On 17.04.14 0:53, David Farber wrote:
I'm trying to repair an old model Gateway GT5056 Windows XP system. The
symptom is that intermittently it will just freeze up in its tracks or a
BSOD will appear. One of the types of BSOD says, "Machine_Check_Exception."
The other says, "Kernel_Stack_Inpage_Error." I tried updating drivers and
software, removing the DVD burner, and just using the bare minimum of
hardware, but it still was freezing up. Usually, it will happen when
watching a video. On other days, it would happen as soon as the computer
booted to the desktop. Then on some days, it wouldn't freeze-up at all.

Just to make sure the hardware was ok, I ran a RAM test which passed. I
cleaned out the CPU fan and heat sink. Then I visually inspected the
motherboard. Hmmmm. I saw about a half dozen 1,000uF 6.3V capacitors that
were bulging. In fact every capacitor of that particular value was bulging.
I checked ESR and only one was out of tolerance. It measured 6 ohms while
the others were less than 0.2 ohms. I replaced the one that was out of
tolerance thinking I'd go back and do the rest of them if it corrected the
problem but it didn't. It still freezes occasionally.

There was one particular occurrence where right before the system froze, the
CPU fan switched to a very high speed so maybe it is heat related. By the
way, the motherboard is a Foxconn C51GU01.

Thanks for your reply.

Get a second hand pc. I get them offered for free,
the last one a HP 3GHZ 2GB dual core xp pro computer.
I removed all the bloatware and personal data,
and it works like a treat.
People have been scared out of their wits by the
"end of life" commotion.
Then transfer step by step special hardware/software
from the broken one(if any).

An btw, try a number of memtest programs, I had one
computer failing only with one out of four test floppys.
And let those run for several hours, with closed case,
else the temperature will not match with usual use.

If you HAVE to use the old board, replace ALL bulging
caps, they are broken, even if they seem to work.