[Reactor]

Greetings to all!

Lately, my PC suffers random, and (luckily) rare freezes. I'm just doin' my job, minding my own business, when suddenly, EVERYTHING halts, even the mouse pointer. After this, the computer emits a short "beep" sound - NOT from the digital speakers, but the small PC speaker (it's a low sound, short beep). If I am lucky, the computer regains its senses, and continues to work, and if I'm not lucky, the computer totally freezes, and I have to restart with reset. After reset, everything works fine again. The Event Log doesn't show sh*t.

It happened 10 minutes ago once again, when I opened my Music folder, and selected an MP3 file,which I desired to drag unto the Winamp playlist window. The only application that was running in the background was the Chat.hu (Java applet).

Here comes my configuration. Apart from the 3D card and the power supply, everything is around 4 years old.

- AMD Athlon ×2 3000
- M-TECH 600W power supply
- GeForce GT 220 Gainward
- Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
- Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

It also worths mentioning that the PC emits strange beeps sometimes at startup as well, when the "Windows XP" logo appears. Sometimes it's high-pitched short beeps, some other cases, it's a low, humming, long beep. Before the 3D card and power supply change, the computer never did these. I fear this may be another critical error in the computer, and I wish to know what is wrong wit' it. Anyone has clues?

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Your first approach to this is to establish the meaning of the warning beeps.
What motherboard is fitted.
The manufacturers site will most likely have the meaning of the various warning sounds.according to the BIOS
for example
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

I think I would check the ram first.
Use memtest as here
The most common option is the memory so I would suggest checking it first.

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

MEMTEST article posted with ack to rshaffer61 and others

Edited by Macboatmaster, 20 May 2011 - 11:42 AM.

[Macboatmaster]

Your first approach to this is to establish the meaning of the warning beeps.
What motherboard is fitted.
The manufacturers site will most likely have the meaning of the various warning sounds.according to the BIOS
for example
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

I think I would check the ram first.
Use memtest as here
The most common option is the memory so I would suggest checking it first.

If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run. You may have to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to make it work right.

To change Boot Sequence in your BIOS
Reboot the system and at the first post screen (where it is counting up memory) start tapping the DEL button
This will enter you into the Bios\Cmos area.
Find the Advanced area and click Enter
Look for Boot Sequence or Boot Options and highlight that click Enter
Now highlight the first drive and follow the directions on the bottom of the screen on how to modify it and change it to CDrom.
Change the second drive to the C or Main Drive
Once that is done then click F10 to Save and Exit
You will prompted to enter Y to verify Save and Exit. Click Y and the system will now reboot with the new settings.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.

MEMTEST article posted with ack to rshaffer61 and others

Edited by Macboatmaster, 20 May 2011 - 11:42 AM.

[Reactor]

Hm, very well, I shall give it a try, although the memory was never "buggy"...so far, and the motherboard is relatively new (the original motherboard was a Crossfire, and it burnt to crisp when those idiots at Contact Computer did not forced the coolant onto the motherboard strongly enough). Let's hope it is "just" a bad memory problem...

[ErnieWilson]

I just found why my computer was doing the same thing:
Norton Anti-Virus background idle workings.
I have been going CRAZY trying to figure out why my computer kept freezing and random, unpredictable times. Sometimes early after start-up, sometimes long after.
I ran HijackThis; SpyBot S&D; Norton; Avira Anti-Virus; RUBotted; Trojan Hunter; Eusing Registry Cleaner..... nothing found.
I updated my BIOS and tried all different settings.
I went in and deleted a boat-load of programs in the Add/Remove in the control panel.
I shut off all accelerators (mouse and display).
Nothing made any difference.

Then I saw the little pop-up notifier "Norton is running an idle scan" and thought. AH HA!!!!
So I went into Norton's control panel and turned off the automatic background idle scan and anythng similar (leaving the regular protection untouched).

My computer has not frozen since I did that.

Now to re-install all of the stuff I deleted!!!

[Macboatmaster]

skipper86

May I point out to you that this site GeekstoGo, does NOT recommend the use of Registry Cleaning Programs - in ANY form.
The one you mention RegInOut, falls into that category
Here is just one very relevant comment

"The downloads on this site exhibits potentially malicious behavior. The software can't be activated unless you have paid a minimum fee of $29.97. Avoid and leave this site at once. "

from the WebofTrust report on the software.
Here is the link to that report.
http://www.mywot.com...rd/reginout.com

Additionally to all of that, the format of your reply

and Reg in out

does not supply the information to really assist the poster in finding the suggested software., although there has been no response from the original poster 21 May.

For your further assistance here is the official stance of this site on registry cleaners

A registry cleaner will not increase your system's speed or performance, and has the potential to break your registry to the point that your PC is no longer bootable.
We strongly advise that people stay away from any of the registry cleaners out there.
Go HERE to get more information about why registry cleaners aren't needed.
We do not suggest the use of any registry cleaner for the reason stated above. There are programs that can do the job better without touching the registry.

Edited by Macboatmaster, 13 June 2011 - 05:53 AM.

[rshaffer61]

I would suggest uninstalling Norton completely and installing MSE Microsoft Security Essentials.
A lot less stressful on system resources which is why Norton's freezes your system.