good again. pc works fine!!!