re-doing the bios
it has been suggested that I update the bios on my computer (I'll explain why below) and I have been to the pcb makers website and found several updates that postdate the purchase date.
Please can someone explain in geek free speak (or point me to a website of same) the instructions for how to get from a download to a replacement of the bios? Ta.
the why, it might get a bit long winded, sorry.
I built up the computer from bits in 2010. The system is 2.6GHz i7 based, on a Gigabyte motherboard, 6GB ram, cheapo graphics and sound cards, big cooler and fans etc. Mostly it runs just fine but sometimes, a few times a week, it just grinds to a halt. The sound (if playing) gets stuck and repeats like a stuck CD and the mouse pointer goes into slow motion, jumping position only once every 10's of seconds. All of the applications windows freeze. The hardware reset button takes several seconds to force a reset. At other times the system will spontaneously reboot, right from the power off through to the fans spooling up and system wake up.
It can do this at any time from pressing the ON button onwards. It has even been caught re-booting while the bios memory test is still happening. Sometimes I run WinXP, sometimes I run Ubuntu, it just depends what I am doing at the time, I have separate hard drives for the two OS' on interchangeable trays and only insert one at a time. It is fairly clear that the problems are not OS related.
I generally turn the machine OFF when not in use but recently I have left it running to see how long it can go without freezing/re-booting. It can go right through the weekend in either OS. Today it was fine from 9 this morning until just before 7 this evening when it failed twice in quick succession. The machine is no worse in the winter (when it is warmed by a radiator) than in the summer and running it overclocked didn't make the problem better or worse.
I may just have been lucky but this issue has been present right from the first build and I haven't lost any data due to it. Ubuntu, which I run the most, seems to be remarkably resilient, always having enough stuff saved to allow recovery.
Updating the bios is a free thing to try, after that I will need to start replacing hardware which is not free. I don't know which order to start replacements, I'll ask again if the bios doesn't fix it.
Ta,
Rans6........