[LAU] random system lockups, memtest clean, no idea... Magic sysrq?

[hollunder at gmx.at]

On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:46:44 -1000
david <gnome at hawaii.rr.com> wrote:

> hollunder at gmx.at wrote:
> > On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:13:04 -0800
> > Kevin Cosgrove <kevinc at cosgroves.us> wrote:
> > 
> >> On 19 November 2008 at 16:11, "Loki Davison"
> >> <loki.davison at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> mmm... so a mobo problem... that would be annoying. Does that
> >>> actually happen?
> >> I had to have an ABIT board serviced.  I never did put it back
> >> into my machine.  But yes, it quit powering up.
> >>  
> >> --
> >> Kevin
> > 
> > It could be possible I guess...
> > 
> > My personal situation:
> > The mobo is a couple of years old, I have lockups whenever it comes
> > to apps that need a lot of video-power, like games and even some
> > movies. I tried a couple of video cards (all nvidia tough) without
> > seeing any real changes.
> > The problem occurred in windows as well (I had it installed to play
> > some games) and it didn't matter if I used the nv or binary drivers,
> > after a couple of minutes the machine just locks up.
> > The only explanation I have is that it's some kind of mobo-problem,
> > but now that I just use nv and don't play games anymore it happens
> > rarely when watching movies or something.
> > 
> > I heard that logs don't help much in cases like this and that
> > consoles connected via serial cables would be more helpful, but I
> > haven't tried that.
> 
> A bit of speculation here. Perhaps the slot the video card is in is
> just slightly low on providing power to the video card. Ordinary use
> of the card works. Heavy duty use (like gaming) makes the card draw
> more power than the slot can actually provide, producing a crash?
> 
> I guess, to check this, try a different slot for the video card (if
> you can).
> 

Thanks, I think I tried that at some point. The thing is that the cards
I tried aren't exactly new and were not new when this machine was new,
so I'd be kind of surprised if it sucked that much power.
This card is the most powerful of the lot: GeForce FX 5200
I think I had something pretty similar when I bought this machine
(FX5400 or something) which died a long time ago. Other cards I tested
were some geforce 4 and geforce 2; I really don't think that they pull
that much, but thanks, I'll see if I can put it in a different slot.

Philipp