Very Strange Sys Lockups

[-kReV-]

Hi. b4 i start heres my sys

Abit KG7 Raid (DM bios)
XP1800
Zalman CNPS6000 Flower (min speed)
CPU Idles @ 41, under stress = 48
1gb Matched DDR PC2100
2x 40gb maxtor 7200rpm
2 x 80gb WD 7200rpm
Hoontech DSP2000 Sound
GF4 MX460 (43.45 dets)
Plex 24x CDR
Windows Xp SP1
DX 9

This sys is totaly Audio Dedicated (studio machine)
No crap at all installed, apart from the music applications & Plugins i need and use..

only the vital XP services are enabled

No Internet/AV/Firewall or anything, thats all on another PC...

anyway ill cut too the point, i started using the machine too also playback movies, as i have a nice 5.1 system rigged up, but occasionally througout any movie it just freezes.... and the sound Stutters (hard too explain, kind of half a second of audio loops constantly... like trrrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrttrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrt
only way i can shut it up is too press reset..

there is no set pattern too it, ive tried absolutley everything i can think of..
Updated Bios/older Bios
Different Detonator drivers
Changed Bios settings like AGP speed and AGP fast Writes on/off

The movies i play are from DVD/SVCD/XViD & DiVX sources

same results with all, same type of crash, even in different movie apps like -
PowerDVD/WinDVD/Zoom Player/Media Player 9/Winamp 2.9 etc..

This problem is only when playing movies, my system is totaly rock solid when doing tougher tasks, recording bands/playing back VSTi's etc

i just dont get this problem at all, i have tried everything i can think and am at wits end..

Sometimes... just sometimes it can get the whole of the way through a film without having too restart, but most it will always have one hiccup:huh:

it is my audio workstation mainly, and i can watch films on other pc, so is no great loss, but still very very frustrating when i trust this machine implicitley when recording and mixing for days on end without problems, then a simple playback of a movie halts it...

Any ideas pleaaaaase

Thx
kReV

 

[albybum]

When the video and sound lock up, does the rest of the system lock up. Can you still move your mouse around and/or does the Num lock light still turn off and on?

Basically I am trying to determine whether it is a hardware or software lockup.

The only thing I can gather from your description is a problem with video overlay rendering. It could quite possibly be a bad video card or bad voltage to the card that triggers when doing video overlay.

I had a similar problem with an old GeForce 2 mx 400 because of irregular AGP voltage.

My suggestion would be to switch a video card out if you have an old one and try each card in the swapped machines and see what happens. And if that does not solve the problem, DirectX 9 might be worth a looking into as the problem.

 

[-kReV-]

the whole sys locks up, cant do anything at all, no blue screen, just freezes on the movie, and the sound continues with an awful loop..

ill try swap it for the ati i have in my internet machine...

or is there any way too regulate the voltage too the Gf4mx460?

Thanks

 

[albybum]

Since the whole system locks up and you can't do anything, More often than not, its a hardware issue or driver issue, and you already said you have tried many drivers.

If the problem is caused by irregular voltage, that problem could stem from a weak or faulty power supply or poor motherboard design.

There is no easy way that I am aware of to fix irregular voltage like that. If anyone else out there knows a way, please share

I tried to put a Powercolor GeForce 2mx 400 in my old ECS motherboard, and it just turned out that the board was not keeping the required voltage at the correct level on the bus. The card was very particular about the voltage.

My suggestion would be to swap cards from different machines to see if its a hardware problem or just incompatibility due to voltage.

Put the ati in this machine and put the GF4MX460 in your internet machine and play video on each to see what happens.

 

[-kReV-]

the power supply is a Qtech 400w supply
from - http://www.quietpc.com/uk/psu.php

it was a "silencer" upgrade from my last one, which was a noisey beast standard 300w, altho i cannot tell weather this problem happened with the old power supply, as i nevr tried movies with that old supply in place..

i should hope its a good PSU, cost more than the gfx card

dunno if ill try swapping GFX cards, is a pretty major task, and as the internet PC is a 24/7 ftp server amongst other things, so i think ill grin and bear the crashes for now, until i can get a better Gfx card..
also will update the mobo & cpu soon too... should fix the problem, but cause me 1000 others

do you know what "write combining" is?

its in the Advanced gfx properties..

btw i havnt tried decreasing the Acceleration in that box also..

thanks for ya help, was hoping it was more of a "oh just check this option...." kind of fix

Cheers
kReV