Problems at startup and freezing

[wingman]

Last year I had to reinstall windows XP home edition, over the top not clean install, after probs with installing a new vid card. Things have worked fine but over the last week I've been having problems with the computer freezing and on startup.
When i  power up the screen comes up with the BIOS screen in the advanced section with the message in red," During the last boot-up, your system hung for an improper CPU speed setting. Your system is now in safe mode......"
Pressing f10 to save and exit sometimes starts and sometimes the system hangs. It can take 5 or 6 goes at starting up to get things up and running. It can hang at the post screen, after checking the vid. card or sometimes its stops before any display at all.

Would this be a CPU, RAM or HD prob? Any help would be appreciated.
P.S. If i do manage to get things up and running it has run for about an hour then freezes.

System: P4 2400ghz
             1 Gig Kingston pc2700 DDR ( 2 X 512)
             Seagate 40 gig HD
             Leadtek ti4400 vid card
             
My system isn't tweaked in any way and ambient temperature is never above 25deg C ( I have air conditioning)

Mnay thanks  

[royphil345]

The things I would try are...

A hardware check. I use TuffTEST. Downloaded off the internet for about $10.00. Makes a bootable floppy that tests CPU, memory, hard drive... Saved me alot of trouble more than once. Hasn't been wrong yet.

Flash the BIOS if you can get the latest version from the mainboard manufacturer's web-site. Clear the CMOS, recheck all the BIOS settings.

A clean install of Windows if all else fails.

Is there any built-in video that hasn't been disabled in the BIOS? Any previous video cards or drivers that haven't been properly uninstalled?

If the problem persists after the BIOS is flashed, CMOS is cleared, and Windows is freshly installed...  It's probably time for a new mainboard (if nothing else failed the hardware test).  I had a mainboard go bad once, acted alot like your description.

[wingman]

Thanks Roy, I will give your suggestions a try. After I did the post, I shut down the system, opened up the computer and checked all connections. Everything seemed OK. The only thing that I have changed is I unplugged my Logitec steering wheel from an external four point USB hub.(Belkin) So far I've booted up and shut the system down with no probs and it's been running for up 2 hrs each time.
I had a slight glitch with my multifunction printer a couple of times and it has been connected to the hub. But the probs I had were whether it was connected or not. You think the hub might be the problem?
Many thanks for your help. I'll still try tufftest and see if I can track the problem down.

[royphil345]

Could be....  Sometimes a system just doesn't like a certain device.

I say, If it works... GREAT!!!

Don't know how much stuff is on your system... Or if you have all your drivers handy... A clean install of Windows may or may not help if you don't want to leave your steering wheel unplugged and the hardware checks out OK.

I suppose it could also be a problem with your video card if it doesn't turn out to be the steering wheel. Would probably try a different one if possible before replacing the mainboard.

[wingman]

So far so good. System's been running for almost 3 hrs, have run a few programs and had internet on and of several times and no hangs or freezes.
Thanks for your advice Roy. Tufftest will be a good tool to have to check things out and i'll download and try it tonight. Fingers crossed it might just be the hub.
Thanks again and best wishes. I'll try to get back to you and let you know how things worked out.

[royphil345]

Glad to hear you're not having any more problems.

TuffTEST has definitely been worth the 10 bucks to me. A bad memory chip or hard drive can produce all kinds of crazy symptoms that look like something else may be wrong. Nice to be able to quickly spot these common problems or rule them out. It also tests your CPU, a few mainboard functions and the cache memory on your CPU. I'm sure not the most powerful diagnostic software available, but the price is sure right, it's easy to use, and it's been very reliable.

Let me know how things turn out. Hope everything stays good!!!

Roy