Recently, while a CFD code is running, one of my Pc's has been locking up (no response to keyboard or mouse input).

First some data: Several months ago I purchased 3 almost identical systems:

AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz CPU (266 MHz FSB. Iwill KA266 motherboard. 654 MB of Crucial DDR SRAM. Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm IDE HD. Win 2000Pro. Configured with 2GB of virtual memory. All 3 system run the same 3rd party software: a computational fluid mechanics (CFD) code. All 3 system are connected to the same keyboard and mouse through a KVM switch.

The system having the problem is different from the other two it that is has a Plextor burner and has Cyberpower UPS software installed.

In my search for the cause of the problem I have noticed that the temp files that the CFD software generates are over 10x larger than normal at system lockup. The temp files are located in the Documents&Setting\administrator\Local Setting\Temp directory; file 1 is about 2.144MB; file 2 is about 830,656 MB; and file 3 is about 859,200 MB. I have no idea if this is the cause of the problem.

Does anyone have a clue as to what is happening? Is the CD burner Adaptec software or Cyberpower UPS software causing the problem?

(1). Were you able to run any program on the three computers at all? Or it hangs up only when you are running this third party CFD code? (2). Were you able to run this code successfully with a smaller mesh model on these three computers? (3). If you attach each computer with one keyboard and one mouse, are you still having the same problem? (4). What were you doing when this computer hung up?

JOHN,

(1). Were you able to run any program on the three computers at all?

Yes.

>Or it hangs up only when you are running this third party CFD code?

I run the same code on all 3 machines and only one machine occasionally hangs up.

>(2). Were you able to run this code successfully with a smaller mesh model on these three computers?

I run the same mesh on all 3 machines and only one machine occasionally hangs up.

> (3). If you attach each computer with one keyboard and one mouse, are you still having the same problem?

I have not tried this yet.

>(4). What were you doing when this computer hung up?

This computer was running the CFD code.

I forgot to mention that I cannot delete these huge files from the problem computer. The error message syss something about not being able to read the disk. Is the disk bad?

(1). Can you get into DOS mode then delete the files, and then reboot? (2). Can you get the store to check out the hardware first? the hard drive, the memory and the mother board.

your problem can be caused by a bad hard drive.

You can check it with ontrack disk utilities. The demo is a freeware which is only limited by the number of use. It s safer than NDD or other utilities.

Best regards

Alain

John,
1). Can you get into DOS mode then delete the files, and then reboot?

When I open a command prompt window and do a 'dir', these files are notlisted; I think that this may be due to the files being hidden files.

>(2). Can you get the store to check out the hardware first? the hard drive, the memory and the mother board.

I may be forced to do that but I must be present to watch what their technicians do since the data on the hard drive has some level of government classification.

Alain, where can I get this freeware disk utility?

(1). Well, hard drive is really cheap. So, get a good one for your computer and re-install the codes. At least this is a quick fix. Then you can worry about the old drive later on. If it turns out that the old one is good, then you still have extra drive to use.

HI steve,

ontrack is not a freeware but you can get a free evaluation copy on their web site :

www.ontrack.com

Thanks, Alain

You can find it out systematically: After you know, if it was caused by the HD or not: - you should compare the CPU temperatures. - change the RAM Modules - check or change the IDE cables - change the CPUs - you could change the HD: run the complete setup (or a 1:1 copy) of the other Computer on the critical one ... finally you will find it out!