PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: bibbity on September 15, 2003, 12:45
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Hello,
My Windows XP PC freezes often. Simply freezes. No blue screen. No death cry. Just stops. Even the mouse stops moving. As if it had eaten a deadly mouse poison. A very quick acting poison; it doesn't give the mouse a chance to kick or jerk about violently in death throes or anything! No throes. Just death. Frozen death.
I have to (hard) reboot the PC to get it back to life.
"Clear!"
*apply EEG*
*bang!*
...and it comes back to life.
Checking the system log I found that this message was being displayed just before the freeze, each time:
ERROR:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0x71), which lies in the 0x70 - 0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.
Searching the net for possible solutions led me to think that maybe I should get my BIOS updated....
Do I need to get my BIOS updated?
If so is it possible to do this without sending my credit card details to very dubious looking internet sites?
Thanks for any help
BibbityBobbityBoo.
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BibbityBobbityBoo ;D
Serenity 1 of our Blonde members has had the same problem, I cant find the link right now (in a hurry to get back to work) but I think she has cured it but not sure have a look at her posts.
Hookstar 8)
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Hiya BBB :welcome: You sound like our kind of nutter ;)
I regularly get that error message in my error log and don't have any problems with freezing. However the aforementioned Serenity does have the messages and her PC regularly freezes. I have suggested that she buys the PC a sweater and some warm socks ;)
Updating your BIOS can be very easy and it can be fraught with danger. It all depends on the make of motherboard you are using and your personal level of technical expertise.
I'll let Serenity tell you how her BIOS upgrade went ::) I'm not ready for a nervous breakdown today :lol:
Could you let us know the make and model of your motherboard? This information will allow us to find out if you need to update the BIOS. My guess is that you probably don't and that whatever is causing the freezing lies elsewhere :)
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I'll let Serenity tell you how her BIOS upgrade went ::)
Hi Bibbity and :welcome: Yes I had an identical problem and Im afraid to say that although I flashed the BIOS it was unsuccessful and I have had to resort to buying a new mother board :'( (which I may add arrived today) so all I can say is I wish you well if you intend to have a go at flashing the BIOS but be prepared to shell out ££ if it all goes wrong. If that happens im sure one of our "Techies" will point you in the right direction for suitable replacements.
p.s. A word of warning PLEASE dont let on if you are BLONDE ::) they will tease you unmercifully ;)
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Actually it did say it was successful Serenity so I think it did flash it correctly but whether it was an incorrect bios for your version of motherboard or not we couldnt really be certain ???
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Thank you all for your help.
Adept's comment about buying "a sweater and some warm socks" for my PC makes me think positively that "Gee I really could fix my own PC problems". But then I come across more frightening terms like "technical expertise".
Much as I appreciate Serenity's warning re blondeness, I feel when it comes to PC's I am, if not pretty enough to be blonde, at least closely related to our fair-haired friends.
PC Shop here I come.... now my only trouble is where I live they only speak chinese. Anybody know how to say "flash upgrade my bios" in chinese?
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PC Shop here I come.... now my only trouble is where I live they only speak chinese. Anybody know how to say "flash upgrade my bios" in chinese?
Here was where the chinese characters were.. but it screwed up :-\ and it was soo flunny as well
刹那升级我的生物活素
;D.. Trust me I'm a blonde hair chinese man
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:wave: If off home to fit my new Mobo ::)
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Well the forum should be quieter for a few days now that Serenitys gone ;D ;D ;D
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I hope someone is going to be on the end of the telephone for Serenity tonight! Good luck with it, we are all rooting for you.
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I am on the phone to her now Clive ::)
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:eeek: :pmsl: ;)
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My heart is in my mouth. I know it's not an easy job to change a motherboard. Adept told me that. ;D
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She is now connected to the net guys so unfortunately we wont have any peace and quiet now ::)
I have just put the phone down after approximately 2.5 hours spent trying to sort her cable BB connection out and getting USB ports enabled in BIOS and sorting a few driver problems out.
Its a lot easier to set the BB connection out using the BB setup CD I have found than by using the NTL world one,(someone didnt tell me she had 2 CDs from NTL) ::)
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:heehee:
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:tongue: Im BACK!!!!!!!!!
OK to update you on whats happened. Well i dunno really ::) thought it was the RAM but its turned out not to be, fiddled round this morning with taking out the 64 and replacing it with 256 didnt work at first but on 2nd reboot it did :-\ anyway the Mobo seems ok but there was a bit missing (jumper cover) ? anyway i will be e mailing the manafacturer about that so all in all turned out OK thanks to that sad old trout, HOW she stays awake until the wee hours is beyond me, im shattered :'(
p.s. I need to replace with DDR ram and I would appreciate links to sites so any ideas are appreciated :-*
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Well just follow the instructions I sent you on replacing RAM ;) hee hee ... I know you've managed that and WELL DONE on replacing your mobo ... I knew you could do it :P 8)
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:tongue: Im BACK!!!!!!!!!
BUGGER :P ;)
p.s. I need to replace with DDR ram and I would appreciate links to sites so any ideas are appreciated :-*
http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp (http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp) I always buy Crucial Memory as it carries a lifetime warranty, Sandra swears by it also. But I usually buy it from this firm, it is good for next day delivery, without paying a postage premium Dabs (http://www.dabs.com/products/prod-search.asp?action=search&refp=DDR+184+pin&mid=090&tid=760&ob=price&obd=asc&stab=ref&p=256MB+DDR+184+Pin&lp=&up=&mc=&sc=&Refine.x=17&Refine.y=8)
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I often use the following, and others but I can't remember them right now ::)
ARIA (http://www.aria.co.uk)
Overclock (http://www.overclock.co.uk)
Alternatively, and this is a good suggestion too, buy (yes B U Y :o :o as opposed to looking through it in WHSmith) a copy of Micro Mart and look through the adds to see who is cheapest at the momnet and then visit their web sites
Good hunting ;)
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That's good to hear Serenity! Many congratulations on your successful venture. You never know what you can do until you try. That's why I don't know what I can do. :lol:
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This is about the best deal I can find for you Serenity on 512 mb DDR PC 2700 at £63-44 inc vat and free delivery from :
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464Z335&cat=RAM
The site Bat suggested (Aria) is slightly cheaper excluding postage but works out dearer when postage is added.
If the 256 mb SDRAM is now working ok I would wait for a month or two and see if DDR drops back to where it was a few months ago when you could get it for less than £50 for the same size :-*
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That's two of us with successful operations today :D
:welldone: Serenity!
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:welldone: Serenity! See, Sandra? And there's you calling her a thick tart! (https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.apax34.dsl.pipex.com%2Fsmileys%2Fhee-hee.gif&hash=c67e3b8b3e856c9641942fbba17c755937428ab9) :baad:
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:bald: Ive had hells own job trying to sort this stoopid PC out (thats not a pun to start another religious thread ok ;) )
Well just to let you all know, I appear to have sorted all my glitches out and the slow loading of pages etc. Can you believe I has 2 YES 2!!!! viruses on here :'( the "Welchia" and "Nachi" viruses :'( both were detected after visiting the NTL site for assistance. AND before you say it Baldy YES I did it all by myself :P
So if any of you are using NTL connection and would like to know about a potential virus threat and how to remove it, refer the THIS link and Im sure it will be of some use >>
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/virus.outbreak/winxp.htm
:-*
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Thank goodness you spotted them Serenity! I know where to bring my computer when I have problems now. ;D
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Thank goodness you spotted them Serenity!
Well, it might have been better if the anti-virus software had spotted them first!! :o ::)