cpu 100% for a few days

[mattch]

my camera system is havign some issues. Not sure what to make of it.

I got an ECS KM400 board with AMD Athalon 2200 (maybe 3200?)

the system just records video. the program i use runs my cpu at 100% constant due to its encoding.

I replaced RAM, i swapped the power supply with another working one (used), i even swapped CPUs since i had some laying around.

After about 2-4 days of running it locks up on me, regardless of swapping HW. I reset it and it will work for another few days...

the caps are not bulging or crooked (sitting flat). i have to check and note which brand model of caps its using

Can 100% cpu utilization hose even a good system? any thoughts?

[washu]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

100% CPU all the time is no problem to a properly working system. If it locks up or crashes then it's not working properly.

Is your CPU heat sink and fan good enough? Those Athalons generate a lot of heat.

Just because the caps show no visible sign of failure doesn't mean they are good. The caps on both your MB and in the PS(es) are suspect for a problem like this. Also, ECS boards are not known for their quality to begin with. If you have a better MB I would use it.

You should try running a stress test program from a boot CD for a few days to rule out any OS issues.

[stj]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

try more ram, see if it lasts longer - it could be a memory-leak.

if it's Linux try enabling kernel logging.

[mattch]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

I think it just might be my heatsink the paste is almost dry. im going to get some from work and see how that goes, i never thought to check the temps, 100% = heat

it has
OST 6.3v 3300uf
OST 6.3v 1000uf
G-Luxon 16v 100uf
G-Luxon 25v 22uf

I tried adding a little more ram, Its got 768 (512+256), and the mem usage is way low even when it had 256mb to begin with. This is a stipped windows XP box, i used the task manager performace tab for mem gauge. Its an old program, i dont think even supported anymore, stoik capture v1, if it had a memory leak would it have been evident from the get go?

[delaware74b]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

True, Athlons run HOT! Arctic Silver 5 helps but they still run hot. If you're running video recording with XP, 1 GB ram minimum and use matched memory(both the same size and type) Kingston KVR333x64c25/512 is a good one to use on this system. AFAIK, KM400's support 2GB. VIA chipsets should have the latest drivers. Have you rune memtestx86 or prime95 on this system?

[mattch]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

memtest86+ before when i had no problems it ran for days, now it ran for few days and locked sounded noisey too like high fan rpms

i dont see why i need more ram, while running doing its thing it uses less then 200mb, about 160mb from what i remembe, its just cranks the cpu

i hope its just a fan issue or i have to start looking for a replacement, i think i might have one, i got a pIII 600 sdram in (with rubycons) though slow for average user, has been solid and i think it might work for my specific application, i will find out about that when fixing up my heatsink doesnt work......

[stj]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

if your recording for security, check this sweet software!
http://www.zoneminder.com/

[Wizard]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

Time for recap, promptly. OST and Glue caps (G-Luxon) are bad news!!

Cheers, Wizard

[mattch]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

if your recording for security, check this sweet software!
http://www.zoneminder.com/

wow that does look really sweet. I think i might try this out! I suppose i need to learn a little bit of linux since i basically live and breathe windows and ios (smilies on this forum are awsome )

[stj]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

[mattch]

Re: cpu 100% for a few days

just an update:

After cleaning heatsink, scrapping and re-applying new heatsink compound the PC locked up at day 2.5..

My Plan is to decommission this one and put in a new pc i just aquired. found it on side of road actually, you can read about it in the best cheap/free scores 1.1 here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7609