I am having a really strange problem here, and I am hoping maybe some of you can help me figure this one out.
I have a bunch of PC's deployed where I work, and recently I got one back (XP Pro) which is locking up at random intervals. Then one of my main linux servers which runs on a machine with the exact same specs started freezing up as well. This is a box which had an uptime of almost 400 days. Then another dead pc was given to me, and sure enough, exact same hardware specs. So I started going through my pile of dead PC's here, and found another one in that pile which had the exact same specs. This is what I know:
1) freezing happens randomly
2) doesn't matter what OS, it will crash, even if I run a linux distro from CD (HD disconnected)
3) all computers have the same bios version etc, tried upgrading, but no luck
4) PC health shows everything is ok (including voltages), but I did try a brand new Antec power supply
5) all 4 PC's have a serial # which is extremely close (0974,0975,0977,0978)
6) they are about 3 years old, so no warranty
7) the machine do not crash at all when you let it sit in the Bios, or if you let it sit where you select which OS to boot (grub, etc.)
8) extensive 18hour memory tests show memory is ok, swapped it anyways as a test, same problem
9) motherboard in question is the MSI MS-6368 ver 2.1
I have tried everything I can think of, and I can not get these machines to stop locking up. It doesn't happen until the OS starts loading (with linux, it sometimes even happens before any hardware detection), and I have tried disabling everything in the Bios, selecting the slowest performance etc.
What do you guys think? I would hate to write off 4 PC's which worked just fine, and I am afraid there might be a few more out there from this batch.
I have a bunch of PC's deployed where I work, and recently I got one back (XP Pro) which is locking up at random intervals. Then one of my main linux servers which runs on a machine with the exact same specs started freezing up as well. This is a box which had an uptime of almost 400 days. Then another dead pc was given to me, and sure enough, exact same hardware specs. So I started going through my pile of dead PC's here, and found another one in that pile which had the exact same specs. This is what I know:
1) freezing happens randomly
2) doesn't matter what OS, it will crash, even if I run a linux distro from CD (HD disconnected)
3) all computers have the same bios version etc, tried upgrading, but no luck
4) PC health shows everything is ok (including voltages), but I did try a brand new Antec power supply
5) all 4 PC's have a serial # which is extremely close (0974,0975,0977,0978)
6) they are about 3 years old, so no warranty
7) the machine do not crash at all when you let it sit in the Bios, or if you let it sit where you select which OS to boot (grub, etc.)
8) extensive 18hour memory tests show memory is ok, swapped it anyways as a test, same problem
9) motherboard in question is the MSI MS-6368 ver 2.1
I have tried everything I can think of, and I can not get these machines to stop locking up. It doesn't happen until the OS starts loading (with linux, it sometimes even happens before any hardware detection), and I have tried disabling everything in the Bios, selecting the slowest performance etc.
What do you guys think? I would hate to write off 4 PC's which worked just fine, and I am afraid there might be a few more out there from this batch.