Either a heat or memory problem.

[Shoeberto]

My computer keeps getting these problems where the computer will just shut down and my bios will give a high and then low continuous beep. It seems to happen most with games, namely any given time in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, though recently when I exit Counter Strike it's happening too. Sometimes it even happens out of games, like when the computer first loads into my account or if I've got multiple processes running. It's weird, because sometimes I can have Firefox with multiple tabs, Blender, Dev-C++, Winamp, Shareaza and be browsing files with no problem, but I was running Firefox and Skype and that did it.

I've noticed my computer, on the inside, has been getting warm, plus it's been kind of hot out lately. I only have one case fan, and it doesn't seem to be doing much output. On the other hand, my friend said he gets that same beep with his RAM sometimes during his POST. I tried swapping out the stick of RAM that I know is likely to be a problem (a budget stick sent to me in a plastic bag and a rubber band, no joke) but I still got the error.

Any recommendations? I'm thinking I'm going to buy a 120mm case fan this weekend for the back, and maybe another 512mb stick. I'd like to hear another's opinion before doing anything.

[Samuraid]

http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

Look up what beep pattern the computer is making during POST and that should help you diagnose what's wrong.

Cooling is very important. I think the 120mm fan purchase is an excellent idea.

[Shoeberto]

Eh, I looked up the beep pattern already. The actual manufacturer's page listed one POST message, and said that any other beeping patterns are memory errors.

I ran memtest86 off of a live CD I have. The first time I got to about 50% before the machine turned off and gave me the error. The second time it was only 20-25% through.

Obviously, it's a memory problem, and I it's with my good stick. It's a mushkin stick that I spent a little over $70 on, so I'm not real keen on just chucking it. Is there any way of repairing or otherwise ignoring it? I'm getting pretty tired of having to be careful of any and everything I do just so my computer doesn't completely die on me.

And the error doesn't happen during POST. It's during regular operation. My computer will just suddenly turn off and give me the error beep.


edit: Okay, the memtest home page says:

There have been numerous reports of errors with only tests 5 and 8 on Athlon systems. Often the memory works in a different system or the vendor insists that it is good. In these cases the memory is not necessarily bad but is not able to operate reliably at Athlon speeds. Sometimes more conservative memory timings on the motherboard will correct these errors. In other cases the only option is to replace the memory with better quality, higher speed memory. Don't buy cheap memory and expect it to work with an Athlon! On occasion test 5/8 errors will occur even with name brand memory and a quality motherboard. These errors are legitimate and should be corrected.

My error is happening on test 5. I know that the trouble causing RAM is a PC2700 DDR stick, which is listed to work with my system. It says to set more conservative memory timing - how would I go about this?

My bios is AwardBIOS, if that helps.

[Samuraid]

Unless it's some strange issue with the mobo, the RAM is probably not worth using anymore.

[Shoeberto]

edit: Okay, the memtest home page says:

There have been numerous reports of errors with only tests 5 and 8 on Athlon systems. Often the memory works in a different system or the vendor insists that it is good. In these cases the memory is not necessarily bad but is not able to operate reliably at Athlon speeds. Sometimes more conservative memory timings on the motherboard will correct these errors. In other cases the only option is to replace the memory with better quality, higher speed memory. Don't buy cheap memory and expect it to work with an Athlon! On occasion test 5/8 errors will occur even with name brand memory and a quality motherboard. These errors are legitimate and should be corrected.

My error is happening on test 5. I know that the trouble causing RAM is a PC2700 DDR stick, which is listed to work with my system. It says to set more conservative memory timing - how would I go about this?

My bios is AwardBIOS, if that helps.

That's where I am now. Before I chuck it I'd like to try this.

[Yamaneko]

How many DIMM slots do you have? Try switching your RAM sticks from one to the other.

It probably is your RAM, though. I'm having weird problems with memory usage lately as well. Sometimes while playing CSS or MAME, the program crashes and I get 100% CPU usage. All the memory tests I've run have come up clean, so until this starts effecting my normal computer usage, I'll continue using the RAM.

Oh, and one case fan? I have three blowing out, one blowing in and two inside blowing hot air off my CPU and GPU.

[Shoeberto]

I've got three and have tried all possible combinations.

I've also tried using solely one stick or the other, both of which yield crashes.

I've tried changing the DDR voltage and FSB speeds and those also cause my system to crash.

At this point I'm questioning my motherboard. Not a good situation.

[Yamaneko]

Have you disabled AGP (assuming you have an AGP card) and FSB spread spectrum? Modifying frequencies to avoid EMI can cause system instability, especially in you're overclocking your CPU and/or your GPU.

[Shoeberto]

I think most of the advanced settings were disabled by defaults. I'm not much of a hardware guy, seeing as I tend to have horrible luck with it, so I've never bothered overclocking or anything. I'll check it out.