Anatomy of a hang

[Undertoad]

OK, seems like a memory problem then. So I've taken the 1GB out of my other system, and replaced the 768MB currently in this one. A complete memory upgrade: more memory, faster memory, and identical sticks.

The problem still happens.

And that's where it stands now. Next, I'll do the IotD, which will take a few memory-intensive, system-intensive things (maybe even Photoshop), and if this morning has been any example, the whole thing will just freeze up at some point in the middle of all that.

It just seems more hardware-ish. The motherboard is an Asus, whatever the most common Socket A AMD-supporting board was a year and a half ago. The capacitors are not bulging.

Your thoughts, anyone?

[tw]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

OK, seems like a memory problem then. So I've taken the 1GB out of my other system, and replaced the 768MB currently in this one. A complete memory upgrade: more memory, faster memory, and identical sticks.

The problem still happens.

Your symptoms are consistent with voltage problems. BTW, intermittents created by electrolytic failure can occur before those capacitors start bulging. Motherboard monitor is not sufficient for monitoring voltages - only for monitoring for voltage changes. IOW motherboard monitor must be calibrated with a multimeter.

Meanwhile, what numbers are you using for 'good voltage'? What are you using (what program) for testing NTFS filesystem? Did you download the hardware diagnostic for that disk drive and execute only 'read only' tests? Hardware test is independent of the NTFS filesystem test - sometimes provided useful information.

One final point. Confirm that the BIOS setting still agree with what the drive actually is. I have seen where BIOS refused to see a drive properly - slowly destroyed disk data structures as NTFS kept fixing them.

What are you using for file transfers? Most copy programs have an option to ignore errors - to complete the file transfer.

Few hardware items that can hang an pre-emptive MT system. They include memory, CPU, only some functions in the peripheral interface, and the video controller. A disk drive with internal problems should not hang an MT system. It should only hang the task. A list of usual suspects.

Start with the volt meter. Don't use the motherboard monitor until after calibrated with that meter.