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Mame arcade freezing randomly

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hypernova:
Well, I've actually changed out the CPU and heatsink/fan combo.  It is not that.  My desktop upstairs has the same mobo/cpu combo.  The desktop runs fine, and the arcade is still freezing.  Just checked a few minutes ago.  I ran a CHKDSK during a Windows startup a week or so ago.  As I checked it during its progress, there were no errors.  I didn't catch it at the end (during the last step of a 5 step process) and haven't checked to see if it popped out an error log.  Mainly because it's hard to catch the dang thing before it freezes.  I was going to try to copy over an updated Mame Extras folder, but couldn't even get a few minutes of uptime.  I already had AsusProbe on the thing, and while it wasn't running at startup prior to this, I did enable it, and it doesn't show any heating issues.

For anyone who's curious, it is a P4, socket 478 mobo.  Had a 2.4 ghz, and now has a 3.4 ghz cpu in it.

I'll try a few things in safe mode.  Haven't checked to see if safe mode freezes as well yet.

edit:
Did a memtest, and had two passes with no errors.  So RAM doesn't seem to be the issue.  Running another HDD check via WD's diagnostic software, rather than Windows dskchk.

D_Harris:
As mentioned it does sound like heating issues, but I've also run into similar because of the cables. Did you swap or re-seat the hard drive cables?

Also, when Windows really starts to act up I've found that backing up/reformatting/re-installing is the best way to go, and doesn't take as much time as the hours it takes to research all the other possible problems for fixes that are usually not efficient.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

hypernova:
As I've said, unless the CPU all of a sudden can't handle 50 degree Celsius temps, or it doesn't register properly, it is not heat.  Besides, I have a heatsink and fan combo on it.  It's not magically making it hotter instead of cooler.

HDD check came up empty.  Gonna try reinstalling XP at some point soon over the existing one...although come to think of it, I don't have much on the install HDD, so a complete format may be in order for it.  Not today, though, as  I can't find my XP cd.

D_Harris:

--- Quote from: hypernova on May 14, 2011, 06:08:16 pm ---As I've said, unless the CPU all of a sudden can't handle 50 degree Celsius temps, or it doesn't register properly, it is not heat.  Besides, I have a heatsink and fan combo on it.  It's not magically making it hotter instead of cooler.
--- End quote ---

I didn't mention the CPU. The nature of heat is that it can make anything expand. As a result, chips can become flaky when contact is intermittent and the same goes for cables, which is why I asked if you looked into that.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Lilwolf:
btw, it still could be heat (but it looks less likely).  Do you have open air with possibly active cooling in the top of the cab?  Have you run it a few hours when the back is open and air flow isn't the issue?

And if you have a computer upstairs thats exactly the same.  Swap them out... (but keep the drives and video card to start) and see if the problem moves or stays.   Then you will know if its the motherboard, processor, memory or power supply in one shot.  Then you could swap those one by one...

The big thing is to know what changes and break it down.

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