BurnIn Test locks up

[Anonymous]

I am having problems with Windows (2K and XP) locking up after BitPro 3.2 has been running for anywhere from 1/2 hour to 6 hours. Am I configuring something wrong or is this an indication that there is a problem with Windows and/or the hardware. It is passing all DOS diagnostics and your software is the only Windows-based diagnostics we use. For the most part we are testing two computers, a board based on the Intel 815 chipset and an 800MHz VIA chipset computer.

[Anonymous]

If your whole PC is locking up it is most likely a hardware (or device driver) problem. You should:
1) Try to isolate the problem to a single test (or minimal group of tests) by running reduced sets of tests and determining if the probelm occurs with particular sets of tests.
2) Check for BIOS and driver updates.

Best regards,
Ian

[Anonymous]

BurnInTest Pro 4.0 ver 1010:
We're seeing similar problems- our 2K Advanced Server (Dual Xeon 2.2Ghz processors) locks up solid anywhere between 1/2 to 6 hours. We're running in continuous mode, testing (2) EIDE disks, an external SCSI disk, 2GB RAM (ECC), USB, parallel and serial loopbacks, sound, network (2 ports), 3D graphics, CPU Math and CPU MMX. Everything runs along nicely (no failures detected) then BAM, we get a solid lockup. The screen is up but the mouse and keyboard no longer function. Reboot to clear.

We have a dual head/display PCI video card installed- a Colorgraphic Xentera GT. We also tried an ATI 7500 Dual Head/Display PCI card and received the same results (lockups). If we test with the onboard video (remove PCI video card) then the system runs much longer before locking up. It's doubtful this is a hardware issue since we have 4 identical systems and they all lockup the same way when BurninTest is run. Any ideas?

[David (PassMark)]

As you have several system and they all have the same behaviour, then I agree it is very unlikely that you have bad hardware but it doesn't rule out a systematic design flaw in the hardware.

The number one cause of lockups is buggy device drivers. And out of all the device drivers the video card it nornally the number 1 problem. But as you have alredy tried a 2nd video card this is less likely in your case. In Windows 2000, USB2.0 is also a bit buggy. Microsoft released a whole bunch of patches for USB2.0 in Windows XP.

You are doing the right thing by trying to isolate the fault. (swapping out components and not running some tests). You might also want to check the Window event log to see if there are any errors.

I don't have the solution to the problem, but I would check,
1/ Your BIOS is up to date.
2/ If the crash still happens without the 3D test and USB test. (they have caused the most problems in the past).
3/ If the power supply is big enough for all the devices you have installed (at all voltages)
4/ You have all the latest patches from MS
5/ You have the latest device drivers for all the hardware
6/ Your motherboard manufacturer doesn't already know of a similar problem with the board you are using.

----
David
PassMark