[computerwiz12890]

I'm working on a friend's computer right now. He complains of freezing. He had windows 98, which kept freezing before he could log on. He upgraded to Windows XP Home edition. He can now get onto his computer, but it still freezes while he is working.

He has absolutely no protection on his computer, and yet he is clean. Even though he does connect to the internet through dial-up, Ad-Aware only found Alexa and tracking cookies. Even though the computer is physically old (about 4 years) he barely has anything on it. I've ruled out infection.

I did a stress test on all devices. All check out fine, though I haven't opened it up yet to check the fans, but I do hear a hum, so I assume they work.

I think it is a problem with the BIOS. Here is what I've found:

When starting the computer with an USB keyboard, I get the error Error 304 - keyboard or system unit error. A PS/2 keyboard doesn't generate that error.

In the event viewer, I have found many errors. They are as follows:

Service Control Manager

The IPSEC Services service terminated with the following error:
The authentication service is unknown.


ACPI

AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0x70), which lies in the 0x70 - 0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.


Dhcp

Your computer has lost the lease to its IP address 192.168.100.10 on the Network Card with network address 000E9BD89545.


W32Time

The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 14 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.


NetBT

Initialization failed because the driver device could not be created.


Peterm is helping me with a similar problem as this, and he suggests doing a BIOS upgrade. I know BIOS upgrades are very risky. Is the BIOS the cause of this computer's problems as well? If so, I can provide y'all with the BIOS info so y'all can walk me through the first BIOS upgrade I've ever done.

thanks in advance

[Advertisements]

When starting the computer with an USB keyboard, I get the error Error 304 - keyboard or system unit error.  A PS/2 keyboard doesn't generate that error.

This reason you get this error is because USB support isn't enabled in the bios.

As for the rest of the problems, I would bet it has something to do with the power supply. Either the whole power supply itself is dying or else part of it is not emitting enough juice that is causing some processes to fail at certain times. I would suggest getting the power supply tested at a local computer store.

If the power supply is good then we can move on to other options.

Post back the details of the power supply test.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 29 September 2005 - 09:25 PM.

[Fenor]

When starting the computer with an USB keyboard, I get the error Error 304 - keyboard or system unit error.  A PS/2 keyboard doesn't generate that error.

This reason you get this error is because USB support isn't enabled in the bios.

As for the rest of the problems, I would bet it has something to do with the power supply. Either the whole power supply itself is dying or else part of it is not emitting enough juice that is causing some processes to fail at certain times. I would suggest getting the power supply tested at a local computer store.

If the power supply is good then we can move on to other options.

Post back the details of the power supply test.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 29 September 2005 - 09:25 PM.

[computerwiz12890]

Interesting. Would I have to take the power supply out to test it, or do I have to bring the whole computer in? And what stores usually offer tests, preferably free ones?

[Johanna]

Flashing the BIOS probably won't help. What are the specs on this 4 year old computer that had 98? I would follow Fenor's advice and check out the PS first. They aren't that expensive, and they are easy enough to replace. Because the computer froze with both OSes, the age of the computer, and the fact that the comp is "clean", I'd say you have a hardware problem.

Johanna

[computerwiz12890]

Its got 256 MB of RAM, a 495 MHz processor (strange?), 80 GB of space (I can't tell, it's got C,D,E,F D and F are system saves.) Any other specs you need?