My computer intermittently freezes and needs a hard reset. I dont get a BSOD and nothing is logged in the events manager in windows. I had this problem in cambridge before and it turned out it was the mobo after all. I just built this feckin thing and im loathe to strip it all down again to replace the mobo.

Im buying a new gfx card on Friday and I might grab another gig of ram as well which would allow me to rule out the gfx and memory, but not the hard drive. Can hard drives cause these kinds of crashes? They come sporadically and I sometimes dont get past the logon screen when the HD is inactive so I doubtful if its a HD issue, but I really dont know.

Ive updated every piece of hardware, including the BIOS, and Ive used 3 completely different windows xp installs (pro sp1, pro sp2, tiny xp) so Im sure its not software related.

The only thing different about these crashes to the last ones is that these are totally random. And when they start, they come constantly, then I get a few days respite and they begin again.

Cheers
Delta.

Could the cooling be buggered? Or even your PSU not beefy enough?

What make and model mobo?

Where's your PC located?

Do all fans spin up? (CPU, PSU, chipset, case)

Could be heatproblems alltho the system is more likely to shutdown rather then freeze or reboot.

Asus M2N-E mobo (with heatpipe on the northbridge rather than fan)

PSU is 450W, and my inferior 6600 with no power socket isnt sucking much of that.

PC is on a wooden floor, under a table and in the corner (the vents are clear)

All fans go as normal.

I have a single chassis fan at the back as well as the bog standard AMD proc fan. In actuality, the temps here are insanely high but Im running air con most of the time, so heat shouldnt be an issue unless its related to the northbridge. I could try installing a couple more case fans to see how that works. Havent looked at the temps in the system since first install, and they were all good - and it was crashing then too.

Ill grab some kit on Fri then see if its still a prob. I need to be quick tho cos im coming close to my month's in-shop warranty deadline, then i needs sent to asus. :s

http://www.almico.com/speedfan429.exe

Install that and it'll tell u the CPU and mobo temp and fan speeds from ur mobo sensors.

The mobo came with software for all that. Ill try using it again and check it out.

Ive now been running for about an hour after 45mins of constant crashes. Im baffled.

Might have something to do with you replacing the fluid of the heatpipes with Irn Bru tbh

Heat pipes have fluid eh?

Sigh, just a Civ Eng noob....

Latest mobo BIOS?
Latest chipset drivers?
Latest GFX card drivers?
BIOS options set correctly?

Lack of BSOD makes me think GFX card related. I had a similar problem with my ATI card where it would black screen and then the fans would whir like a reboot was on its way but nothing would happen until I pressed the reset key. Turned out to be that my gfx options were set too low! If I turn every setting to minimum (AA, AF, etc) then it happens and if I turn them up it doesn't. No idea why this is. I can't be arsed to figure out which of the multitude of settings it could be as I'd be sat there for years waiting for a random reboot with each option in turn.

Your system is much different to mine though but maybe worth trying out.

All my software is up to date.

The only other weird thing happening here is the difference in crash symptoms between desktop and in-game. On desktop, the screen freezes, then the sound follows just after and the hard drive stops. In game, the monitor stops registering the gfx card and goes into standby, while the hard drive keeps chugging away. Eventually the rest of the system catches up and crashes. So maybe it is a gfx card issue.

Check your event log - I bet you've got a dodgy sata drive tbh

I had my pc doing that and it was a bad cluster on the HD

M

I thought this before but I dont have anything in the events that points to it



Its also the 2nd hard drive ive had from the same shop, whats the chances of em both being faulty?

Can you recommend a good proggy for checking disk integrity?

Windows disk check..... ehehehehe.

I don't know any but a quick google search threw this up

http://www.hddlife.com/

M

Those SMB and NetBT errors are network related so unlikely to be the cause of your reboots. You could always try disabling the network connections and running standalone for a while to rule it out (that will stop you downloading porn at a gazillion bytes per second, you jammy beggar).

You said that, when you're on desktop and you get a crash, the sound follows after. What sound is that then if you're on desktop?

Have you installed a virus tool that can scan your HD boot sector?

The sound from my mp3s stutter continuously til I reboot.

Im in cba mode atm. Im buying new kit tomorrow so Ill chase this up further after Ive upgraded.

Cheers for the advice folks.

i remember i friend of mine have problems similar to ure's with freezes etc and it turned out to be the hard drive, seemed he had upgraded everything but the hdd which was old and was running alot slower that the mobo which was causing bottleknecks and crashes, freezes etc. Dunno if u have the same problem or not, but i think as dupa said, could he hdd related

It would appear the HD is knackered after all:



What a bugger, I have no other HD to transfer to atm.

This is the second duff HD Ive bought over here. First was a Maxtor 300gb, this one is a Seagate. Any recommendations on which manufacturer I should go for now?

edit: This proggy has the HD temp threshold at 50 degrees, mine is at 56. What are the max temps a HD should run at?

samsung spinrights

never had a problem. Ive had problems with ibm, maxtor, seagate, western digital etc

Just checked the manu site and it says 60 C max, and this is at 56 idle :S I guess I fried it.



Never seen a samsung over here, but ill have a look.