I locked up again. It is a problem that has been plaguing me since I got the Geforce4 card. I have tried tones of things to troubleshoot including a couple full formats. I am realy reaching to try not to blame the hardware since it is so random I fear it would be difficult to get a replacement.

The symptoms are that at very random times while playing any game, that is any game I have tried, the machine will lock up. Not just freeze but the screen shuts off and the monitor goes to sleep (orange light blinking). Also a repeated sound comming through the speakers. There is nothing written in any event log and I have to reset the machine by hand. Sometimes it happens multiple times a night sometimes it runs fine for a couple days. Extra venting of the CPU tower seems to make no difference. No IRQ's are shared, I made damn sure of that a while back.

Tonights lockup was no worse than most (and nothing compared to locking up mid fight in EQ) but it frustrated me so I went to look for a different sound card to eliminate the on-board sound that I am using. I had no luck, I know I have something other than ISA soundblasters laying around too but they will turn up. I also want to try dual booting to 98 or 2k to eliminate OS problems. XP service pack one was released the same day I installed the card and I have not tried XP without SP1 yet and I have read where others have had similar issues with Geforce 4 ti46000 cards and XP SP1 (they claim it worked fine before). One difference is my system does not reboot itself and most of the accounts I have read about their systems do automaticaly reboot but they get the same black screen and repeated sounds I do.

Oh well. I'll keep at it and see if I can figgure this out. If I eliminate all else I will then work on getting a replacement card from the manufacturer.

If anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear em. It is not totaly serious and only takes a few minutes to get booted up and back into whatever game I am playing and does not happen every game session but happens often enough that I expect it at least once a night. It gets very troublesome.